Next Thursday night, we begin asking for tal umotor, rain and dew. The old joke tells of the punctual Yekke who reminds his wife, “Don’t forget, I vill be coming home later from Maariv starting this week.” After all, two seconds are two seconds. However, for the rest of us, what exactly is the significance of this annual milestone?
The Sheim M’Shmuel (Parshas Lech Lecha, page 86) offers us an incredible lesson in our limitless potential, especially at this time of year. He quotes a Medrash (Bereishis Rabbah 39) that tells us that Avrohom Avinu was worried about the sins that he committed when he was a child and followed father’s idolatry (see Rambam, beginning of Hilchos Avodah Zarah). Hashem answered him with the words “Lecha tal yaldusecha — You retain the dew-like freshness of your youth” (Tehillim 110:3). The Medrash explains: “Just as the dew blossoms, so will your sins blossom [and fly off].” As usual, the Sheim M’Shmuel quotes from his father, the Avnei Neizer, that there is an ancient dialogue between Klal Yisroel and the Ribono Shel Olam. We requested of Hashem, “Then He will come to us like the rain” (Hoshea 6:3), but Hashem answered, “No, I will be to Klal Yisroel like the dew” (Hoshea 14:6 and see Taanis 4a).
So what exactly is the difference between rain and dew? The Avnei Neizer explains that of course both are good and we actually do request both. But we wanted the primary relationship between ourselves and Hashem to be one where we receive His bounty as a gift that comes generously directly from heaven, irrigates the earth and remains there to nurture it further. However, Hashem decided that if He Alone is the Giver, we have not participated in our growth. But if He acts like the dew, which brings out the natural moisture of the plants, then we ourselves have made a contribution to our own development.
The Sheim M’Shmuel adds to his father’s beautiful metaphor that “this is also why we receive the neshomah yeseirah (enhanced soul), which comes to us every Shabbos, even though it leaves after Shabbos. This is exactly like the dew, which awakens in us the internal power that is already there. This helps us serve Hashem all week long.”
We should add that the Ramchal (beginning of Derech Hashem) famously teaches that this was exactly Hashem’s purpose and design in the way that He created mankind. He could have, of course, created us perfectly. Indeed, many people over the centuries have asked why He didn’t. But this was the Creator’s kindness and genius that He built in opportunities for us to “earn our keep.” In this way, He did not create a welfare state or force His creatures to eat “the bread of shame.” We have a glorious job to do and we are paid in accordance with our performance. In other words, in Sochatchover terms, “we receive dew, not just rain.”
Of course, this leaves us with a bit of a problem about Avrohom Avinu’s childhood. If we read the Rambam and the Sochatchover Rebbe’s interpretation correctly, it seems somewhat odd that Hashem would promise Avrohom that he will retain the dew of his youth when that itself was imperfect, since he was then serving avodah zarah. However, here the Sefas Emes (Halpern edition, Vayeira, page 117) explains that Hashem was promising Avrohom something that would help his descendents throughout the generations. Just as Avrohom reached a new madreigah when he “graduated” from his father’s influence and “discovered Hashem” for himself, so will it be with Klal Yisroel. Whenever we grow and rise to a new spiritual level, we will worry: “What will be with all the time when I didn’t know that fact or have that understanding?” However, if we approach each new level with humility, realizing that life is full of growth, then nothing will have been wasted. Every experience, every test, contributes to our new selves. This was what Hashem meant when He said, ‘I give you the dew of your youth.’ You can take even the part of your childhood when you worshipped idols with you, since that was part of your journey.”
These are not just kind or even brilliant words. They are guideposts forever, as we become, hopefully, continually greater throughout our lives. For Avrohom, there were only a few years of imperfection. For many of us, we are constantly learning what we did wrong last year and perhaps even yesterday. We can even plug the Sefas Emes into the Sheim M’Shmuel and conclude that our mistakes and missteps can all add up to the dew from which we grow, if we only incorporate each moment into the total ladder of our lives. If we return to the Sheim M’Shmuel, we will notice that he points out that when we repent, if we do so out of love—not fear—of Hashem, then our sins turn into merits, since we used them to become better through our contrition once we understand where we erred. That is the power of dew over rain, since our change came from within, not forced in from the outside, even by the Creator Himself.
My rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Hutner (Maamorei Pachad Yitzchok, Sukkos, Maamar 10, page 27) makes a similar point: “Hashem’s promise to Avrohom of giving his childhood is not about teshuvah, since we never find that a ger is responsible for things that he did before his conversion. Calling these mistakes “childhood” indicates that just as an adult must first be a child, so is there a natural progression of growth in a human being.”
With this explanation, Rav Hutner illuminates why the Gemara (Sukkah 53a) refers to the “Song of the Baalei Teshuvah” at the Simchas Bais Hashoeivah as “happy is our old age that has atoned for our youth.” In other words, as we learned from the Sheim M’Shmuel, as long as we keep growing spiritually in life, falling, stumbling and making mistakes are all part of the process of what we have learned to call shteiging. Now we know that we can shteig from the dew as well.
Rav Chatzkel Levenstein gives an amazing example of this process. We know from the Yomim Noraim and Kinnos that during the first Bais Hamikdosh, the novi and kohein gadol, Zechariah, chastised Klal Yisroel and was murdered for his efforts. His blood bubbled up for 150 years until the evil Nevuzaradun came to destroy Yerushalayim. When he asked about this strange phenomenon, people tried to explain it away, but he persisted and discovered the truth. Chazal (Sanhedrin 96b) tell us that after doing many horrific things, Nevuzaradun realized that if people who had only killed one person were punished so severely, he would surely be punished exponentially much more, so he ran away and was megayeir. Says Rav Chatzkel, “Imagine the power of a moment of teshuvah, even for such appalling sins.” If we can learn to incorporate our missteps into personal growth, we can surely be forgiven and continue to shteig from one step to another.
Perhaps a more down-to earth story can help as well. A young child who suffered from juvenile diabetes wanted a candy, but his mother said, “Sorry, you are not allowed to eat this. It is dangerous for you.” The child, however, was not pacified and the mother took him to Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman. Rav Shteinman heard the story and asked her to leave the room for a moment so he could speak to the boy in private.
“What would you like to be when you grow up?” he inquired of the child.
“I would like to become a gadol hador, like you.”
The wise tzaddik responded, “I would like to tell you the secret of how Rav Shteinman became Rav Shteinman. When I received the first candy I ever got, I wanted very much to eat it. But I decided that I would not do so. Then, when I was offered the second one, it was easier for me to overcome my wish for the candy. The third time, I was already even more mature and I didn’t even want it anymore. If you truly want to become the gadol hador, you should start now with this opportunity, which will help you keep growing throughout your life.” The boy left and ran to his mother, saying, “Please throw away the candy. I want to become like Rav Shteinman” (Sefer Sos B’imrasecha, Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, page 312).
If we now combine what we learned from the Sheim M’Shmuel, the Sefas Emes, Rav Hutner and Rav Shteinman, we can conclude that both rain and dew are good. It is wonderful when we receive something from Hashem. It is even better when we earn it on our own. If we take our inner child with us throughout life, we can continue to shteig gradually in a healthy manner, going from madreigah to madreigah. Even when we make mistakes, they will be the innocent ones of youth, which can be transformed into lessons for the future.
May the tal of our youth become the seeds of many Rav Aharon Leib Shteinmans in the spiritual gardens and orchards of Klal Yisroel.
