E ishes Ovadya

Wouldn’t we all want to know the secret to help us achieve spiritual success? What are a sampling of the magic ingredients needed to help facilitate our constant upward growth? Some of these secrets are contained in the very poignant story of Eishes Ovadya found in the fourth chapter of Melachim II.

Try Try Again

During a time of famine Ovadya had supported 100 prophets providing them with bread and water. He’d done so by borrowing money from the royal coffers. When he died he still owed a large sum to Yehoram the king of Israel. In lieu of money — which the penniless widow obviously couldn’t provide — King Yehoram wanted to take Ovadya’s two sons as a payment for the debt. Desperate the widow approached Elisha the prophet (who happened to be one of Ovadya’s beneficiaries the commentators point out) and asked him for help. When he heard that all she had was a bit of oil he told her to borrow as many vessels as she could from neighbors and pour the bit of oil into the vessels. A miracle occurred and the oil continued to flow as long as there was a vessel to receive it. Elisha instructed her to sell the oil use the money to repay the debt and live off the remainder.

Tosefta notes that the wife of Ovadya implored Elisha to help her over 250 times. Finally she went to daven at her husband’s kever who directed Elisha to this specific manner of salvation. Ohr Chadash highlights her perseverance: she never gave up hope and all her pleas contained the same power and poignancy. Something to bear in mind when we find ourselves in a difficult situation our prayers seemingly unheard.

It’s easy to fall into a state of despair and in such a situation it can be so hard to summon up the emotional strength to keep davening. Eishes Ovadya shows us that when the right moment arrives we will see the salvation. Meanwhile we must fight despondency. Chazal teach us about tefillah “Kaveh el Hashem chazak ve’ametz libecha v’kaveh el Hashem.” Davening involves an inner process of determination: We first daven then strengthen ourselves — and continue our prayers. In fact this very process imbues us with a deeper level of bitachon. Maintaining our emunah in the face of an overwhelming silence is acutely challenging and yet it builds us on a fundamental level. We look to Eishes Ovadya as a role model of determination and prayer.

Empty Vessels

Elisha asked the woman what she had in her house. She responded that she had a little bit of oil and he instructed her how to have it multiplied in a miraculous way. It is another illustration of how blessing can’t be bestowed in a vacuum but must rest on something. This is applied in practical halachah: when we bentsh we make sure there is some bread left on the table so that the blessings rest on something physical. Likewise notes the Chasam Sofer we have a Melaveh Malkah meal so as to provide a physical medium through which the blessings of Shabbos extend into the week.

Elisha then directed her to close the door while she poured the oil. Rashi quotes Chazal that blessing is only found on that which is hidden from the eye. The second component for spiritual growth is privacy. The ability to do an act of chesed for example without telling anyone about our deed is a potent source of blessing. Our mind’s eye must be on creating a strong private relationship with Hashem without any public fanfare or accolades.

Elisha instructed her to borrow as many empty vessels as she could from her neighbors. Sichos Mussar notes that a leader needs to be one who has “spirit infused within him.” Explains the Sichos Mussar it is in those who desire wisdom that Hashem will place even more wisdom. A leader needs to constantly strive to grow learn and develop himself. To be successful in this endeavor we need to make ourselves “empty vessels” — ready to assimilate new ideas and behaviors. Indeed Dovid Hamelech challenges us: “Open your mouth wide so that I may fill it.” (Tehillim 81:11) It is when we prepare ourselves to receive to open ourselves wide that Hashem will fill us with plentiful blessings.

Imagine a person receives an unlimited shopping spree at a grocery store. As she heads through the double doors a single shopping cart in tow we stop her: the more carts you take with you the more you can fill! Don’t just take a single cart! Likewise to the extent we can divest ourselves of our own egocentricity we can bring the blessings of Hashem into our lives. Rabbi Akiva Tatz notes so beautifully “Hashem shines the light we create the shadows.” How often do we neglect to pay attention to the beauty of Hashem’s world because we are absorbed with our phones — talking with or texting others? How many potential opportunities to be inspired or influenced are lost simply because we are not focused on what is taking place in front of us at any given moment? When all the vessels were filled the oil stopped pouring. The third ingredient for spiritual growth is to make ourselves into empty vessels able to constantly receive blessing and inspiration.

Broken Vessels

When Eishes Ovadya had finished pouring into the empty vessels Kli Yakar notes she instructed her sons to take broken vessels. Miraculously they became whole and were able to hold the oil. Rabbi Elimelech Biderman learns from here our fourth key ingredient. Even when we feel broken and incapable of giving our all to Hashem we should give whatever we do have and act to the best of our ability. The results he notes is that Hashem will fill us and create wholeness specifically out of this brokenness. There is nothing more beloved to Hashem than a broken heart. Eishes Ovadya understood that we can’t always be a full vessel ready to receive. At times we are broken at times we are a fraction of who we know we can be. It is specifically at these times that we can’t despair and instead must offer Hashem from what we do possess. As well we can daven that Hashem help us create wholeness from the fractured state in which we find ourselves engulfed.

At the completion of the miracle Eishes Ovadya returned to Elisha to ask what to do with the oil. Rabbi Chaim Ephraim Zaitchik points out the greatness in this question. She acknowledged the advice of the prophet and had the humility to do whatever he instructed. This very act reflects how she was a “vessel ready to receive.” Often when people have a blessing fulfilled they don’t go back to the tzaddik and ask how best to use the blessing. Humility acknowledging the guidance of others with more wisdom than ourselves is yet another crucial ingredient we learn from this special woman.

Determination privacy openness to receive recognizing our limitations and brokenness and humility are some of the special ingredients we need to inculcate within ourselves to solidify a relationship with Hashem. Eishes Ovadya demonstrated all of these special qualities. Perhaps the greatest quality that she possessed was her willingness for her husband to give away all their material possessions to reduce them to poverty in order to save the neviim. Her mesirus nefesh was absolute. Indeed these spiritual components enable us to live a life of complete dedication to the service of Hashem.

To the extent we can divest ourselves of our own egocentricity we can bring the blessings of Hashem into our lives