25 Nov TOLDOT: THE SANDY PATH TO INSPIRATION WHY WERE THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF JUDAISM ENTHRALLED BY WELLS?
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 Toldot 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.