Sowing Light: The Tzaddik Reopens the Wells of Awe
Yitzchak “sowed in that land” and found “a hundred gates.” What did a tzaddik sow? And why does the Torah stop to tell of Avraham’s wells that the Pelishtim stopped up, and of Yitzchak digging them again in a place he had already been sent away from?
Name a tzaddik: tap for who he wasTitle a sefer
Bereishis 26:12
וַיִּזְרַע יִצְחָק בָּאָרֶץ הַהִוא וַיִּמְצָא בַּשָּׁנָה הַהִוא מֵאָה שְׁעָרִים וַיְבָרֲכֵהוּ יְהוָה
Yitzchak sowed in that land, and in that year he found a hundredfold, and Hashem blessed him.
11“Yitzchak sowed in that land …” Dovid HaMelech said, “Light is sown for the tzaddik …”1 We can explain it this way: with the tzaddik, light is something sown. The holiness and light in him are like a sowing that bears fruit. Through his holiness he awakens awe in the whole world, and he sows the light of holiness in people. “And for the upright of heart, joy”: those who are only upright of heart have the level of joy, meaning that people rejoice with them when they see them; but they cannot sow holy lights in others. This is “Yitzchak sowed in that land”: he sowed awe and holiness in people. “And in that year he found a hundredfold,” me'ah she'arim, words that can also be read “a hundred gates.” A person is obliged to recite a hundred blessings every day.2 They were instituted to stand against the hundred people who were dying every day: Dovid HaMelech instituted a hundred blessings to counter them.3 This tzaddik, who sows holiness and awe in people, is as though he gives them life. Through this he brings about the repair of the hundred gates, for every single person has a gate of his own, and whoever keeps him alive repairs that very gate.
וַיִּזְרַע יִצְחָק בָּאָרֶץ הַהִיא כּוּ'. דְּהִנֵּה דָּוִד הַמֶּלֶךְ ע"ה אָמַר "אוֹר זָרוּעַ לַצַּדִּיק כּוּ'", יֵשׁ לְפָרֵשׁ דְּאוֹר הוּא זָרוּעַ אֵצֶל הַצַּדִּיק, דְּהַיְינוּ הַקְּדוּשָּׁה וְהָאוֹר שֶׁבּוֹ הוּא כְּמוֹ זְרִיעָה שֶׁעוֹשֶׂה פֵּירוֹת, שֶׁהוּא גּוֹרֵם בִּקְדוּשָּׁתוֹ הִתְעוֹרְרוּת יִרְאָה עַל כָּל הָעוֹלָם וְזוֹרֵעַ בִּבְנֵי אָדָם הָאוֹר הַקְּדוּשָּׁה, "וּלְיִשְׁרֵי לֵב שִׂמְחָה" ר"ל וְאוֹתָם שֶׁאֵינָם רַק יִשְׁרֵי לֵב, יֵשׁ לָהֶם מַדְרֵגַת שִׂמְחָה, דְּהַיְינוּ שֶׁבְּנֵי אָדָם שְׂמֵחִים עִמָּהֶם בִּרְאוֹתָם אוֹתָם, אֲבָל אֵינָם יְכוֹלִים לְהַזְרִיעַ אוֹרוֹת קְדוֹשׁוֹת בַּאֲחֵרִים. וְזֶהוּ "וַיִּזְרַע יִצְחָק בָּאָרֶץ הַהִיא" כנ"ל, שֶׁהִזְרִיעַ בִּבְנֵי אָדָם יִרְאָה וּקְדוּשָּׁה, "וַיִּמְצָא בַּשָּׁנָה הַהִיא מֵאָה שְׁעָרִים", דְּחַיָּיב אָדָם לְבָרֵךְ מֵאָה בְּרָכוֹת בְּכָל יוֹם. וְהֵם נִתְקְנוּ נֶגֶד מֵאָה נְפָשׁוֹת שֶׁהָיוּ מֵתִים בְּכָל יוֹם וְתִיקֵּן דָּוִד הַמֶּלֶךְ ע"ה נֶגְדָּם מֵאָה בְּרָכוֹת, וְהַצַּדִּיק הַזֶּה הַמַּזְרִיעַ קְדוּשָּׁה וְיִרְאָה בִּבְנֵי אָדָם הֲרֵי הוּא כְּאִילּוּ מְחַיֶּה אוֹתָם, וְעַל יְדֵי זֶה הוּא גּוֹרֵם תִּיקּוּן לְמֵאָה שְׁעָרִים הַיְּדוּעִים, כִּי לְכָל אִישׁ וְאִישׁ יֵשׁ שַׁעַר מְיוּחָד לוֹ, וְהַמְּקַיְּימוֹ הוּא מְתַקֵּן אוֹתוֹ הַשַּׁעַר הַמְּיוּחָד.
