Today we will discuss a Bitachon thought related to the Parasha, from the Sefer Arugat HaBosem, written by Rabbi Moshe Greenwald, one of the great rabbis of Hungary, who lived from 1853 to 1910. He is known by the title Arugat HaBosem.
In this week's Parasha it says that He came into the house and he had water to wash his feet and the feet of the people that were with him.
We found this with Avraham last week as well. What is it about the feet that need to be washed?
He explains that the feet refer to the hishtadlut that we do. He quotes a pasuk, We walk with our feet, and explains that feet are what signify what we're doing. That's why, when we put on our shoes in the morning, we say, She’Asah Li kol Sorchi- once you have shoes on your feet, you're ready to get up and go.
But that's where you can make a mistake and think that you're in charge. He says a beautiful thought.- We find the concept of avak/dirt or dust being used with sin. There is something called Avak Ribit-it’s not really interest, but it has a dust of interest. There is also Avak Lashon Hara. It's not actually slanderous, but it has a dust of that.
He adds that there is something called Avak Avodah Zara. It's not actually idol worship, but it's the dust of the idol worship. And that's why it says Avraham Avinu asked them to wash their feet- because they were businessmen who bowed to the dust on their feet, which means, of course, they believed in Hashem, but they still thought that maybe they were slightly involved. When a person gets overly involved with hishtadlut, he needs to wash his feet. He needs to cleanse himself and bring himself back.
I’d like to add (this on my own) that the Ben Ish Chai says that normally we wash our hands for bread or whatever it may be. We don’t wash our hands and feet. He says it’s because it's very hard to get the Tumah/impurities off the feet. But, he says, before Shabbat, it says you have to wash your hands and your feet, because with the power of Shabbat, you can cleanse your feet as well. According to this, we can understand what to wash our feet means- that Shabbat is when we really understand that Hashem created the world in sixth days, rested on the seventh, and continues to control and direct the world. That's how we get the dust off of our feet and cleanse our feet.
We also see the lesson that over-hishtadlut look backfires.
The Midrash says about Efron that a man who has an evil eye is always looking for more. He gets into a state of panic when he sees money. He wants a lot of money. That was Efron, who saw the opportunity to get money for selling the Maarat Hamachpela. But
וְלֹא־יֵ֝דַ֗ע כִּי־חֶ֥סֶר יְבֹאֶֽנּוּ׃
he doesn't realize it's going to bring him lacking ( Mishleh 28,22)
What does he lack?
The Midrash explains that Efron is normally written with Vav (עפרון but after the transaction, it's missing a Vav עפרןbecause he lost out. And once you take the Vav out of the name Efron the numerical value. (400) is the same as רע עין evil eye.
The Gaon of Vilna explains that when Avimelech gave money to Avraham Avinu, it says, he gave him a thousand kesef but Avraham Avinu did not want to use this money. He put it aside, to buy the Maarat HaMachpela. If Efron had not asked for an amount (400 kesef ) he would've gotten a thousand! But because he was doing hishtadlut asking for that high number, it backfired- He really would've gotten an even better price.
Related to the fact on Shabbat, you wash your feet, the Gemara tells us that the person that walks too fast weakens his eyesight. How do you fix that? By looking at the candles on Friday night or by looking into the wine of the kiddush. I once heard an explanation from Rabbi Avigdor Miller for this. He asked about the concept that your eyesight gets weakened because you run fast, and explained that running fast refers to a person that does too much hishtadlut. He’s always running, and it weakens his eyesight because he's not seeing correctly. He's not seeing that it's only hishtadlut, and that Hashem's Gezera is what makes you get to what you need to get to. So how do you restore your eyesight? How do you get back on track? The answer is, with the kiddush of Shabbat or the candles on Friday night. Shabbat gives you back the eyesight that got lost by the overemphasis on the running with your feet.
So B’Ezrat Hashem we will use Shabbat to recalibrate and realize that our feet don't get us what we need to get to. And we will cleanse ourselves from the Avak, from the dust of the improper