In Parshat Eikev, Moshe reduces Hashem’s expectations from Israel to the following formula: “Just be in awe before [Him], follow in all of His ways, love Him and serve Him with all your heart and all your life force” (Devarim 10:12). Rabbeinu Nissim (Drush 10) connects this to the well-known preceding passage (ibid. 8:17), “You will say in your heart this greatness was achieved by my strength and the weight of my accomplishments.” However, in doing so he offers a rather idiosyncratic reading of that earlier passage which is commonly read as a rebuke to people who don’t give proper credit to Hashem for the blessings they receive.
But Rabbeinu Nissim ties this pasuk into the following one where we are told we will remember that Hashem gave us the necessary power. He makes an important point here about the necessary tension between proper humility and the pride and effort that are required for us to actually achieve anything. He explains that it is fitting for a successful person to celebrate his efforts and accomplishments, as long as he never loses sight of the fact that everything comes from Hashem.
Part of the process of pursuing our goals certainly requires that we work as hard as we can to achieve them, and it is perfectly appropriate for someone to be proud of their hard work. But they must never forget either the source of their power or the ultimate purpose of their efforts: to uphold the covenant with Hashem.
Rav Kook develops this theme in Ein Aya (1:143a), where he contrasts two different approaches to trust in Hashem. When a person is fully formed and prepared for the task at hand, he is able to accomplish this through natural means and indeed is expected to do so. But if he is immature and lacking in strength, then Hashem might perform miracles should the situation require a certain outcome. This is true of nations just as it is true of individuals. So in an ideal sense, a truly righteous and elevated individual will work hard to complete tasks and will take pride in his work, but will recognize that everything comes from Hashem; whereas a primitive or simple person will simply wait for miracles – which might in fact be forthcoming.
Thus we find, for example, that when the people of Israel are “young,” fresh out of slavery and dependent on Hashem as children might be, there are many miracles performed for their benefit. But once they become established and powerful in their own right, for example when conquering the Land with Yehoshua, they are commanded to exert themselves fully in the battles and the concomitant training and preparation for those battles. The wise person sees the greatness of Hashem and His might in events of nature or history that testify to His influence on outcomes. But the weak of spirit and of mind have to be shown miracles.
The most important thing to understand is that every individual is personally responsible to work towards performing Hashem’s will. Rav Kook quotes approvingly Rav Saadia Gaon (Emunot v’Deot 3) who taught that if it were best for human beings to achieve personal growth without exerting effort, then Hashem would have just made us already perfect with no need to improve ourselves. However, there is another danger confronting us, which is to become so assured of ourselves, to trust entirely in the mechanisms we put in place to protect or to enrich ourselves and to lose sight of the knowledge that good things cannot be assured when our pursuits are all in the realm of nature – no matter how hard we try.
Therefore, when Israel is in a debased spiritual state, G-d forbid, when we value or might or our technology and believe our cleverness and diplomacy will protect us, then it’s necessary for Hashem to allow the efforts born of this reliance on nature to fall. This is because the true path forward to growth and success is to return to complete dependence on Hashem and to prioritize this over the development of our pride in our strength and accomplishments.