- Tehillim 97:11. ↩
- Menachos 43b, in the name of R' Meir. ↩
- Bamidbar Rabbah 18:21; Tur, Orach Chaim 46. ↩
In shortUnlike the merely upright, the tzaddik sows awe in others, gives them life as the hundred blessings did, and repairs each person's own gate.
12a“And all the wells that the servants of Avraham had dug …”4 How is this verse connected to what comes before it, and what does it come to teach us? The wording raises a further question. Avimelech told Yitzchak, “Go away from us …,” and the verse says, “Yitzchak went from there and encamped in the valley of Gerar.”5 How, then, are we to understand the verse “He returned and dug the wells of water …”?6 Had he not left that place? too was troubled by this.7
"וְכָל הַבְּאֵרוֹת אֲשֶׁר חָפְרוּ עַבְדֵי אַבְרָהָם כּוּ'", וְלִכְאוֹרָה הַאֵיךְ מְקוּשָּׁר הַפָּסוּק הַזֶּה לְכָאן? וְגַם מַה בָּא לְהַשְׁמִיעֵנוּ בָּזֶה? וְגַם יֵשׁ לְדַקְדֵּק שֶׁאָמַר לוֹ אֲבִימֶלֶךְ לֵךְ מֵאִתָּנוּ כּוּ', וְנֶאֱמַר בַּפָּסוּק וַיֵּלֶךְ מִשָּׁם יִצְחָק וַיִּחַן בְּנַחַל גְּרָר, וְנִמְצָא אֵיךְ מוּבָן הַפָּסוּק וַיָּשָׁב וַיַּחְפּוֹר אֶת בְּאֵרוֹת הַמַּיִם כּוּ' הֲלֹא הָלַךְ מִשָּׁם. ורש"י ז"ל הִרְגִּישׁ בָּזֶה ע"ש.
- Bereishis 26:15. The verse reads: “All the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Avraham his father, the Pelishtim stopped up and filled with earth.” ↩
- Bereishis 26:16–17. ↩
- Bereishis 26:18. ↩
- Rashi on Bereishis 26:18: the Pelishtim had stopped up the wells before Yitzchak left Gerar, and he went back and dug them again. ↩
In shortHow does the verse about Avraham's stopped-up wells belong here, and how could Yitzchak dig them again after he had already left Gerar?
12bFollowing what we said of the tzaddik who sows awe in people, the holy Torah shows us here the ways of people who are awakened to awe through a tzaddik. Afterwards the awe may leave them, because they did not keep at it constantly and grow stronger in Hashem's ways. Then they imagine that they are more God-fearing and more whole than the tzaddikim who serve Him in truth. That is what happened here. When the Pelishtim saw Yitzchak growing ever stronger in his awe and holiness, they imagined that his deeds were not as they should be, not like their own, which they thought better than his. This error came to them because they had held on to awe in Avraham's days and afterwards grew slack in it. So the verse says, “And all the wells”: the springs of awe and holiness that were awakened, dug and opened by Avraham his father; “the Pelishtim stopped up”: afterwards the springs of awe were stopped up in them; “and filled them with earth”: with materiality, meaning that [they filled] their awe with “a commandment of men, learned by rote.”8
