Printable PDF available here.
Ein Ayah (Gemara Berachot 10b)
Beware when you eat and be full[1]and build good houses and dwell therein, and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold increase, and all that you have increases, lest your heart grow haughty, and you forget the Lord, your G-d… and say to yourself, ‘My strength and the might of my hand has made this wealth.’ You must remember the Lord your G-d, for it is He who gives you the ability to prosper (lit. כח לעשות חיל), in order to establish His covenant that He swore to your forefathers…. (Devarim 8:12-13, 17-18)
As Israel stood on the threshold of Eretz Yisrael, Moshe warned them of the spiritual dangers to come. In the desert, G-d’s presence was palpable and the people were sustained by miracles. No human effort or initiative was required. The people were unconcerned with planting, plowing, building, and conquering. That period was coming to an end, but the people would still have to remain faithful to G-d and see His hand in their prosperity.
As noted by Rabbeinu Nissim of Gerona (Spain, 1320-1376),[2]Moshe did not say that G-d gives “prosperity,” but rather “the ability to prosper” (lit. כח לעשות חיל). There is a big difference. Moshe was not denying the significance of human initiative and hard work (a.k.a. hishtadlut). He was reminding Israel that hishtadlut is itself the greatest evidence of G-d’s guiding hand. Now, this may seem counterintuitive. Isn’t hishtadlut part of the system by which G-d’s hides His involvement? Isn’t His presence far more apparent when He performs miracles?
However, consider the fact that miracles are fleeting, by their very nature. They are like a bolt of lightning that brightens the darkness, illuminates the landscape for a brief moment, and then fades back to darkness. However, when one encounters G-d through the natural order, every moment is an opportunity for a renewed encounter with the Divine. For, as Moshe taught, G-d is the one who gives us the ‘כח לעשות חיל’. The wisdom required for human beings to plan, develop and accomplish comes from Him, as do the necessary physical strength and raw materials. G-d’s blessing and beneficence are present at every stage of hishtadlut– and not just in the end result, like we so often assume. We can accomplish tremendous things with our abilities, but Who gave us those abilities in the first place?
When the Jewish people partake of bread through difficult labor in their fields – or, for that matter, their stores or offices – they have a greater opportunity for encountering G-d than the generation of the midbar, who received their livelihood supernaturally and without effort.[3]Thus, hishtadlut is neither a punishment nor an illusion. When viewed in the proper perspective, it is an opportunity for continually encountering G-d.
However, attaining this perspective requires a degree of ethical and religious sensitivity that cannot be achieved instantaneously. It is not an easy matter. If the Jewish people are not spiritually mature, hishtadlut can make them coarse and prideful. Instead of attaining Divine consciousness, the people will be blind to G-d’s blessings. Instead[4] of ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את ה׳ אלוקיך, the result will be ואכל ושבע ודשן ופנה אל אלהים אחרים ועבדום.
This deeper understanding can help us resolve the multitude of contradictions about whether hishtadlut is an ideal way of life for the Jewish people.[5]The answer is that all depends on the spiritual state of a generation. The Exodus and the period of the midbar were Israel’s spiritual infancy.[6]An abundance of hishtadlut would have distanced them from G-d, and so open miracles abounded. However, after forty years, the people had reached a level of spiritual and ethical maturity. They no longer needed to be passive recipients of G-d’s kindness, and so G-d gradually weaned them from His miracles. Indeed, we find that the conquest of Eretz Yisrael took place largely through the natural order and diligent application of military strategy.[7]
However, by the period of the Shoftim, the people had lost the proper perspective on hishtadlut. They no longer adequately perceived the Divinity of the natural order. Thus, on the eve of Gidon’s battle with the Midianites (Shoftim, Chapter 7), Hashem insisted on minimizing their hishtadlut. He demanded that Gidon send most of his soldiers away – “The people with you are too numerous for Me to deliver the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast ‘My own hand has saved me.’”
[1]Notice the parallelism between the dangers of פן תאכל ושבעת and the earlier imperative of ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את ה׳אלקיך.
[2]Derashot haRan (Derush10).
[3]See Gemara Shabbat (31a), which expounds the following verse in Isaiah as referring to the six orders of the mishnah – והיה אמונת עתיך חסן ישועות חכמת ודעת, יראת ה’ היא אוצרו. The gemara interprets the word אמונותas a reference to סדר זרעים, which deals with agricultural mitzvot. The midrash, cited by Tosafot, explains the connection – שהוא מאמין בחיי העולם וזורע.
[4]Devarim 8:10, 31:20.
[5]Rav Kook alludes to the possibility that the guidelines for individual (as opposed to collective) hishtadlut may be different. וצריך עיון.
