הצלחה משמעה 'סייעתא דשמיא'
Success means ‘help from Heaven’
וַאֲנִי נָתַתִי לְךָ שְכֶם אַחַד עַל אַחֶיךָ אֲשֶר לָקַחְתִי מִיַד הָאֱמֹרִי בְחַרְבִי וּבְקַשְתִי: (מח:כב)
And I have given you Shechem, one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. (48:22)
Rashi explains: With my sword and with my bow – When Shimon and Levi killed the people of Shechem, all those around them gathered together to engage them in battle, and Yaakov girded himself with weapons of war to fight against them. Alternatively, שכם אחד refers to the birthright of the firstborn, that Yosef’s sons should take two portions. שכם means portion as Targum translates.
There are many instances of שכם similar to it in the Torah, 'כי תשיתמו שכם' – ‘For you will put them as a portion’ (Tehillim 21:13) which means, You will put my enemies before me to apportion them. 'אחלקה שכם' – ‘I will divide a portion’ (60:8). 'דרך ירצחו שכמה' – ‘On the road, they will murder a portion, (Hoshea 6:9), meaning, each one will murder his portion. 'לעבדו שכם אחד' – ‘To worship Him as one portion’ (Tzephania 3:9). Which I took from the hand of the Amorite, from the hand of Eisav who acted like an Amorite. Alternatively, because he would ensnare his father with the sayings of his mouth. With my sword and with my bow, this means my wisdom and my prayer.
Rashi brings two explanations of Yaakov’s intent when he said, ‘with my sword and with my bow’. The first explanation was regarding the conquest of Shechem in battle with sword and bow, and the second explanation was regarding the taking of Eisav’s portion with the power of wisdom and prayer.
However, Chazal (Bava Basra 123a) see the second explanation of ‘wisdom and prayer’ also in line with going to war against Shechem. ‘I have given you one portion above your brothers, that I took from the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. Now, did Yaakov take this portion with his sword and with his bow? But is it not stated, (Tehillim 44:7), 'כי לא בקשתי אבטח וחרבי לא תושיעני' – ‘For I did not trust in my bow nor does my sword save me’? Rather, ‘my sword’ refers to prayer and ‘my bow’ refers to supplication.’ Examine their words and understand that Chazal meant Yaakov’s battle against Shechem. For this purpose, the person generally needs a sword and a bow, and so they might err and say that when Yaakov said he would use the sword and the bow, he literally meant a sword and a bow. This is why Chazal asked that it is not possible that the choicest of the Avos would place his trust in natural powers, so it must mean prayer and supplication.
In light of their words, we can also explain it like Rashi that Yaakov’s intent when he said ‘my sword and my bow’ when he girded for war with Shechem did not literally mean he was girding for war with implements of war, rather he was girding with another type of weapons of war, ‘wisdom and prayer’. This has always been the advice of Yaakov Avinu, in every situation he would only use ‘wisdom and prayer’. First he would use ‘wisdom’ and realize that there is nothing natural in the world at all, and every salvation is only dependent on prayer. After this he would begin the avodah of Tefillah, he would beseech his Maker that He should bless him and provide salvation.
However, these words require explanation, for we see that even the holy Chazal described in their midrashim the wars of the sons of Yaakov with all the nations that wanted to avenge Shechem. You learn from their words that was an actual war, and Yaakov’s sons had to fight with sword and spear to defend themselves and the lives of their families, that is, even though they prayed, they did not simply rely on just the avodah of Tefillah, and they used their natural powers.
It seems that this can be explained according to the Gemara (Kiddushin 29b), ‘Like that of Rav Yaakov, son of Rav Acha bar Yaakov. His father sent him to study Torah under Abaye. When he returned, his father saw that he did not have a clear command of the material he studied. His father said to him, “It is better that I study than you, you remain here, so I can go and study.” Abaye heard that Rav Acha bar Yaakov was coming to study under him. [He wanted to take advantage of the situation and help the yeshiva.] There was a certain demon that resided in Abaye’s study hall, and it was so dangerous that even if people would walk there in pairs, even in daytime, they would be tormented. Abaye said to his students, “No one should invite Rav Acha to spend the night as a guest in their house, and he would be forced to sleep in the study hall. Perhaps a miracle will occur because of his piety and the demon will be killed.” Rav Acha went and slept in the study hall, and the demon appeared to him in the form of a seven-headed serpent. He began to pray and with each bowing down that he took in prayer, one of the serpent’s heads fell off. The next day Rav Acha said to Abaye, “If a miracle had not occurred, you would have endangered me!”’
See the Maharsha (Chidushei Aggados there) who asks, ‘It is a little hard to understand how Abaye could have pushed him to a dangerous place, on the chance that perhaps a miracle will occur, and even if a miracle would occur, this would have been deducted from his merits, as the world says? The answer is, we can say that Abaye relied on his piety, and through his Tefillah he would not be harmed and the demon would be killed, and this is not called a miracle. Rather, he said that perhaps a miracle will occur before Tefillah which will be deducted from his merits, but for this doubt he would not hold back the definite that he would kill it. This is the response of the next day, had a miracle not occurred... he was admonishing him that he did not rely on his Tefillah but on a miracle, and by doing this he brought him to deduct from his merits.’
We explain from the words of the Maharsha that if a person is answered by his prayer, then his merits are not reduced, for the kindnesses that the Creator extends after praying to him are not considered a miracle at all.
Based on what we have said, the same can be said about Yaakov Avinu. It is true that Yaakov fought in a natural way, but actually he was not victorious except through the powers of Above. He fought against several nations and was victorious, and Yaakov surely did not want to rely on a miracle since he did not want to deduct from his merits. It must be that his victories were due to prayer, and the war was just his hishtadlus [effort].
This means both explanations are really the same. Any victory of ‘my sword and my bow’ in war was due to the merit of prayer. Every time Yaakov drew his sword or bow from its holder, he prayed that Hashem Yisbarach should help him. This prayer caused his victory.
We must learn from the influence [hashkafa] of Yaakov, that just as Yaakov said, ‘with my sword and with my bow’, he understood that this was not really his ‘physical strength’, so too with us, if we see some success, we must know that this is only ‘b’siyata d’shmaya’ – ‘the help of Heaven’.
