We Can by Rav Moshe Weinberger

From the Fire Parshas Vayeitzei We Can

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

The pasuk (Bereishis 29:2) says that when Yaakov arrived in Charan, “And he saw and behold there was a well in the field and there were three flocks of sheep waiting by it because the flocks drank from that well and there was a great rock on the mouth of the well.”

In his conversation with the shepherds, Yaakov asked them why they were not drawing water to allow their sheep to drink from the well. “And they said, ‘We can’t [move the stone] until all of the flocks gather and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well.’” Yaakov’s response to this explanation was “Yaakov approached and rolled the stone from off of the mouth of the well and gave water to the sheep of Lavan, the brother of his mother.”

Imagine how the shepherds must have laughed when they saw this yeshiva bachur, this (Bereishis 25:27) “Ish yosheiv ohalim, pure man [studying] in tents” walking up to move this boulder which a whole group of strong, healthy shepherds could not move. The Medrash (Bereishis Raba 70:8), however, says that for Yaakov, moving the stone was so easy that it was as if the boulder was the size of “the tiny hole of a small strainer.” To the shepherds, the rock was a giant boulder, but to Yaakov it was like a little pebble. Can it be that this was some sort of macho contest to see who is stronger and that Yaakov won the contest? This Medrash cries out to be interpreted on a deeper level.

Chazal offer many opinions regarding the nature of the well covered by the boulder. Some suggest that it refers to Yerushalayim. Others say it refers to Har Sinai. But we find a deeper interpretation in the seforim hakedoshim which explains that the well represents each person. Everyone possesses a wellspring of abilities, strengths, talents, and gifts which demand expression in the person’s life. We all know talented, intelligent people who fail to succeed in life because there is some boulder preventing them from expressing their inner gifts, their true personality. With all of their physical strength, the shepherds were convinced that they could not move the rock. Their attitude is defined with two words “lo nuchal, we can’t do it.” It’s impossible. Someone who believes that he is incapable of something will indeed find that he cannot accomplish it. Yaakov however, believed in the human ability to remove the boulders that imprison their inner strengths. That is why he was successful.

Rav Kook taught in the fourth of the Shmona Kavotzim that “a person must always gauge himself and know that he must actualize his own personal truth and straightness, the truth and straightness that he feels in his innermost spirit. He will then be guaranteed to walk on the path of faith.” Hashem planted infinite gifts and talents within each one of us. Our job is to remove the blockages that restrain the expression of that inner greatness.

Everyone has a dream that he wants to accomplish something big in life. But his “I can’t do it” sits like an unmovable boulder preventing him from realizing that dream. Yaakov teaches us to recognize that the obstacles preventing our self-actualization are actually like little pebbles, the size of the hole in a strainer. The attitude of “I can’t” turns even a tiny rock into a giant boulder.

This attitude of “we can’t do it” does not only apply to individuals. The same thing can apply to an entire community. A feeling of hopelessness, that change is too difficult, can set in and prevent people from believing that they can make a change.

Although no one faced greater obstacles than Yaakov Avinu, his whole essence was “I can.” This “simple man [studying] in tents” was forced to become a shepherd and work for fourteen years to marry Rochel. When he was forced to face his brother (Bereishis 32:25), “He was left alone and wrestled with a man until the break of dawn.” That was the ministering angel of Eisav, the representative of the “other side.” Everything was a struggle for Yaakov. And when he thought that he could have some reprieve from his troubles, he lost Yosef and endured twenty-two years of grief without any Divine inspiration or prophecy.

In his epic struggle with the heavenly force powering his brother Eisav, he could have easily given up and conceded, “I just can’t.” But instead, it was the ministering angel of Eisav that said I “cannot beat him.” The whole essence of the “other side” is that it says, “I can’t.” It tries to convince us that we can’t, but if we believe in ourselves and say, “I can,” then it gives up. Indeed, the angel of the “other side” renames Yaakov “Yisroel,” saying (Id. at 29), “because you have struggled with angels and with men and you were victorious.” You said, “I can.”

This is man’s choice. Will he adopt the attitude of the shepherds who lived with fear, seeing any obstacle as a giant boulder preventing them from unleashing their potential? Or will he be like Yaakov Avinu, who saw his obstacles as little pebbles that could not stop him from attaining his goals?

Rebbe Nachman told of a king who wished to test his son. He had a large boulder placed in the castle courtyard and instructed his son to remove the boulder from the courtyard within one week. He told him that he could not use any servants to help him. Struggling to find a way to move it, he tried to employ every type of contraption to even make the rock budge but he was not successful. When the week was over, the king checked in on his son, who had made no progress. Rebuking the boy for not thinking clearly, the king proceeded to take a hammer and chisel and reduced the boulder to a pile of small pebbles, which he then easily removed from the courtyard.

We can achieve greatness if we believe that we can and refuse to listen to those voices inside and outside that claim “It can’t be done.” But we must understand that it can’t be done all at once. Just like the king’s son realized in Rebbe Nachman’s analogy, the “boulder” preventing us from achieving great things can be removed if we work steadily over time to reduce it to pebbles.

May we merit, both individually and as a kehila, to remove the “great stone on the mouth of the well” that prevents us from expressing our true potential by recognizing that the blockage exists primarily in our imagination. May we soon see the darkness lifted off the foundation stone of Creation and the appearance of the third and final Beis Hamikdash with the arrival of Moshiach.