14 Nov TOLDOS: THE SANDY PATH TO INSPIRATION WHY WERE THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF JUDAISM ENTHRALLED BY WELLS?

Free Plowing
Back in the ‘40s, a
Jewish guy was
arrested for
smuggling guns into
Israel, then known
as Palestine. He was taken into one of the
British prisons. While there, his wife
writes him a letter decrying what a
shlemazel he is.
“Spring is coming and with you rotting
in jail who will provide? Who will plow
the soil?”
The man comes up with an idea. He
sends an urgent letter to his wife saying:
“Please, my dear, whatever you do, don’t
touch the field this year. All my M1 rifles
are hidden in the field!”
Sure enough, the letter is intercepted
and the British take this very seriously.
The next morning at 6 a.m. there are 200
armed guards at the man’s fields waiting
for dawn to break. As the sun rises, they
attack the field with shovels and rakes,
leaving no rock unturned.

When news gets back to the inmate, he
writes a letter to his wife: “My dear, now
that they have plowed the field, it is time
to plant seeds!”
Enthralled by Wells
It seems that our Avos, the Founding
Fathers of Judaism, were enthralled with
wellsprings. First, the Torah tells us of
Avraham’s involvement in well-digging
and his rebuke to the king of the Plishtim
for allowing his servants to seize one of
his wells. Avraham performs an elaborate
ceremony with the king, during which
the king swears that the well would
remain in Avraham’s possession.
But Avraham’s association with wells
pales in comparison to his son Yitzchak’s
connection to wells. First, we learn that
he is a frequent visitor at a spring named
“Lachai Roei,” where he meets his bride
and later settles.
Yitzchak then engages in relentless
digging to uncover underground springs.
He reclaims the wells that his father dug
but that were plugged after Avraham’s

death. In addition, we read of at
least another four wells that
Yitzchak’s servants dig anew. We
are even told the names Yitzchak
granted his wells and of the battles
he fought to hold on to them!
When the Torah describes in next
week’s parsha his journey from
Israel to the East, it tells us that
“Yaakov looked and behold, a well
in the field!” Yaakov spends time at the
well, and it is there that he encounters
and decides to marry his wife-to-be,
Rachel.
Why were the fathers of the Jewish
people so connected to wells? And why
does the Torah, a book of instruction and
teachings, a roadmap for life, dedicate a
significant part of this week’s parsha
Toldos to discuss the details of Yitzchak’s
struggles to discover wellsprings?
Two Water Sources
In Jewish thought, water represents
wisdom and inspiration. Just as water
quenches the thirst of an arid body,
rejuvenating its spirit and resuscitating
its energy, the gifts of wisdom and
enlightenment refresh a soul and
grant it inspiration and vitality.
We have two sources of water in our
world. The waters above the ground—
oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, and
rain, and water that flows below the
earth, covered by grit. These latter
waters seep out from sand and gravel,
from amid soluble rocks and cleavage
planes, as they struggle to emerge
from beneath the earth that conceals
them.
One would assume that the restricted
flow of water fighting to emerge from
rock and gravel would be inferior to
the unrestricted and smooth beds of
water that lay above the ground. Yet
the reality is that there is something
uniquely refreshing and clear about
spring water. The very fact that these
waters are hidden beneath the ground
keeps them free from pollution and
germs and grants them a freshness
and sparkle not to be found in the
above-ground waters. Plus, the
journey through rocks filters and
refines these waters, so rich in
minerals and nutrients.
Two Sources of Inspiration
The two sources of physical waters

in our world parallel two sources of
wisdom and inspiration in our lives.
There is the wisdom and inspiration
born above the mess of life’s challenges.
It comes to lucid people at lucid moments;
it is straightforward, easy, and smooth.
These are the waters that emerge from
the hearts of pristine spiritual individuals;
men and women unsoiled by filth and
muck.
But then there is the wisdom that
emerges from life’s grime, from amid
struggle, pain, and failure; there is the
clarity and passion born from hearts
tarnished by toxicity. When a person,
burdened by the daily pressures of
earning a livelihood and raising a family,
bogged down by trauma, fears, and
anxiety; when a human being troubled by
his earthly nature and his immoral urges,
bursts out with a yearning to transcend
his dirt and connect to Truth — this small,
restricted flow of water seeping out from
a sandy and rocky psyche is more
refreshing and potent than all of the
serene waters located above the “ground.”
When a Jew, feeling so distant, engages
in a Mitzvah, cries out to G-d in yearning,
or makes one move to excavate the inner
faith, resilience and idealism that lay
buried in his or her soul, he or she
connected to this spring of Divine infinity
flowing deep below our earthiness. This
is the most sparkling and refreshing
water to the soul, to the universe, and to
G-d.
This is why the fathers of the Jewish
people were digging and preserving
wells. They taught us to fight for and to
cherish those moments of truth, fleeting
as they are, and those small sparks of
idealism, buried within the deep rubble
of trauma and confusion.
For this is the purpose of life, to discover
heaven within the earth, to find your
springs of joy, confidence, and
wholesomeness that always flow beneath
your surface.