מֵאֵ֣ת יְ֭הוָה הָ֣יְתָה זֹּ֑את הִ֖יא נִפְלָ֣את בְּעֵינֵֽינוּ׃
이는 여호와의 행하신 것이요 우리 눈에 기이한 바로다
Kedushat Levi
Having said this we can also explain the Mishnah in Avot 2,1 where Rabbi postulated that the proper course for a man being to be successful is to perform deeds that reflect glory on those who perform it, inasmuch as he is a human being, i.e. מן האדם. If and when man in spite of having been provided with both a body and a soul, succeeds in sublimating his body to such a degree that it serves almost exclusively his wish to better serve the Lord and provide Him with pleasurable satisfaction, then he has attained a far higher spiritual rank than the angels in heaven. He has enabled G’d to “brag” about His decision to create man, and has stilled once and for all the opposition in heaven which had been voiced by some of the angels when His intention had become known.
This is all parallel to the explanation of psalms 118,23 מאת ה' היתה זאת היא נפלאת בעינו, “this has originated with Hashem, it is marvelous in our sight.,” by my revered teacher Rabbi Dov Baer of Meseritch. He zeroed in on the word זאת in this verse, understanding it as a reference to the female element [as opposed to the word זה in the verse immediately following, Ed.]; We explained earlier that the principal element in serving G’d is to provide Him with pleasurable satisfaction, i.e. making Him a recipient rather than an initiator, originator. Basically, the role of a recipient is that of woman who, when compared to man, is always viewed as a recipient. We have already explained repeatedly that this does not make woman “inferior,” as we described the אור חוזר, “the reflective light,” good deeds performed by man in response to G’d having blessed him with light that he had done nothing to deserve, as superior in moral ethical terms, to even the original light the , אור ישר.
This is all parallel to the explanation of psalms 118,23 מאת ה' היתה זאת היא נפלאת בעינו, “this has originated with Hashem, it is marvelous in our sight.,” by my revered teacher Rabbi Dov Baer of Meseritch. He zeroed in on the word זאת in this verse, understanding it as a reference to the female element [as opposed to the word זה in the verse immediately following, Ed.]; We explained earlier that the principal element in serving G’d is to provide Him with pleasurable satisfaction, i.e. making Him a recipient rather than an initiator, originator. Basically, the role of a recipient is that of woman who, when compared to man, is always viewed as a recipient. We have already explained repeatedly that this does not make woman “inferior,” as we described the אור חוזר, “the reflective light,” good deeds performed by man in response to G’d having blessed him with light that he had done nothing to deserve, as superior in moral ethical terms, to even the original light the , אור ישר.
Divrei Soferim
A Jewish person should not despair from anything, whether in physical matters as it is written (Brachot 10, end of side a) "Even if a sharp sword rests upon a person's neck, he should not refrain himself from the Mercy", or whether in spiritual matters though he has sunk to the place where he has sunk in a matter which our Sages said (Zohar, Section 1, 219:2) that repentance does not help G-d forfend, or that repentance is difficult, or that he sees himself sink in matters of this world, he should not despair of himself to say he cannot separate himself anymore, because there is no despair at all for a Jewish man, and G-d Blessed be He can help with every matter, and the entire building of the Israelite nation came about after total despair that "Abraham and Sarah were old" [Bereishit 18, 11] and "Who is the One Who said to Abraham, 'she would nurse' etc." [Bereishit 21, 7], that it would not occur to a person to yet believe this and even after the promise of the angel. And Sarah the righteous woman knew and believed that G-d Blessed be He can do everything, and even so "she laughed internally", that it was far for her to believe this with her knowledge of Abraham's advanced age..........as it is written in Bereishit Rabbah (Chapter 48, 17) and her own advanced age, and if it had been the will of G-d Blessed be He to remember them he would have remembered them from the outset since reducing the miracle is preferred and He does not perform a miracle where it is not necessary, but the truth is "this has emanated from Hashem" [Psalms 118, 23] that the building of the nation should expressly be after the total despair that no person would believe, even Sarah, that she would yet be remembered, for this is for every Israelite person to believe that he should not despair at all because G-d Blessed be He is always able to help and "is anything beyond Hashem?" [Bereishit 18, 14], and one should not question why Hashem did things this way, and so too of the future salvation it is said (Isaiah 53, 1) "who can believe what we have heard? etc.", and so they said (Sanhedrin 97, end of side a) "the son of David will not come until they despair from the redemption", and therefore it says (Isaiah 51, 2) "Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you", that also the basis of your nation's founding (literally, the beginning of your building) was also after despair, and also I found in Tanchuma (commentary on Parshat Va'yeira [16]) on the verse "And Hashem remembered" [Bereishit 21, 1] this same thing, you should study it there, and it will be helpful (translation of vi'ahanyain?).
