Lech Lecha 5785
A number of years ago I found myself together with a group of friends in the Matersdorf neighborhood of Yerushalayim during Sukkos. Realizing that were were in the immediate vicinity of Rav Chaim Pesach Sheinberg z’’l’s home, we decided to see if we could pay a visit. We found the Rosh Yeshiva in his sukkah and asked for a bracha in our learning. He responded matter-of-factly, “You should have hatzlacha in your learning.”
No fireworks. No drama.
It didn’t feel like the heavens had parted and something magical had taken place. Yet receiving a bracha from a great tzaddik is a time-honored tradition.
So how does it work?
The common assumption is that a tzaddik has more pull with Hashem. He’s in Hashem’s inner circle so to speak, and what he says carries more weight than that of the rank and file. When a tzaddik gives a bracha, Hashem pays closer attention.
But looking at the parsha, perhaps there’s something more.
וַאֲבָרֲכָה מְבָרְכֶיךָ וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ אָאֹר וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה׃
(בראשית יב:ג)
And I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I shall curse. And the all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you.
(Bereishis 12:3)
Hashem promises that those who either bless or curse Avraham will receive their appropriate comeuppance, yet there is a striking inconsistency between the two groups. Regarding those who bless Avraham, the reward is stated before the recipient: “I will bless those who bless you.” Yet regarding those who curse, the recipients of the punishment are mentioned before the punishment itself “And those who curse you I shall curse”. Why is the order reversed from one group to the next?
The Vilna Gaon explains that Hashem did so to maximize the impact of the bracha Avraham would receive and, conversely, to mitigate the impact of the curses he’d be subjected to.
For those poised to bless Avraham, Hashem would bless them first, even before the blessing had been uttered. Why? Because the blessing already received makes the blessing offered even greater. A successful person has a set a new benchmark for himself. He sees the next rung as a true—and entirely attainable—measure of success. He enjoys expanded horizons than someone with fewer achievements, someone who’s achieved less bracha. And he blesses the person opposite him accordingly, according to what he now sees as possible. The bracha he’s experienced expands the bracha he gives.
For those who will curse, Hashem rigs the system in the opposite direction. He holds off on punishing them until after the curse has been uttered so that the accursed life that they wish upon Avraham is not something they’ve actually experienced, not something they hold in their mind’s eye when they conjure up a miserable fate for Avraham. Having lived a relatively good life, their intent when they curse is subdued. First-world problems rather than third-world problems. Not utter poverty, just burnt toast.
Which may offer an additional layer as to the impact of receiving a bracha from a great and holy person. When my friends and I asked for a bracha in our learning from Rav Sheinberg, we were asking someone who has already known immense success in his own learning, and so the horizons have been pushed out farther. Pushed out farther in his own life, and pushed out farther in the bracha he offers others. Anyone can wish another person hatzlacha in their learning, but what that hatzlacha means to that person is very different from what it meant to Rav Sheinberg.
Which should light a fire under us. Not only to jump at the opportunity to receive a bracha from a holy person, worthwhile though it may be. But to do our best to place ourselves in the same orbit as people who have achieved success in whatever arena of life may be important to us.
The bracha of a talmid chacham may well be more impactful. But so are his horizons and perspectives. He holds an expansive view of what a person is capable of achieving in learning, because of all that he’s already been blessed to achieve. Being around someone like that can greatly impact your own sense of what’s possible, of what you yourself of truly capable of, of what can be accomplished with hard work and perseverance.
The bracha of someone with professional success, or who has raised impressive children, or who enjoys a wonderful marriage, is likewise different from those who have not been so blessed. But beyond the bracha they can offer us are the attitudes and the perspectives they can offer us. They’ve known success and have lived success and possess a mindset of abundance rather than scarcity.
Who are the people around you who have achieved the things that you want to achieve in life? How can you find a way to be in their orbit more frequently, for their outlook to rub off on you and inspire you to see what is possible and to expand your horizons?
Seeking out a bracha is, indeed, a time-honored tradition. But so is seeking out time and interaction and influence. When one who has achieved success offers us a blessing, we should be eagerly willing to receive it. But if they’re willing to allow us into their lives, into their minds, into their attitudes and aspirations, we should perhaps be even more eager to seize that opportunity.