The Midrash on Parshas Vayechi (Tanchuma, 16) states:
Yitzchak, when he blessed Ya’akov, said to him, “And G-d Almighty should bless you” (Bereishis 28:2). With what did he conclude his blessing? With “calling” (keriah), as it states, “And Yitzchak called (vayikra) Ya’akov, and he blessed him and commanded him” (ibid. 1). Ya’akov, with that which his father concluded, he began, as it states, “And Ya’akov called (vayikra) his sons” (ibid. 49:1) and concluded “And this (v’zos) is what he spoke” (ibid. 28). Moshe, when he blessed the tribes, began from the place where Ya’akov concluded, as it states, “And this (v’zos) is the blessing” (Devarim 33:1) and concluded with “Fortunate (ashrecha) are you Israel” (ibid. 29). David, too, when he began in song, opened with the place Moshe concluded with, “Fortunate (ashrei) is the man” (Tehillim 1:1)…
What lies behind the Midrash’s linkage of the blessings and words of four great founding leaders of the Jewish people, Yitzchak, Ya’akov, Moshe and David?[1] Perhaps one message the Midrash is teaching us is that the Ribon kol hama’asim, Adon kol haneshamos (Sovereign over all actions, Master of all souls) deliberately arranges that no one individual should complete all there is to be accomplished in any spiritual endeavor. Each towering figure only blessed the Jewish people to a certain extent, thus leaving room for their successors to take what they did, one step further. Additionally, each successive generation builds off of the accomplishments of the previous one. Had Yitzchak not blessed Ya’akov in the manner in which he did, Ya’akov would not have had the spiritual power to endow his blessings upon his children. The same applies to Moshe and then to David. Each spiritual giant was only able to accomplish what he did, based on the accumulated spiritual earnings in the “heavenly bank account” accrued by his illustrious ancestors.
The Talmud (Chulin 6b-7a) records the statement of Rebbe, R. Yehudah Hanasi, “מקום הניחו לו אבותי להתגדר בו, my ancestors left me room to make my own mark!” The Gemara applies this teaching both to spiritual actions and to innovative piskei halacha. This expression is also often quoted concerning Chiddushei Torah.[2] This statement can be interpreted to mean not only that each individual person has his unique role to fulfill in the world scheme, but that his ancestors “left it for him” meaning only accomplished a certain amount which enabled their descendant to accomplish what he would. A humorous story is told in Maseches Megila (28a) in which R. Yehoshua b. Karcha blesses Rebbe to reach half of the former’s very long life. Upon Rebbe’s asking, “Why not [bless me] to reach your whole [lifespan]?” R. Yehoshua responded, “Should your descendants shepherd animals?!” It is Hashem’s will that each individual should make their unique mark in the world.
Oftentimes, an individual’s ability to overcome a spiritual challenge is only based on a previous generation’s successes in this area or even another’s accomplishments in their own generation. Mori v’Rabi, Rav Chaim Ya’acov Goldwicht zt”l, founding Rosh Hayeshiva of Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh, suggested a homiletical interpretation of a well-known teaching of R. Chananya b. Teradyon in Pirkei Avos (3:2), based on this concept. “שנים שיושבין ואין ביניהן דברי תורה הרי זה מושב לצים– Two people who are sitting and words of Torah are not exchanged between them, this is a place of mockers!” On a simple level, the mishna is derogatorily commenting on the status of this duo who are not engaging in Torah study as they should. Rav Goldwicht suggested an alternate explanation: The pair are trying to learn Torah but “it’s not going well;” there are no words of Torah between them. This indicates that in the past, in that very spot, others were engaged in unnecessary, or even prohibited, speech, not words of Torah. This negative behavior affected the very place in which they did so for the future. However, the opposite is also true; a physical location in which former occupants utilized their time properly in the study of Torah would be conducive to cause future learners in that spot to succeed in their learning beyond the level they would have, had it not been for the earlier devotion to Torah study there.[3]
Another example of building on the previous generations’ accomplishments emerges concerning the final redemption. Although Ya’akov Avinu’s original intention to reveal to his children the time of the final redemption was Divinely aborted, he still predicted events that would take place only in the messianic era. (See Rashi on the blessings of Yehuda.) Elsewhere,[4] we brought the words of the Chafetz Chaim that no generation should despair of being able to bring the redemption in their time in light of the fact that more righteous, earlier generations did not merit doing so. Each generation brought more sanctity into the world via their actions bringing the redemption ever closer leaving less of a “debt” to the next one. Consequently, the amount of spiritual accomplishment required to rush the redemption in any given generation is significantly less than in earlier ones. It is not that the later generations are greater, but rather that they are as “dwarfs riding on the shoulders of giants.”
In the poignant words of Nefesh Hachayim (1:4):
And this is the law of man—each person in Israel should not say in his heart (c”v): “What am I, what power do I have to effect anything in the world via my lowly actions?” Truthfully, one should understand and know and fix in his mind’s thoughts, that every detail of his actions, speech and thoughts, in each instant and moment, are not for naught (c”v). And how many are his actions and how great and exalted, that each one rises according to its root, to effect its result at the loftiest heights, in the worlds and highest levels of the heavenly lights.[5]
Each member of the holy Jewish people should constantly remember the words of Rav Nachman of Breslov that the day he was born, Hashem decided that the world could not be without his existence and accomplishments. With this in mind may we all fulfill our calling (ויקרא) and recognize how fortunate (אשריך ישראל) we are to do so!
[1] See Kli Yakar (beginning of Parshas V’zos Haberacha) for an additional homiletical explanation.
[2] See, for example, Introduction of Rav Menachem Hameiri to his Beis Habechira.
[3] See Creating Jewish History for additional examples of this phenomenon.
[4] See Selling the Land, Redeeming the Land.
[5] Based on the translation by Leonard Moskowitz, The Soul of Life, 2012, available on sefaria.com.