The only Parsha that deals with Yiyzchak’s life spends an awful lot of time discussing wells. In addition to digging wells, Yitzchak devotes time and energy to unstuffing Avraham’s wells, which the P’lishtim had stuffed up. Which raises a perplexing question. Why would anyone stuff up a well? Wells were the cisterns of life. Wells were the source of water for cattle and crops and human consumption. Wells were dug with extreme efforts, overcoming hardships etc. Wells were needed. Wars were fought over wells. Why would anyone stuff them up.
The Mepharshim have a variety of ideas to deal with this profound dillemma – the wells were spiritual conduits cultivated by Avraham (something they wanted nothing to do with), Avraham had named the wells with names to cause people to think of Hashem – hence Yitzchak restored their names, and many more ideas of the significance of the wells. I will add on to the plethora of thoughts.
A few years ago, one player in the National Football League decided to protest the horrific plight of African Americans in the United States by kneeling during the Star Spangled Banner. This led to many other of his fellow multi-millionaire players to similarly protest their “suffering” by kneeling as well. This began a very difficult to fathom pattern of behavior. Next came the slogan “Black Lives Matter”. Of course they mattered so much that the movement was marked by rioting, destroying black owned as well as White and Korean owned businesses. And then “Defund the Police”. Of course to bold the point, serious upticks in Black on Black murders followed in cities across America. And then, just when we thought this was just a prelude to violence, came the erasures. Statues depicting historical figures from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars were toppled and defaced – not just pro-slavery statues but even the statues of those who fought to free the slaves. Cities, under threats of violence or worse loss of votes, renamed streets and theaters that had any connection to historical figures, regardless of what side they had been on. Of course none of this helped the poor, the homeless or lesser fortunate but it did enrich a select few who led the movement and made off with all the monies raised and donated to this worthwhile cause.
But why these steps? Why the toppling of historical statues? Why demanding the renaming of streets and landmarks? In October of 2022, From throwing soup across Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Vermeer’s ,The Girl With the Pearl Earing, Just Stop Oil activists have targeted artworks at some of the worlds most renowned galleries. On November 15, 2022 Environmentalists in Vienna deface Gustav Klimt’s ‘Death and Life’ painting with black oily liquid. None of these acts of vandalism accomplished much other than making some realize that most “climate activists”.are certifiable and worthy of being laughed at1 but they did do something. They were acts or erasure, destroying something from the past. Something revered and loved by many. Something of value.
Nothing was more fundamental to world culture for 5,000 years than belief in a deity. Avraham had re-familiarized everyone with the belief in a single G-d. The theory of Evolution wouldn’t even show up in the world lexicon for another 3,500 years after Avraham. It was a common staple among the world’s peoples. Whether it was Christianity, Islam or Sun Worship, people believed in a higher power. And that had some impact on their behavior and produced a base line of morality.
Erasing history allows a restart. A restart for a world not based on Judeo – Christian values. Overturning the only definition of marriage that ever existed. Rejecting the one absolute incontrovertible scientific, biological fact that there are only two genders. Is it a coincidence that all of this coincides with radical increases in violent crime, lawlessness in cities across the country and a “secure border” which had 2 million people streaming across annually until two years ago, some of whom were on terrorist watch lists and others importing deadly drugs for our children’s consumption. I think not. In the world of George Soros and many extremists, this is in fact the goal. A restart without those pesky values.
The P’lishtim were the first to try this. We don’t care how valuable the wells are – Avraham dug them. They have spiritual roots. We must get rid of them. Even if it costs us a valuable resource. Erasing history has always been about rejecting G-d. But Yitzchak came to restore them. As the Bnei Yisroel, our task is the same. To restore some sense of morality and decency to a troubled world. Just as our forefather Yitzchak took it upon himself.
Dovid Fink
1 – Personally, I believe that caring for the planet is a Torah concept. No one should take liberties with harming our planet or defacing it with pollutants. But make no mistake, that is not what the current climate nuts are about. These are the same people who in the 1970’s started spreading fear about the coming of another ice age. Then in the 80’s it was “acid rain”. The people shouting the loudest have enriched themselves while they fly their private jets to climate conferences. They ignore data which in fact does show a cooling taking place in certain time frames like 2015 to 2025 Instead of admitting that they don’t have any idea what they are talking about, they simply pivot from “Global Warming” concerns to “Climate Change” fears. Clever indeed. And it keeps the money rolling in.
