A Verse You've Read a Thousand Times, Now in a New Light

In this week's Torah portion, Parashat Toldot, it says: “And Yitzchak said to his son, ‘How is it that you found it so quickly, my son?' And he said, ‘Because Hashem your God caused it to happen before me'” (Genesis 27:20).

The Zera Shimshon points to a wonderful message that emerges from the answer our forefather Yaakov gave his father. These are his words: “There is a moral lesson to be learned here: every person must recognize, in everything he does, the wonders of Hashem's doings, for a person has no power to do anything except through Hashem's kindness. A person does not so much as bruise his finger down below unless it has been decreed above. And so with every gain he makes — let him not say that it came to him through his tremendous effort, but rather through Hashem's kindness. If he rises to greatness, let him not say that his wisdom brought it about, but only Hashem's kindness.

“And this is the meaning of ‘because Hashem your God caused it to happen before me.' At first glance this is difficult: after all, in Yaakov's case Hashem did not cause anything to happen before him. He himself went and took two kids from Rivkah and prepared them quickly, and they could not have taken any longer, since he did not have to go out and hunt them. If so, it would seem that Yaakov spoke falsely when he said, ‘because Hashem your God caused it to happen before me,' for nothing was caused to happen for him at all. Rather, the kids themselves required no great preparation, and he should have told his father that he finished quickly because preparing them did not take much work.

The Zera Shimshon continues and answers: “Rather, Yaakov certainly meant, when he said ‘because Hashem your God caused it to happen before me,' that the whole matter came about through the Creator's will and kindness, so that I would be the one to bring you your food. For everything that happens comes entirely from Hashem, even in matters that appear to a person as though he himself is doing them. And this is what Yaakov answered: this is why I hurried to bring it, because Hashem your God caused it to happen before me, and not before my brother.”

The words of the Zera Shimshon on this week's Torah portion are a gentle mirror held up to our lives today. How many times do we work hard, plan, push ourselves — and then, at exactly the right moment, a surprising phone call comes in, an opportunity opens up, a problem gets solved “by chance,” or a good person appears out of nowhere? And how many everyday moments do we take for granted — the child who wakes up in the morning with a smile, the traffic jam that suddenly clears, the amount we manage to get done that makes no logical sense — and all of it unfolds through kindness from above, exactly like those two kids that came into Yaakov's hands.

The great message is to learn to stop, to look, and to tell ourselves: even when I act and make every effort, there is Someone gently leading me, opening doors and sending light into the small corners of life. Recognizing this is not weakness; it is strength. Because the person who manages to see the hand of Hashem inside the rush of daily life lives a fuller life, a calmer life, and a life full of gratitude.