וְעַל פִּי דַּרְכֵּינוּ הנ"ל הוֹרָה לָנוּ הַתּוֹרָה הַקְּדוֹשָׁה דַּרְכֵי בְּנֵי אָדָם הַנִּתְעוֹרְרִים בְּיִרְאָה ע"י הַצַּדִּיק. ואח"כ אִם תָּסוּר מֵהֶם הַיִּרְאָה ע"י שֶׁלֹּא הִתְמִידוּ עָלֶיהָ בִּתְמִידוּת לְהִתְגַּבֵּר בְּדַרְכֵי הַשֵּׁם, אֲזַי נִדְמֶה לָהֶם שֶׁהֵם יְרֵאִים וּשְׁלֵימִים יוֹתֵר מֵהַצַּדִּיקִים הָעוֹבְדִים בֶּאֱמֶת, וְזֶהוּ הַפֵּירוּשׁ כָּאן, שֶׁרָאוּ שֶׁיִּצְחָק הָיָה מִתְגַּבֵּר בְּיִרְאָתוֹ וּקְדוּשָּׁתוֹ, הָיָה נִדְמֶה לָהֶם שֶׁאֵין מַעֲשָׂיו כָּרָאוּי וְאֵינָם כְּמַעֲשֵׂיהֶם שֶׁהֵם טוֹבִים מִמֶּנּוּ, וְזֶה הַטָּעוּת בָּא לָהֶם מֵחֲמַת שֶׁהֶחֱזִיקוּ בְּיִרְאָה בִּימֵי אַבְרָהָם ואח"כ הָיוּ נִרְפִּים מִמֶּנָּה, וְזֶהוּ שֶׁאָמַר הַכָּתוּב "וְכָל הַבְּאֵרוֹת" דְּהַיְינוּ מַעְיָינוֹת הַיִּרְאָה וְהַקְּדוּשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר נִתְעוֹרְרוּ וְנֶחְפְּרוּ וְנִפְתְּחוּ ע"י אַבְרָהָם אָבִיו, "סִתְּמוּם פְּלִשְׁתִּים" דְּהַיְינוּ אח"כ נִסְתַּם מֵהֶם הַמַּעְיָינוֹת הַיִּרְאָה, "וַיְמַלְאוּם עָפָר" ר"ל בַּגַּשְׁמִיּוּת, [שֶׁמִּילְּאוּ] אֶת הַיִּרְאָה בְּמִצְוַת אֲנָשִׁים מְלוּמָּדָה.
- Yeshayahu 29:13. ↩
In shortAwe not kept up turns to rote: the Pelishtim, once awakened by Avraham, stopped up those springs and judged Yitzchak's growing awe as wrong.
13So “Avimelech said, ‘Go away from us, for you have become mightier …’”: Yitzchak's awe looked to them like something new and strange, not in good order like their own deeds. What did Yitzchak do? “He went from there and encamped in the valley”:9 he sought another way, for the tzaddik we have described, who has a great light so that he can sow it in others, bears the duty to exert himself in every way, with all his strength, to bring awe into people's hearts.
לָכֵן "וַיֹּאמֶר אֲבִימֶלֶךְ לֵךְ מֵעִמָּנוּ כִּי עָצַמְתָּ כּוּ'", ר"ל שֶׁהָיָה נִרְאֶה לָהֶם יִרְאַת יִצְחָק דָּבָר חָדָשׁ וְתֵימַהּ וְאֵינוֹ מְתוּקָּן כְּמַעֲשֵׂיהֶם, מֶה עָשָׂה יִצְחָק? "וַיֵּלֶךְ מִשָּׁם וַיִּחַן בַּנַּחַל", דְּהִנֵּה צַדִּיק הנ"ל שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ אוֹר גָּדוֹל בִּכְדֵי שֶׁיּוּכַל לְהַזְרִיעַ בַּאֲחֵרִים, אֲזַי עָלָיו הַדָּבָר מוּטָּל לְהִתְאַמֵּץ בְּכָל אוֹפֶן בְּכָל יְכוֹלְתּוֹ כְּדֵי לְהַכְנִיס יִרְאָה בְּלֵב בְּנֵי אָדָם.
- Bereishis 26:16–17. ↩
In shortSent away for his strange-seeming awe, Yitzchak moved on, for a tzaddik who can sow light must strive in every way to bring others to awe.
14aWe may say that the verse hints at this: “Ki a man opens a pit …”10 Here ki, usually “if,” has the sense of asher, “that”: not “if a man opens a pit” but “that a man open a pit,” a charge laid on him. It is on the tzaddik, who is called “a man,” that the duty rests to open the “pit,” which hints at the springs of awe and holiness. He is to open people's hearts with awe and great holiness. “Or if a man digs a pit”: he begins to dig and engrave awe and holiness into people's hearts. “And an ox or a donkey falls into it”: the ox and the donkey are the kelipos, the husks that hide holiness; once he digs that pit of awe, they will surely fall into it. “The ba'al, the owner, of the pit shall pay”: this is the reward of this tzaddik. Hashem, blessed be He, Who is the Ba'al, Owner and Master of all holiness and all awe, will pay him his reward in the World to Come. More than that, “he shall return the kesef, the money, to its owner”: this too is his reward, that the awe and holiness he brings about in people will come back to him and add to him still more awe, love and longing for His service. For kesef is the same word as nichsof nichsafta, “you longed greatly”:11 the longing and the love “he shall return to its owner.”
