Bread for Heaven's Sake: Winning over Judgment

1“Yaakov made a vow, saying: If God will be with me … and give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and I return in peace to my father's house …”¹ Here Yaakov Avinu was asking Hashem for a blessing. Why, then, does he mention the Name Elokim, which stands for the attribute of judgment? He should have said, “If Hashem will be with me,” using the four-letter Name Havayah, which is the attribute of mercy (as he does at the end of the verse: “then Hashem will be my God”).

2Something else is very puzzling. Yaakov Avinu is called “a wholesome man” because his avodas Hashem, his service of Hashem, was perfect.² Why, then, did he ask for bread to eat and clothing to wear, which belong only to this passing life? We do not find that the holy Avos before him ever asked Hashem for material things. There is a further point: Rashi explains “and I return in peace to my father's house” as “whole, free of sin.”³ From this we learn that Yaakov Avinu was asking here for spiritual things. If so, it would seem that the beginning of his words was about spiritual things too. What spiritual intention, then, did Yaakov Avinu have in saying “and give me bread to eat …”?

3It seems we can explain it this way. Earlier, in Yitzchak Avinu's blessing to Yaakov, it is written, “May God give you.”⁴ There too we must ask why the Name Elokim, the attribute of judgment, is mentioned with blessings, which are all mercy and kindness. We must also understand Rashi's comment on that verse: “May He give, and give again.” What is the point of giving again? If the point is more blessing, surely Hashem can give everything at once, and nothing would be lacking.

4aWe know that when people receive an abundance of blessing from Heaven and then, Heaven forbid, go astray through it, using it in ways that are not the Torah's, Heaven takes the abundance back. As Chazal said, “I made my deeds evil, and so I lost my livelihood.”⁵ But when a person is privileged to walk the straight path and use the abundance in Hashem's ways, keeping avodas Hashem in mind even in his material needs, Heaven goes on bestowing it, giving again and again, in keeping with Hashem's blessing.

4bThis was what Yitzchak intended in his blessing to Yaakov. Since “the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children,”⁶ Yitzchak Avinu's blessing reached Yaakov and his descendants to the end of all generations. His blessing was that Israel would be granted abundant blessing and success, that it would use that abundance for the honor of Heaven, and that it would not, Heaven forbid, go astray through it. Through this it would be privileged to have even the attribute of judgment testify that this is fitting for it, and that it is “only good to Israel.”⁷ This is the meaning of “May God give you”: even the attribute of judgment will agree that Israel should receive the abundance, since Israel conducts itself with the abundance in the Torah's way. It is also the meaning of “May He give, and give again.” Since Israel will use the abundance in Hashem's ways, so that even the attribute of judgment does not hold the abundance back, Israel will, as a result, always be granted abundance without interruption, at every time and every hour.

5aThis is what Yaakov Avinu prayed for here. The verse says, “Yaakov made a vow, saying,” and Chazal teach that the word leimor, “saying,” means “for the generations.”⁸ He prayed for his children after him, to the end of all generations. “If God will be with me” means that they should be granted great abundance and complete blessing even from the side of the Name Elokim, the attribute of judgment: even the attribute of judgment would be appeased and consent. How can one earn this, bending even the attribute of judgment to agree to Israel's good? The answer is what we saw in Yitzchak's blessing. When a Jew uses the abundance in Hashem's ways, and keeps the honor of Heaven in mind even while busy with material things, when he eats and the like, then even the attribute of judgment is appeased and agrees that the abundance be given.

5bThis is the meaning of “and give me bread to eat and clothing to wear”: that even eating and all material things should be for the sake of Heaven. When that is so, “God will be with me” follows of itself, for the attribute of judgment will agree. And then “and I return in peace to my father's house” will be fulfilled in me, “whole, free of sin,” as Rashi explains. For if I reach this level, keeping the sake of Heaven in mind even as I eat bread, then “and I return in peace to my father's house” will come true for me without any blemish.

6May Hashem grant that we always be privileged to serve the Creator in the path our fathers walked, and to reach the day that is entirely good.⁹ Amen, may it be His will.