ספר בראשית

Yet another interpretation of our verse proceeds from the ‎premise that the donor benefits more from his generous deed ‎than the recipient of the charity dispensed by him. (Based on ‎‎Vayikra Rabbah 34,8) When reflecting on man’s condition ‎‎vis a vis G’d, man, especially when presenting his requests ‎to G’d in his prayers, is like the beggar asking the rich man for a ‎handout. David described this in psalms 102,1 when he says: ‎תפלה ‏לעני כי-יעטוף ולפני ה' ישפוך שיחו‎, “a prayer of the lowly man when he ‎is faint and pours out his plea before the Lord”. The psalmist’s ‎message is that when man thinks of himself as important, this ‎triggers Satan into presenting the heavenly tribunal with a list of ‎his shortcomings, failings, etc. Not only that, his arrogance will ‎prevent his prayers from being able to tear down the barriers ‎between him and G’d, seeing G’d hates nothing more than ‎arrogance. When he humbles himself however, considering ‎himself as if he were a beggar, he will be able to ascend all the ‎rungs of the spiritual ladder so that he can scale whatever wall ‎separated him from His Father in heaven. In the words of Yaakov, ‎when ‎גד‎ acts as a donor, ‎גד גדוד יגודנו‎, he can conquer like a ‎regiment, ‎גדוד‎, any obstacles that would prevent his prayers from ‎reaching G’d’s throne. He can reach the ultimate rung of that ‎ladder, the one known as ‎עקב‎.‎