[6]In a portion not translated above, Rav Kook references a pasuk in Hoshea (11:10), which describes Israel’s early years as its ‘youth’– ‘כי נער ישראל ואהבהו וממצרים קראתי לבני’. Rav Kook notes that G-d dealt with the Jewish people like a parent. A young child has all of his needs provided for. However, the state of total dependence is not meant to last. The ultimate goal is for a parent to teach a child to function independently, to be able to support himself. (How many of us know people whose life skills and personal development were stifled because of overreliance on parental support?)
[7]In particular, Rav Kook mentions the battle to conquer Ai (Yehoshua, Chapter 8), where the text strongly emphasizes the extent of Yehoshua’s military strategy.
Food for Thought
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (Parshat Shelach 5772): Most of the commentators assume that the spies were guilty of a failure of nerve, or faith, or both… However, in the Hassidic literature… an entirely different line of interpretation emerged, reading the text against the grain to dramatic effect so that it remains relevant and powerful today. According to their interpretation, the spies were well-intentioned. They were, after all, “princes, chieftains, leaders” (Num. 13:2-3). They did not doubt that Israel could win its battles with the inhabitants of the land. They did not fear failure; they feared success. Their concern was not physical but spiritual. They did not want to leave the wilderness. They did not want to become just another nation among the nations of the earth. They did not want to lose their unique relationship with G-d in the reverberating silence of the desert, far removed from civilization and its discontents… Here they were close to G-d, closer than any generation before or since. He was a palpable presence in the Sanctuary in their midst, and in the clouds of glory that surrounded them. Here His people ate manna from heaven and water from the rock and experienced miracles daily. So long as they stayed in the desert under G-d’s sheltering canopy, they did not need to plough the earth, plant seeds, gather harvests, defend a country, run an economy, maintain a welfare system, or shoulder any of the other earthly burdens and distractions that take peoples’ minds away from the Divine…
[But] Judaism is not a religion of monastic retreat from the world. It is supremely a religion of engagement with the world. The Torah is a template for the construction of a society with all its gritty details: laws of warfare and welfare, harvests and livestock, loans and employer-employee relationships, the code of a nation in its land, part of the real world of politics and economics, yet somehow pointing to a better world where justice and compassion, love of the neighbor and stranger, are not remote ideals but part of the texture of everyday life. G-d chose Israel to make His presence visible in the world, and that means that Israel must live in the world. The Jewish task is not to fear the real world but to enter and transform it. That is what the spies did not understand. Do we – Jews of faith – understand it even now?
Midrash (Eichah Rabbah): When faced with war, Dovid HaMelech said: “I will pursue my enemies and overtake them, and will not return until they are destroyed” (Tehillim 18:38)… [Later] Assa stood up and implored Hashem, “I do not possess the strength to kill them. Rather, I will pursue them and You will kill them.” Hashem accepted his prayer, as it says “Assa and the people with him pursued them to Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell… for they were crushed before Hashem and before His camp” (Divrei haYamim II, 14:12). [Later] when Yehoshafat waged war against Ammon, he said “I do not possess the strength to pursue or kill. I will simply sing songs of praise to You, and You will fight the war.” Hashem accepted his prayer as well, as it says “As soon as they began their exuberant song and praise, G-d set up ambushers against the Children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who were attacking Yehuda, and they were struck down” (Divrei haYamim II, 20:22). [Later] Hezekiah said “I do not possess the strength to pursue or to kill or to sing songs of praise. I will sleep in my bed while You wage war.” Hashem accepted this prayer as well, as it says “On that very night, an angel of G-d went out and struck down 185,000 people in the Assyrian camp” (Melachim II, 19:35).
Rav Ya’akov Yosef of Ostroha (Rav Yeivai, cited in Bitachon v’Histadlut): When a person makes effort to save himself from troubles, instead of relying on complete bitachon, Hashem removes His assistance and says ‘You really think you can save yourself on your own?! I will withhold My help and you’ll see how things work out.’ But when a person is מסיח דעת and says “What’s the point of doing anything? Hashem will do whatever he wants” – then Hashem will help him.
Questions for Discussion
- Can you think of a time when you felt G-d’s hand in something that one or your accomplishments or successes?
- Do Rav Kook’s insights on hishtadlut enhance the religious value of Zionism and the State of Israel? If so, how?
- Is Rav Kook’s understanding of hishtadlut counterintuitive to you? Why or why not?
- Rav Kook sees tremendous religious value in hishtadlut, whereas certain other Torah thinkers regard it as a temptation, an illusion, or a curse. What are some practical differences between these two perspectives?
- What can we do to better perceive Hashem’s involvement in the natural order?
- Take a look at the midrash in Eichah Rabbah, cited above. How does it support Rav Kook’s thesis?