וְזֶה יֵשׁ לוֹמַר רָמַז הַכָּתוּב "כִּי יִפְתַּח אִישׁ בּוֹר כּוּ'", "כִּי" הוּא לְשׁוֹן "אֲשֶׁר", דְּהַיְינוּ שֶׁהַחִיּוּב מוּטָּל עַל הַצַּדִּיק הַנִּקְרָא "אִישׁ" שֶׁיִּפְתַּח אֶת הַ"בּוֹר", רֶמֶז לְמַעְיְינֵי הַיִּרְאָה וְהַקְּדוּשָּׁה, לִפְתּוֹחַ לִבּוֹת בְּנֵי אָדָם בְּיִרְאָה וּקְדוּשָּׁה רַבָּה, "אוֹ כִּי יִכְרֶה אִישׁ בּוֹר", "יִכְרֶה" הוּא לְשׁוֹן חֲפִירָה, שֶׁמַּתְחִיל לַחְפּוֹר וְלַחְקוֹק בְּלִבּוֹת בְּנֵי אָדָם יִרְאָה וּקְדוּשָּׁה, "וְנָפַל שָׁמָּה שּׁוֹר אוֹ חֲמוֹר" ר"ל אָז בְּוַודַּאי יִפּוֹל שָׁמָּה הַקְּלִיפּוֹת, "בַּעַל הַבּוֹר יְשַׁלֵּם" ר"ל זֶה שְׂכָרוֹ שֶׁל הַצַּדִּיק הַזֶּה, שהשי"ת ב"ה שֶׁהוּא בַּעַל וְאָדוֹן לְכָל הַקְּדוֹשׁוֹת וְהַיִּרְאוֹת יְשַׁלֵּם לוֹ שְׂכָרוֹ לעוה"ב, וְלֹא עוֹד אֶלָּא "כֶּסֶף יָשִׁיב לִבְעָלָיו" פֵּירוּשׁ דְּגַם זֶה שְׂכָרוֹ, שֶׁהַיִּרְאָה וְהַקְּדוּשָּׁה הַזֹּאת שֶׁגּוֹרֵם לִבְנֵי אָדָם תָּשׁוּב אֵלָיו וְיוֹסִיף בּוֹ עוֹד יִרְאָה וְאַהֲבָה וּתְשׁוּקָה לַעֲבוֹדָתוֹ ית"ש, וְזֶהוּ "כֶּסֶף" כּוּ' לְשׁוֹן נִכְסֹף נִכְסַפְתָּ, דְּהַיְינוּ הַתְּשׁוּקָה וְהָאַהֲבָה יָשִׁיב לִבְעָלָיו.
In shortThe open pit is the tzaddik's duty to dig springs of awe in people's hearts; Hashem rewards him, and the longing he awakens returns to him.
14bIn the same way I have explained the saying “Words that come from the heart enter the heart”: they enter that very heart from which they truly came. Those words come back into his own heart and add to his holiness. The Gemara asks, “If one is liable for opening, is he not all the more liable for digging?”12 Read our way, this means: if the tzaddik is obliged to open people's hearts with springs of awe, all the more so is he obliged to dig. And the Gemara answers: “It comes to include one who digs after a digger.” That is, if he does not succeed in rousing their hearts the first time, he should go back and rebuke them again, in the spirit of “You shall surely rebuke.”13
וְעַל דֶּרֶךְ הַזֶּה פֵּרַשְׁתִּי "דְּבָרִים הַיּוֹצְאִין מִן הַלֵּב נִכְנָסִים לַלֵּב", פֵּירוּשׁ לְאוֹתוֹ לֵב עַצְמוֹ שֶׁיָּצְאוּ מִמֶּנּוּ בֶּאֱמֶת, אוֹתָן הַדְּבָרִים חוֹזְרִים וְנִכְנָסִים בְּלִבּוֹ וּמוֹסִיפִים לוֹ עוֹד קְדוּשָּׁה. וּמַקְשׁוּ בַּגְּמָרָא "אִם עַל הַפְּתִיחָה חַיָּיב עַל הַכְּרִיָּיה לֹא כָל שֶׁכֵּן", פֵּירוּשׁוֹ לְפִי דַּרְכֵּינוּ הנ"ל, אִם הַחִיּוּב עַל הַצַּדִּיק לִפְתּוֹחַ לִבּוֹת בְּנֵי אָדָם בְּמַעְיְינֵי הַיִּרְאָה כ"ש עַל הַכְּרִיָּה, וּמְשַׁנֵּי "לְהָבִיא כּוֹרֶה אַחַר כּוֹרֶה", דְּהַיְינוּ אִם בְּפַעַם אֶחָד לֹא יִפְעוֹל לְעוֹרֵר לִבָּם, יַחְזוֹר וְיוֹכִיחַ ע"ד הוֹכֵחַ תּוֹכִיחַ.