Kedushat Levi
Genesis 21,6. “G’d has made laughter for me.” Sarah realized that if G’d had granted her children in her old age instead of during her child-bearing years, He had multiplied the joy she experienced by this birth. Had she given birth in her younger years the pregnancy and subsequent birth would have been periods of discomfort and pain for her. Now, that she had not become pregnant until she was close to 90 years old, every day of that pregnancy had been filled with joyful expectation, and even the birth itself was not felt by her as an excruciatingly painful experience. Instead of thanking G’d in His capacity as Hashem, as we might have expected, she thanked Him in His capacity as אלוקים, the attribute of Justice, realizing that during all the years she had felt deprived of the joys of motherhood, the attribute of Justice seemingly being applied to her, had enabled her to exult in joy at this time.
This feeling of Sarah is reflected in psalms 118,21:אודך כי עניתני ותהי לי לישועה, “I wish to thank You, for You have afflicted me/answered me. For through my affliction my salvation has come.” The same thought is repeated in a different nuance, when David continues (verse 22) אבן מאסו הבונים היתה לראש פנה, “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” David adds, that it has become clear to him that all of this had been planned by G’d in advance, i.e. (verse 23) מאת ה' היתה זאת היא נפלאת בעינינו, “this is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” David too, is aware that it is far more rewarding to experience these blessings from G’d in one’s mature years than in one’s early youth. When a youth experiences all these blessings, he does not even recognize them as blessing bestowed by G’d, but credits them to chance or other circumstances. Having experienced G’d’s salvation at a relatively late stage in one’s life makes one doubly grateful to Hashem, i.e. זה היום עשה ה' נגילה ונשמחה בו, “this is the day that the Lord has made, let us exult and rejoice on it.”
When examining the manner in which G’d shares out His largesse, we must distinguish between two categories of recipients. One category enjoys the material benefits provided by Hashem for what they are worth, i.e. they consider the material part as the essential part, not considering them as a means to an end. The second category of recipients are the sages and the pious people who perceive these “gifts” as proof of the caring supervision exercised by G’d over all of His creatures, and they see in it an encouragement to never forget that there is a benevolent King Who rules over us. This is what David referred to when he said in the above-quoted hymn:זה היום עשה ה' נגילה ונשמחה בו, “this is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be happy in Him.” They see in the word בו at the end of this verse a reference to G’d, not to the day.
This feeling of Sarah is reflected in psalms 118,21:אודך כי עניתני ותהי לי לישועה, “I wish to thank You, for You have afflicted me/answered me. For through my affliction my salvation has come.” The same thought is repeated in a different nuance, when David continues (verse 22) אבן מאסו הבונים היתה לראש פנה, “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” David adds, that it has become clear to him that all of this had been planned by G’d in advance, i.e. (verse 23) מאת ה' היתה זאת היא נפלאת בעינינו, “this is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” David too, is aware that it is far more rewarding to experience these blessings from G’d in one’s mature years than in one’s early youth. When a youth experiences all these blessings, he does not even recognize them as blessing bestowed by G’d, but credits them to chance or other circumstances. Having experienced G’d’s salvation at a relatively late stage in one’s life makes one doubly grateful to Hashem, i.e. זה היום עשה ה' נגילה ונשמחה בו, “this is the day that the Lord has made, let us exult and rejoice on it.”
When examining the manner in which G’d shares out His largesse, we must distinguish between two categories of recipients. One category enjoys the material benefits provided by Hashem for what they are worth, i.e. they consider the material part as the essential part, not considering them as a means to an end. The second category of recipients are the sages and the pious people who perceive these “gifts” as proof of the caring supervision exercised by G’d over all of His creatures, and they see in it an encouragement to never forget that there is a benevolent King Who rules over us. This is what David referred to when he said in the above-quoted hymn:זה היום עשה ה' נגילה ונשמחה בו, “this is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be happy in Him.” They see in the word בו at the end of this verse a reference to G’d, not to the day.