As we mentioned last week, there is a custom brought down by the Ben Ish Chai to say various pesukim when we come home on the night of Rosh Hashana.
The first one is ונח מצא חן בעיני ה׳
And Noah found charm in the eyes of Hashem and we explained the significance of that pasuk.
Today we will discuss the second pasuk, found in Bereshit, Perek כו pasuk יב
וַיִּזְרַ֤ע יִצְחָק֙ בָּאָ֣רֶץ הַהִ֔וא וַיִּמְצָ֛א בַּשָּׁנָ֥ה הַהִ֖וא מֵאָ֣ה שְׁעָרִ֑ים וַֽיְבָרֲכֵ֖הוּ ה׳
Yitzhak Avinu planted in that land,And he found in that year, 100 times the amount he had assessed. And G-d blessed him. (The town of Meah Shearim derives its name from this pasuk)Meah Shearim doesn’t mean 100 gates, rather, it means 100 times his assessment. What does that mean, and what is the relevance of this pasuk to Rosh Hashana?
(Of note is that of all the pesukim that the Ben Ish Chai mentions, this is the only one which includes one of the Avot- and as we will soon see, Yitzhak Avinu has a special connection to Rosh Hashanah)
Rashi says that Yitzhak planted in “that land” even though that land was:
-not as chasuv/important as Yisrael, and -was not as fertile ,still, it produced.
Regarding “that year,” Rashi says that it was a bad year. It was a year of famine. Hence, Yitzhak Avinu went against the natural odds, had success regardless, and even produced 100 times his assessment.
Why did he assess it, Rashi asks? What was the purpose? Was there a committee waiting to hear what his projections were?
The answer is that his assessment was for the purpose of giving Ma’aser. He estimated in order to estimate his Ma’aser. He was planning to give Ma’aser on a bad year. We know that regarding Ma’aser it says,בחנוני נא בזאת
Test me with this- and see if I open up the windows to the heavens.
We read this pasuk on Rosh Hashanah to give ourselves a very important lesson. It could be the worst land, and the worst of years, and yet you can be super successful
What’s the secret?
Firstly, it’s Ma’aser, which demonstrates that you realize Hashem is in charge. Giving Ma’aser is, in itself, a state of reliance on Hashem and the realization that He’s in control.
But more than that, Yitzhak Avinu specifically is a segula for success in Parnassa/ livelihood.
How so?
Yitzhak Avinu was known as פחד יצחקPahad Yitzhak.
The fear of Yitzhak Avinu. He was afraid. Not fear of who would become the President of the United States, or fear of financial projections. No- he was afraid of Hashem.
As we’ve mentioned, the root of the name Yitzhak isצחק s’hok- happiness
Although Yitzhak Avinu was full of fear, he was nonetheless full of happiness as well, because he only had one fear- fear of G-d.
Pahad Yitzhak.
In our Rosh Hashana prayers, we talk about Pahad, Emah, and Yirah - three types or levels of fears.
The commentaries tell us that there is a pasuk that refers to Hashem’s control of parnassa. When say Ashrei every day, if we don’t have kavana on this pasuk, we have to repeat the whole thing, because it’s the most important pasuk in Ashrei. We say it in Bircat HaMazon as well
פותח את ידך ומשביע לכל חי רצון
Hashem opens His hands, and satiates every creature’s needs.
The words פותח את ידך start with the same letters as Pahad, Emah and Yirah, פחד אימה and יראה
פ, א and י
This indicates that Pahad, Emah and Yirah Fear, dread and more fear, open up the gates of Poteach Et Yadecha He opens His hands...
Therefore, of all the Avot, Yitzhak was the most successful. It says that he grew and grew and grew, to the point that people said they’d rather have the manure from the cows of Yitzhak then the goad of Avimelech !
Yitzhak was the epitome of success,
because he only feared Hashem.
This is a powerful bitachon lesson for us as we go into the new year.
Imagine if we were to say each one of these pesukim with kavana/ intent.
It says to see each one twelve times, one for each month of the year.
BeEzrat Hashem, we will continue tomorrow with the next pasuk or two, to clarify them before Rosh Hashana. Have a wonderful day.