Protection from the Philistines

“And he moved away from there, and he dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it.” (Bereishit 26:22)  
 

Unmeaningful = Unjoyful 

Many people these days suffer from depression and a sense of emptiness. Many of them try to overcome that melancholy by going to parties and clubs where everyone seems to be laughing and enjoying themselves, drinking as they dance to loud music. 
 

Yet, the reality is that this doesn’t bring them more joy or happiness. In fact, the opposite is true. Despite a culture engrossed in decadence and depravity, there are more and more people being consumed with sadness and depression. 
 

This levity and free-spiritedness only create a temporary sense of joy. It isn’t true, satisfying, and lasting happiness. These behaviors trick the mind into thinking that the person is happy. However, after the party, when he awakes from this drunkenness, he is left feeling empty and bored. 
 

This lifestyle inevitably leads a person away from the truth and towards the falsities of this world. They drift away from the just path that would lead them to behave properly towards one another and their Creator. Their days are consumed with chasing insatiable desires, thus destroying their lives as they become further lost in the emotions of sadness and loneliness that are born from living an unfulfilled life.

 
True Joy Protects 

It is impossible to acquire true and eternal happiness by going to the theater, attending events, going to parties or music festivals, etc. It can only be found in the Beit Midrash. 
 

When yidden gather to learn and daven, or to sing holy songs, they feel a sense of satisfaction because they are fulfilling their purpose. Their emunah and bitachon become stronger vanquishing their worldly worries, concerns, and fears. These emotions will lead to happiness, and joy will radiate throughout all aspects of their lives. 
 

The simcha (happiness) someone has when one fulfills a mitzvah has a unique power to protect from all evil. Any time a person is experiencing a holy simcha, the din – the harshness and judgment that is rooted in the impure forces of this world – cannot impact him. As the pasuk says (Yeshayahu 55:12), “For with joy shall you go forth… ” The tzaddikim explain that through “joy” all evil “shall go forth.” 
 

Dovid HaMelech wrote in Tehillim (122:1-2), “I rejoiced when they said to me, “Let us go to the House of the Lord.” Our feet were standing within your gates, O Jerusalem”. Dovid HaMelech and the yidden found happiness by going to the “House of the Lord” – the Beit Midrash. Therefore, they merited to stand and not fall in battle against their enemies. 
 

Shmuel HaNavi similarly wrote that he was victorious against the Plishtim (Philistines) because he had this true simcha. As the pasuk says (Shmuel I 2:1), “My mouth is opened wide against my enemies (with victory), because I was happy”. 
 

The tzaddikim explain that this is why Simchat Torah is celebrated after the Days of Awe. Simchat Torah is the day that all the Torah-Observant yidden come to the Beit Midrash and express the simcha that they feel performing the mitzvot and studying the Torah. This day has the ability, through that simcha, to eliminate any harsh degrees that were not nullified during the Days of Awe.  
 

Risk of Unhappiness 

When a yid lacks this simcha, he can fall into the hands of those who hate the Jewish people and wish to do them harm. 
 

We see this clearly with Yosef HaTzaddik. When he was thrown into the pit, he became low-spirited. Only afterwards, without the protection of simcha, he was able to be sold to the Arabs. The pasuk teaches (Bereishit 37:25),” and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead…” The Chozeh from Lublin, zt”l, taught that the word גלעד – Gil’ad can be broken into two words: גל-עד- Gil-ad, which could mean that the ‘joy’ is ‘removed’. The Arabs came because the joy of Yosef HaTzaddik was removed. 
 

Therefore, we must always be diligent to stay away from the empty joy of debauchery and only seek out the true and eternal simcha. 
 

The Rambam – who was a famous physical in the secular world – wrote (Shevivas Yom Tov 6:20): 
 

When a person eats, drinks, and celebrates on a festival, he should not let himself become overly drawn to drinking wine, mirth, and levity, saying, “whoever indulges in these activities more is increasing [his observance of] the mitzvah of rejoicing.” For drunkenness, profuse mirth, and levity are not rejoicing; they are frivolity and foolishness. 
 

The Rambam also ruled that the courts need to appoint enforcement officers whose duty was to prevent those kinds of activities that place the entire nation as risk. As he wrote (ibid): 
 

The [Jewish] court is obligated to appoint officers who will circulate [among the people] on the festivals and check the gardens, orchards, and riverbanks to see that men and women do not gather there to eat or to drink, lest they [conduct themselves immodestly and come to] sin.  
 

Protection from Philistines 

This idea can be seen in this week’s Parsha regarding the accounting of Yitzchak’s servants digging the wells. 
 

The Philistines were engrossed in frivolity. The pasuk in Tehillim (1:1) says “nor sit in the company of scorners”. Chazal explained (Avodah Zora 10a) that Dovid HaMelech did not sit amongst the Philistines because they were scorners. As described in Shoftim (16:25) when the Philistines celebrated with frivolity and levity when they imprisoned Samson. 
 

We also find that when Bnei Yisroel left Mitzrayim, Hashem did not take them the shorter route through the lands of the Philistines (Shemot 13:17), because there was a concern that their behavior would influence Bnei Yisroel. 
 

So too in our Parsha, as long as Yitzchak was living amongst the Philistines in their capital city, the culture of the city influenced Yitzchak’s servants. They would indulge in the same decadence and pursue the same empty enjoyments. Therefore, when they dug the wells, the Philistines were able to fight with them and fill the wells with earth. The servants did not have that special and unique protection that the simcha of performing mitzvot could provide. 
 

However, afterwards it says: “And he moved away from there”… Yitzchak uprooted himself from there. He broke away from that culture and began teaching his servants how to experience true and eternal simcha. And then, as the pasuk continued, “and he dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it”. This time the Philistines didn’t come to fight them, because the power of the simcha from the mitzvot protected them. 
 

And the next pasuk says: “And he went up from there to Beer Sheva”. He went to the city where the Beit Midrash of Shem and Aver was. He knew that the merit of the simcha from going to the Beit Midrash would protect him from the enemies of the Jewish people. 

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The Kalever Rebbe is the seventh Rebbe of the Kaalov Chasidic dynasty, begun by his ancestor who was born to his previously childless parents after receiving a blessing from the Baal Shem Tov zy”a, and later learned under the Maggid of Mezeritch zt”l. The Rebbe has been involved in outreach for more than 30 years and writes weekly emails on understanding current issues through the Torah. Sign up at www.kaalov.org.