Success in life doesn’t just fall into our laps. We learn this important lesson from an intriguing passage in Parshat Vayeitzei.
Yaakov came to his father-in-law Lavan and demanded that he be paid for his many years of service, during which he hadn’t received a penny. The Torah provides for us the details of the negotiations between the two. Lavan said to Yaakov, “I can see what has happened; I can read the signs; “נחשתי ויברכני ה' בגללך. - Hashem has blessed me because of you.”
Yaakov then replied by saying, “ויברך ה' אתך לרגלי,” which we usually translate as, “Hashem has blessed you on my account.”
But the term ‘לרגלי’ literally means ‘because of my feet!’ What was Yaakov trying to convey?
Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsh explains this beautifully. He explains that when Lavan said to Yaakov, “נחשתי ויברכני ה' בגללך,” what he meant was this: “What has happened Yaakov, is that Hashem has blessed me – it’s not you – you’re a holy man, and that’s why Hashem has always helped you. It is Hashem who has performed these miracles for my flocks. It’s to Hashem that I should give thanks, not to you. You don’t deserve a single penny – Hashem has done it all.”
When Yaakov then replied and said, “ויברך ה' אתך לרגלי - Hashem has blessed you because of my feet!” what he meant was, “For all these years, I’ve been standing in your fields. Under all weather conditions, I’ve given the utmost service. It has been a partnership. Of course, I’ve got my ביטחון, my trust in Hashem, but throughout this time, Hashem was turning to me for my השתדלות, for my efforts, as well. I did it with Hashem, and therefore you should be paying me.”
From Yaakov we learn that in life, you can only succeed if you try hard together with faith in Hashem. The way that the Talmud puts it is that Hashem says to us, “פתחו לי פתח כחודו של מחט ואני אפתח לכם פתח כפתחו של אולם - Open for me just the space of the eye of a needle and I will expand that to be the space of an entire hall.”
We may be the junior partners, but it is always a partnership. ‘אין סומכין על הנס’ – never rely on miracles, the Talmud tells us. We have to do our bit. So it is from Yaakov we learn that in life, you can only win the lottery if you buy a ticket. Success doesn’t automatically fall into our laps. It’s a partnership and together with ביטחון in Hashem, we need to always try our hardest.
So let us therefore strengthen our ביטחון in Hashem by praying together with praise and gratitude to Hashem for the great miracle we have witnessed - the release and safe return of the living hostages. With hearts full of thanks, we acknowledge His endless kindness and mercy, and we pray that those who have returned home find healing, strength, and peace after all they have endured.
We also continue to pray for the release of the remaining hostage bodies and Divine Protection over our courageous IDF soldiers, police officers, medical teams, firefighters, ZAKA members, security forces, and every individual who stands in defense of our people - in Israel and throughout the world.
May all who are in need, be blessed with healing, yeshuot, shidduchim, children, and parnassah tova, and may we be blessed to have just continuous joy and to only go from one simcha through to the next, the most awesome, gorgeous, beautiful, peaceful, happy, healthy, amazing, relaxed, spiritual and sweet Shabbat.
