In the sixth aliyah of Parashat Vayera, Avimelech says to Avraham Avinu: אֱלֹהִים עִמְּךָ בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה עֹשֶׂה (Bereishit 21:22), “I see that Hashem is with you in everything you do.” What does he mean? Rashi explains: לְפִי שֶׁרָאוּ שֶׁיָּצָא מִשְּׁכוּנַת סְדוֹם לְשָׁלוֹם, וְעִם הַמְּלָכִים נִלְחַם וְנָפְלוּ בְיָדוֹ, וְנִפְקְדָה אִשְׁתּוֹ לִזְקוּנָיו. They saw that Avraham came out of the neighborhood of Sedom in peace, that he fought the kings and they all fell before him, and that his wife became pregnant in her old age.
Pay attention. When you are dealing with somebody like Avimelech, a goy, somebody who does not understand, he needs to see success right away, just as we explained earlier with Hagar. If you see success, that means Elokim is with you: Elokim imcha bechol asher atah oseh.
By us, we do not need to see results. We know that Elokim is with a person when we see that he is righteous: when we see him praying, when we see him learning Torah, when we see him acting with kedushah. That is enough. That is why the Shunamit says, הִנֵּה נָא יָדַעְתִּי כִּי אִישׁ אֱלֹהִים קָדוֹשׁ הוּא (Melachim II 4:9), “I know that he is a holy man of G-d.” How did she know he was a holy man of G-d? Was he very successful? Were things going well for him? Was he making a lot of money? No. The Gemara in Berachot (10b) explains that she saw how he conducted himself in kedushah. When a person acts with kedushah, you know that he is a holy man of G-d, and you know that Hashem is with him. You do not need to see actual results.
Based on Rabbi Shay Tahan’s class “Vayera. Perspectives, The Different Views” (Parashat Vayera): watch the class.