- Bava Kamma 51a; Rashi on Shemos 21:33. In the Gemara, “one who digs after a digger” is one who deepens a pit that another has dug. ↩
- Vayikra 19:17. The Gemara reads the doubled verb as “even a hundred times” (Bava Metzia 31a). ↩
In shortHeartfelt words return to the heart they came from, and “one who digs after a digger” is the tzaddik rebuking again when the first try fails.
15This, then, is the meaning of “He encamped in the valley of Gerar.” Nachal, a valley, is also a stream. When Yitzchak saw that they did not turn toward his awe to learn from him, he went on growing stronger in his holiness, up to the upper nachal, the stream of Hashem, and from there he drew down awe and awakening upon them. For that is the way of the tzaddik: to draw down from the upper worlds, upon all people, an awakening of awe at Hashem's greatness. This is “Yitzchak returned and dug the wells of water that they had dug in the days of Avraham, and the Pelishtim had stopped them up”:14 he went back and roused their spirit to complete awe, and roused again the earlier awe that Avraham Avinu had brought into them.
וְזֶהוּ "וַיִּחַן בְּנַחַל גְּרָר" ר"ל כַּאֲשֶׁר רָאָה יִצְחָק שֶׁאֵינָם פּוֹנִים אֶל יִרְאָתוֹ לִלְמוֹד מִמֶּנּוּ, הָיָה הוּא מִתְגַּבֵּר וְהוֹלֵךְ בִּקְדוּשָּׁתוֹ עַד הַנַּחַל הָעֶלְיוֹן שֶׁהוּא נַחַל ה' וְהִמְשִׁיךְ מִשָּׁם יִרְאָה וְהִתְעוֹרְרוּת עֲלֵיהֶם, כִּי כֵן דֶּרֶךְ הַצַּדִּיק לְהַמְשִׁיךְ הִתְעוֹרְרוּת יִרְאָה רוֹמְמוּת מֵעוֹלָמוֹת הָעֶלְיוֹנִים עַל כָּל בְּנֵי אָדָם, וְזֶהוּ "וַיָּשָׁב יִצְחָק וַיַּחְפּוֹר אֶת בְּאֵרוֹת הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר חָפְרוּ בִּימֵי אַבְרָהָם וַיְסַתְּמוּם פְּלִשְׁתִּים", הָיָה הוּא חוֹזֵר וְהֵעִיר אֶת רוּחָם בְּיִרְאָה שְׁלֵימָה, וְהֵעִיר הַיִּרְאָה הַקּוֹדֶמֶת שֶׁהִכְנִיס בָּהֶם אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ ע"ה.
- Bereishis 26:18, which reads “in the days of Avraham his father.” ↩
In shortWhen people would not learn from him, Yitzchak rose to Hashem's upper stream, drew awe down on them, and reopened the awe Avraham planted.
R’ Elimelech starts from “Light is sown for the tzaddik”: the tzaddik’s holiness is a seed that bears fruit in others, wakening awe in them, while the merely upright only gladden those who see them. Sowing awe gives people life, as Dovid’s hundred blessings stopped the hundred daily deaths, and it repairs each person’s own gate. The wells show what happens when awe is not kept up: the Pelishtim, once roused by Avraham, let it harden into rote and judged Yitzchak’s growing awe as strange. Yitzchak did not give up. The pit a man must open and dig is the tzaddik’s duty to dig awe into hearts, and to dig again when the first try fails; Hashem pays him, and the longing he wakens returns to him. Rising to Hashem’s upper stream, Yitzchak drew awe down and reopened Avraham’s wells.
Takeaway
True awe does not stay with the one who has it: it is sown in others, and the longing it wakens comes back to him as more love for Hashem. When people do not respond, the answer is to rise higher oneself and try again, as Yitzchak did.
Learn this in the merit of Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk. His yahrzeit and life ›
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