In this week’s Parasha there is a pasuk about Yitzhak Avinu,
וַיִּזְרַע יִצְחָק בָּאָרֶץ הַהִוא וַיִּמְצָא בַּשָּׁנָה הַהִוא מֵאָה שְׁעָרִים וַיְבָרְכֵהוּ ה׳
Yitzhak planted in that land, and he found in that year, one hundred times, and Hashem blessed him.
Some people have the custom to say this pasuk, which is a secret of parnassa, on the eve of Rosh Hashana, as mentioned by Ben Ish Chai.
What does it mean? Rashi says בָּאָרֶץ הַהִוא /that land, meant it was a bad land and בַּשָּׁנָה הַהִוא / that year meant it was a bad year. Yet he found 100 times the amount that he estimated. And Hashem blessed him.
Yitzhak Avinu had a tremendous abundance of blessing. If a stock yields twice its estimate it’s good, yet here he found 100 times more than the estimate!
Rashi also asks why Yitzhak was even estimating to begin with. He explains that it was because Yitzhak wanted to know how much Ma’aser he had to give. So based on the crop he expected, he was preparing his 10%.
We can see from this that Yitzhak Avinu realized that his beracha came from Hashem; that’s why he was preparing his Ma’aser from the beginning. When a person has that attitude, that is a source for beracha.
The sefarim also question the term that the Torah uses, וימצא/ and he finds,
Why “finds?” When you plant you don’t “find.”
The answer is that Yitzhak Avinu understood that it was a “Metziya/a find.” It was Hashem’s blessing.
All of his hishtadlut was because Hashem said to work. But Yitzhak Avinu understood that it was a metziya. If a person looks at his wealth and success, not as his own accomplishment but rather that God gave it to him and he found it, that is the secret to success.
Similarly, the Gemara says that if a person says, “I toiled and I found” believe the person.
The Gemara questions the wording- if you toil, why does it still have to be found? But the answer is that yes, even after you toil, you have to realize that it was only that you found it.
No one leaves their home and plans to go look for a gold watch in the street. Who works on finding lost objects? Yes, there are treasure hunters who use Geiger counters to find things hidden underground, but they are looking for treasure.
When people go to work, they view it as putting forth effort and seeing success. They don’t view it as “finding” success. They aren’t on a treasure hunt.
But that was how Yitzhak Avinu looked at life,
וימצא בַּשָּׁנָה הַהִוא מֵאָה שְׁעָרִים וַיְבָרְכֵהוּ ה׳
He found in that year.
We learn this lesson from Yaakov Avinu as well.
When Yitzhak sent Esav out on a hunting mission, Rivka sent Yaakov on the same mission in order to replace Esav. Yaakov came back rather quickly, and Yitzhak asked him, “What did you do that you rushed and you found, my son”
Again, although it was a hunting mission, Yitzhak framed it as a metziyah. That was his attitude in life. Any success was viewed as a find, a metziya.
And Yaakov Avinu answered,
הקרא ה׳ אלקיך לפני
God brought it to me.
Yaakov Avinu knew that everything he had, God had brought to him.
Whether his mother gave it to him or he found it in a field, it made no difference. It was all the same to him.
הקרא ה׳ אלקיך לפני
Everything that happens is all under Hesed Hashem
People don’t usually speak this way. They talk about “I,” how “I closed the deal,” etc.
But the attitude of the Avot was,
הקרה ה אלקיך לפני
Hashem your God made it happen, for everything in life.
Eliezer, Eved Avraham had the same attitude. He said, “Hashem brought Hatzlacha to my ways.”
This is the language of a Jewish person.
That’s the way we talk, and that’s the way we think. All of life’s successes, are a Metziah.
When it comes to a shidduch one pasuk says, “I found a wife, I found good,”
whereas another pasuk says, “I find a wife, she’s worse than death.”
Which is it? The answer is, it all depends.
If you realize that your wife is a gift from God, a metziya that you found, then you’ll be blessed with good.
But when you think “I found;” when you attribute your marriage and your success to yourself, then it’s as bitter as death.
That is the secret to success. It’s the secret of “Metziya/I found,” not something I worked for.
Have a Shabbat shalom.