ספר בראשית

‎ This is what G’d meant when He told Yaakov in his dream: ‎כי ‏לא אעזבך עד אשר עשיתי את אשר דברתי לך‎, “for I will not ‎abandon you until I have done what I have said (I would do) ‎for you.” What G’d meant was that as soon as Yaakov would ‎return to the land of Israel, he would have to fend for himself, ‎using the intelligence etc., that G’d had endowed him with. He ‎implied that at that time he would have to accompany his ‎activities with the appropriate prayers asking G’d to let his efforts ‎be crowned with success. If he were to neglect to do so, he would ‎not become the founding father of the twelve tribes making up ‎the Jewish people. Seeing that you had not reached spiritual ‎maturity until that time, I intervened overtly on your behalf ‎during the preceding years.‎When we look at Yaakov’s situation from this angle, it is ‎neither fear nor lack of faith when Yaakov says ‎אם יהיה אלוקים ‏עמדי וגו'‏‎, “if G’d will be with me etc.” It is a declaration by Yaakov ‎that as soon as he will safely return to his homeland he is ‎prepared to do everything humanly possible, including prayer, of ‎course, to ensure his success in the task that G’d has set him. He ‎indicates by promising to tithe his income he will continue to ‎view his success as an act of charity by G’d. Although he will do ‎what is in his power, he will view success as G’d manifesting His ‎love for him. Tzaddikim, even when earning their livelihood ‎by their own efforts, will continue to view their success as not ‎due to their own intelligence or hard work, but as a gift from G’d. ‎The matriarchs, whose success is not measured in terms of their ‎earning power, but in terms of the fruit of their wombs, therefore ‎were meant to turn to G’d in prayer in order for what other ‎women considered as their natural right, i.e. to produce children, ‎to be granted to them also.‎Perhaps this is how we must understand Bereshit ‎Rabbah 76,2 on Genesis 45,28 according to which any ‎assurance given by G’d to tzaddikim does not refer to events ‎that would occur in this life. On Deuteronomy 3,23 Rashi ‎comments that although the righteous, if they wanted to, could ‎ascribe any success that they enjoyed in this life as due to merits ‎they had accumulated, they prefer not to do so. When they ask ‎G’d for something, they make a point as describing G’d’s granting ‎their request as a ‎מתנת חנם‎, a “free gift.” These explanations were ‎needed, as seeing that we have a tradition that G’d does not even ‎go back on a conditional promise, how could the Midrash say that ‎no promises of G’d apply in this world. The meaning of the words: ‎כי לא אעזבך עד וגו'‏‎, therefore must mean that there comes a time ‎in Yaakov’s life when he is expected to no longer have to rely on ‎G’d’s promises.‎