עיקב: כוחי ועוצם ידי עבירה או חוב קדוש?

By Ian Schwartz

In the summer of 1981, Prime Minister Menachem Begin made one of the most daring decisions in Jewish history. Faced with the impending threat of nuclear annihilation from Sadam Hussein’s Iraq, Begin made the fateful decision to bomb the nuclear reactor in what became known as “Operation Opera”. This was an incredible act of independent leadership. We take this historical event for granted, but this in no way was an easy decision. After this strike the Israeli media did not even believe the reports from the IDF because the proposition of bombing the Iraqi nuclear program hundreds of miles from Israel was so far-fetched; they thought it was a joke. More seriously, Israel was condemned for this unilateral attack by the US, UK, and many other allies. Following this successful mission, Begin remarked that the fact that all of the pilots returned home completely unharmed was an act of God. This begs the question - was it an act of God or a successful mission led by man?

We find a pasuk in our Parsha which touches upon this dichotomy.

וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ בִּלְבָבֶ֑ךָ כֹּחִי֙ וְעֹ֣צֶם יָדִ֔י עָ֥שָׂה לִ֖י אֶת־הַחַ֥יִל הַזֶּֽה׃

וְזָֽכַרְתָּ֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ כִּ֣י ה֗וּא הַנֹּתֵ֥ן לְךָ֛ כֹּ֖חַ לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת חָ֑יִל לְמַ֨עַן הָקִ֧ים אֶת־בְּרִית֛וֹ אֲשֶׁר־נִשְׁבַּ֥ע לַאֲבֹתֶ֖יךָ כַּיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃

The basic understanding of the pasuk is that Moshe is warning us. When we enter the land and find great material success, we should not attribute it to our own gifts and abilities, but rather we must remember that only through the siyata dishmaya of God we find success. This is the understanding of the Ramban, Ibn Ezra and others. This is a constant struggle all of us deal with in virtually every area of life. How much of our success do we attribute to ourselves and our own efforts and how much do we declare to be the help of heaven? I want to be clear this is not the philosophical question of hishtadlus vs bitachon. That is a dilemma which precedes a choice and is based around if one should one act in the moment or sit back and trust in God. The question of כוחי ועוצם ידי is centered around the post facto, after success in attaining a job or a learning goal is achieved. Who is responsible for this success? Hashem or Us? In theory it's easy to say both, but when it comes down to the gritty details of the actualization of this pasuk it can be hard to implement.

I'll give an example in which I first felt this tension. In the army, when we learned to shoot, I thought about this question a lot. We had a certain week in which we performed many different tests and training exercises to showcase our shooting acumen. At the end of the week I was very proud of my success in a few of the various marksmanship tests. I struggled to formulate in my tefila how to thank Hashem or if I should thank Him at all. After all, I was the one holding the gun, crouching, breathing properly, aligning the site, and pulling the trigger. It felt in reality as though my success was one hundred percent due to my abilities. In the beit midrash it is easy to state הכל בידי שמים, but when you live an experience in which your own drive is so palpable it’s much more difficult to submit fully to the invisible creator. When we have invested the time and energy into accomplishing any goal in life, how much credit should we give to ourselves and how much should we attribute to Hashem?

In order to answer this question and live with the proper integration between our own efforts and Hashem's assistance I’d like to share a life changing Ran. As stated before most meforshim view the pasuk of כוחי ועוצם ידי to be a warning against forgetting the providence of Hashem in our lives. Do not lose sight of the God who gave you the ability to conquer the land of Israel and reap its benefits. However, the Ran has an entirely different take on this pasuk.

"'וזכרת את ה' א-להיך, כי הוא הנותן לך כוח לעשות חיל' - רצה בזה כי עם היות שאמת שיש באישים סגולות מיוחדות לדבר מהדברים, כמו שיש אנשים מוכנים לקבל החכמה ואחרים מוכנים לשית עצות בנפשם לאסוף ולכנוס, עם היות שהכוח ההוא נטוע בך, זכור תזכור הכוח ההוא, מי נתנו בך ומאין בא, הוא אומרו 'וזכרת... כי הוא הנותן לך כוח', לא אמר 'כי הוא נותן לך חיל', שאם כן היה מרחיק שהכוח הנטוע באדם לא יהיה סיבה אמצעית באסיפת ההון, ואין הדבר כן, ולפיכך אמר כי היות שכוחך עשה את החיל הזה, תזכור נותן הכוח ההוא יתברך".

The Ran states that this pasuk is not a לא תעשה against forgetting Hashem, but rather an עשה to remember our own strengths as God given gifts. We are not meant to invest time, blood, sweat, and tears into our life's work and then write it off with a half hearted “baruch hashem”. That not only is dishonest to our relationship with Hashem, but is even worse; it's betraying our relationship with ourselves. Each and every Yid must be able to look inward and recognize clearly what their strengths and unique abilities are which Hashem gave them. Only when a person is truly in touch with what makes them special and can point to it, then they can state “Baruch Hashem!” with a full sense of genuine Emunah. This is because their recognition of Hashem comes from an understanding that the particular and rare כוחות that one has is a gift from Hashem. The Ran explains that the Torah is urging us to remember who we are and what makes us special.

So, when the best trained and focused Israeli fighter pilots come back from a mission or we experience great success in our lives, there is a critical two-step process to engage in. First of all, we must recognize our own essential qualities and appreciate them, and only then recognize that they are given to us from Avinu Shebashamayim. One without the other is incomplete. We should all be zoche to see the greatness within ourselves and actualize it with a consciousness of its divine origin.