The Secret of Acting for the Sake of Heaven: From the Power of the Woman of Zarephath to the Self-Sacrifice of Elkanah

Class No. 67 | Thursday, Parashas Nitzavim, 21 Elul 5756 - A class for the general public at the Breslov Yeshiva Nechamas Tzion, the Old City of Jerusalem, may it be rebuilt and established (continued in 68)

An article explaining how pure faith and pure action for the sake of Heaven, without personal motives, have the power to bring salvation to the entire Jewish people. Through the story of the woman of Zarephath and the actions of Elkanah to encourage the pilgrimage, it is revealed that every person can merit to save the generation.

Faith Above Nature: A Small Cake for Eliyahu HaNavi

When Eliyahu HaNavi arrives at the woman of Zarephath, she is in a state of complete destitution. She is gathering two pieces of wood and tells him: "And I will prepare it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die." She has exactly one last spoonful of flour left and a little oil in a jug, just enough to knead a tiny cake the size of a spoon. She plans that she and her son will eat this small cake and die of starvation.

In such a situation, Eliyahu HaNavi asks her to share it with him. Another person would think this is mochin d'katnus (a state of constricted consciousness)—how can one ask for such a tiny cake? But Eliyahu demands something immense from her: First, make the cake for me. Just let me eat first, and if you do this—you will see wonders.

This was a demand for tremendous faith. Standing before her is a man from the desert, a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist, a strange man who tells her: Give me the cake and everything will be fine. After all, according to the laws of nature, she and her son will die immediately; they will not live even another hour. Therefore, a woman with mighty and immense faith was required here.

"And Eliyahu said to her, 'Fear not; go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make for yourself and your son. For thus says Hashem, the God of Israel: The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be lacking, until the day that Hashem gives rain upon the earth.'"

In Her Merit the Rain Falls

The holy Zohar asks a tremendous question about this verse. We read "until the day that Hashem gives (tes) rain," but the word is written in the Torah as "will give" (titen). The way it is read (keri) is tes, but the way it is written (kesiv) is titen. Why is it written titen in the feminine form? The meaning is that the woman of Zarephath is the one who will give the rain! When the famine ends, she is the one who will bring the rain to the world, and not, as it were, Hashem Himself.

The Zohar explains: In that entire generation of Eliyahu HaNavi, there was no one on the level of that woman of Zarephath, in her earnestness, in her holiness, in her purity, and in her fear of Heaven. No person merited such privileges as that woman. Therefore it is written titen—you will give the rain upon the world, because your merit is great. All the rain that fell was in the merit of that woman, and she merited that the jar of flour did not run out and the jug of oil did not lack.

Regarding this, the Tanna D'Vei Eliyahu says: "I call heaven and earth to bear witness for me, that whether a man or a woman, whether a gentile or a Jew, whether a slave or a maidservant—each and every individual can merit to bring salvation to Israel through their actions."

Awakening the Pilgrimage

The Tanna D'Vei Eliyahu says the exact same thing about Chana. Chana was a simple woman, and she merited a son, Shmuel HaNavi (Samuel the Prophet), who saved all of Israel from the hands of the Philistines. How did Elkanah and Chana merit such a son?

For three hundred years, since the period of the Judges, the Jewish people had stopped making the pilgrimage for the festivals. There were no prophets, there were no rabbis to give classes. Every man sat under his vine and under his fig tree. People did not have the strength to leave their warm and pleasant homes to go up to Jerusalem, to sleep on the sidewalks under the open sky, to make a sukkah in the street, and to drink rainwater.

Elkanah and Chana revived the pilgrimage for the entire Jewish people. And not only did they revive it, but instead of going up three times a year, they went up four times—three times as mandated by the Torah and one time as a voluntary offering.

"And this man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to Hashem of Hosts in Shiloh."

