Resilience - Shavuot 2020

(1) Thereupon the LORD said to me, “Carve out two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain; and make an ark of wood. (2) I will inscribe on the tablets the commandments that were on the first tablets that you smashed, and you shall deposit them in the ark.”

§ "...which you broke, and you shall put them in the Ark” (Deuteronomy 10:1–2). Rav Yosef teaches a baraita: This verse teaches that both the tablets of the Covenant and the pieces of the broken tablets are placed in the Ark, together. ... Reish Lakish says: Sometimes cancelling Torah is its foundation, as it is written: “which [asher] you broke” (Exodus 34:1). The Holy Blessed One said to Moses: Yishar koach that you broke the tablets.

(7) Blessed is he who trusts in the LORD, Whose trust is the LORD alone. (8) He shall be like a tree planted by waters, Sending forth its roots by a stream: It does not fear the coming of heat, Its leaves are ever fresh; It does not worry in a year of drought, It does not cease to yield fruit.

He is like the tree planted next to the water ... and even in a drought year this tree does not worry and does not hesitate to fruit, because it always has moisture and it gives fruit in its season. Similarly, the person with faith in God the good will never turn away from him. And even in the time when humanity is struggling, he will be at peace and quiet.

And the leaves are symbolic of one's material success, money, and honor, and the fruit are symbolic of children.

[Abarbanel (1437–1508) lived in Portugal and Italy]

"And he shall be like the tree planted..." This is a reference to the verse "She is a tree of life to those who those who hold fast to her" (Proverbs 3:18). Rabbi Yitzchak said, in the name of Rabbi Hiyyah, "why is the Torah called a tree of life? Because it is dear to all life."

“And he shall be like a tree planted [shatul] by streams of water” (Psalms 1:3). The students of the school of Rabbi Yannai say: The verse states that a Torah scholar is comparable to a tree that has been uprooted from its original location and replanted [shatul] somewhere else. It does not say that he is comparable to a tree that is planted [natu’a] and remains in one place. This is teaching that anyone who learns Torah from one teacher alone never sees a sign of blessing, as it is necessary to acquire knowledge from many teachers.

(19) Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and let the boy drink.

(62) Isaac had just come back from the vicinity of Be'er-lahai-roi (Well of Lifegiving Sight), for he was settled in the region of the Negeb.

(1) מבוא באר לחי ראי HE HAD JUST COME FROM THE BE'ER LACHAI-ROI (WELL OF LIFEGIVING SIGHT)— For he had gone there to bring Hagar back to Abraham that he might take her again as his wife (Genesis Rabbah 60:14).