Awakening Hearts for the Sake of Heaven

Elkanah would go up with his wife, his sons, his household, his brothers, his sisters, and all his relatives. He would say to them: Learn the way of service from the Canaanites and the idol worshippers. They travel for days and months to make a pilgrimage to some temple on a mountain, for vanity and emptiness. How much more so must you make the effort and go up before the Ark of the Covenant of Hashem, who is the living and enduring God for all eternity!

They would travel from city to city and from village to village, taking a different route each time. The people on the roads saw a strange sight—people making a pilgrimage to Shiloh, something that had not been seen for hundreds of years. Elkanah would speak with the men, and Chana would speak with the women. The entire country was moved and asked: "Where are you going?" And Elkanah answered: "To the House of God in Shiloh, for from there goes forth Torah and good deeds. And why don't you come with us, and we will go together?"

Immediately, their eyes would shed tears. People who had not made the pilgrimage for several generations remembered their grandfathers who had gone up, the stories about the miracles and wonders that occurred there, and they would cry and join them. Thus, year after year, through different cities and villages, Elkanah and Chana awakened the entire Jewish people to make the pilgrimage and tipped the scales of merit for all of Israel.

The Reward for Selfless Action

Hashem, who examines the innermost thoughts and the heart, knew that Elkanah did not do this for his own honor. A person can give a Torah class and everyone will honor him, write about him in the newspapers, and call him Mashiach. But Elkanah acted without any personal intention, not for honor and not so that people would say he recites beautiful songs or inspires the nation. He simply wanted to awaken the Jewish people to teshuvah (repentance) and to fulfill mitzvos.

Hashem said to him: "Since you judged Israel favorably and did this purely for the sake of Heaven, without any personal motive, I will bring forth from you a son who will judge the entire Jewish people favorably, educate them in mitzvos, and save them from the Philistines."

And so it indeed was. Shmuel the Prophet gathered the nation to Mitzpah, in a gathering that was forbidden according to the laws of the Philistines. He called upon them to remove the foreign gods and return to Hashem with all their hearts.

"And Shmuel said, 'Gather all of Israel to Mitzpah, and I will pray to Hashem on your behalf'... And they gathered to Mitzpah, and they drew water and poured it out before Hashem, and they fasted on that day, and they said there, 'We have sinned against Hashem.'"

When the Philistines heard about the gathering, they went up to wage war. The Children of Israel were afraid, but Shmuel offered a burnt offering and cried out to Hashem. At that moment, Hashem thundered with a great noise upon the Philistines, confounding them, and they were struck down before Israel. Throughout the days of Shmuel, the hand of Hashem was against the Philistines, the cities were restored to Israel, and Shmuel judged the nation faithfully all the days of his life. All of this was in the merit of the selfless actions, done purely for the sake of Heaven, by Elkanah and Chanah.

The Secret of the Wisdom of Lavan the Aramean

Opposite these forces of holiness stands Lavan the Aramean. Lavan alludes to the supernal wisdom of the dew of Levanon (Lebanon), which hints at the Fifty Gates of Wisdom. Moshe Rabbeinu merited the Fifty Gates of Understanding (Binah), and therefore he attained the spiritual level of Leah. For in the place where the heel of Leah's humility is completed—there begins the crown of Rachel, in the aspect of "A woman of valor who fears Hashem." Leah symbolizes absolute humility.

The more Lavan reviled Yaakov, the more his power—which stemmed from those Fifty Gates of Understanding—was revealed. The name "Lavan" is composed of the letters Lamed (ל), Beis (ב), and Nun (נ)—alluding to the Lamed-Beis (32) Pathways of Wisdom and the Nun (50) Gates of Understanding. Because of these spiritual attainments, he was able to revile and blaspheme Yaakov. This is the deep secret behind why Rachel stole her father's teraphim (idols): in order to extract and elevate those sparks of supernal wisdom.

Part 2 of 2 — Class No. 67

→ Previous Part

All parts: Part 1 | Part 2 (Current)