Introduction: The Miracles of Elisha
Our chapter is a direct continuation of the previous ones. There we saw that Elisha asked Eliyahu, "Let a double portion of your spirit be upon me," and in essence his request was that he too would merit to perform miracles like his master. The request was granted: Elisha merited Eliyahu's great spirit, and even performed twice as many miracles as he did. Here the prophet comes and lists before us the miracles of Elisha, one after another.
The Cry of Ovadyah's Wife
וְאִשָּׁה אַחַת מִנְּשֵׁי בְנֵי הַנְּבִיאִים צָעֲקָה אֶל אֱלִישָׁע לֵאמֹר עַבְדְּךָ אִישִׁי מֵת וְאַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ כִּי עַבְדְּךָ הָיָה יָרֵא אֶת ה' וְהַנֹּשֶׁה בָּא לָקַחַת אֶת שְׁנֵי יְלָדַי לוֹ לַעֲבָדִים׃ - Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves."
The woman cries out to Elisha: my husband is dead, and you know that he feared the Lord. And indeed we must ask, what is the connection between these things? What difference does it make that he feared the Lord? "The creditor" is the lender: her husband owed a great deal of money, and now the creditor has come to collect his debt, and since there is nothing from which to collect, he wants to take the two children as slaves in payment of the debt.
The main background of the story is found in Targum Yonatan. This is what he says in his translation into the Holy Tongue: "Your servant Ovadyah my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, for when the wicked Izevel killed all the prophets, Ovadyah hid a hundred men in a cave." So we see that this widow is the wife of Ovadyah the prophet.
From the Tosefta to Targum Yonatan: In the Cemetery
There is a Tosefta to Targum Yonatan, and there are Yemenites who are accustomed to add it in the reading of the Targum, and it is printed in their Taj books (the Taj is a book somewhat like a Tikkun Sofrim, in which the order of the parshiyot appears along with the Targum). And this is what it says in translation into the Holy Tongue: two hundred and sixty five times the wife of Ovadyah cried out this way, and there was no one who paid attention to her, and she did not know what to do, until she went to the cemetery and cried out there, "Dachla d'Hashem, dachla d'Hashem" - one who fears the Lord, one who fears the Lord.
And we must understand why she cries out this way and does not go to her husband's grave. In their time it was not the custom as it is in our days, where there are tombstones with names and titles upon them. They would bury the person, place a stone, and that was the end of it. Sometimes they would make some marking on the stone, but there was no cult of graves. In Yemen too, until not many years ago, this is how they buried, and the tombstones came in a later period: for especially important people they would make a special tombstone with an inscription, but ordinarily they would place a stone on the grave. Within a year they might still know where the grave was, but afterward many times they did not know, and especially in a large cemetery. There was no marking, there was no cemetery director and no records - who ever heard of such a thing, who would sit and take the trouble to record that so and so is buried here and so and so is buried there. Consequently, when she arrives at the cemetery she does not know where her husband is and at which grave to pray, and therefore she stands and cries out: one who fears the Lord, one who fears the Lord!
A voice was heard by her from among the dead and asked her: who is this fearer of the Lord that you seek? For four were called fearers of the Lord: Avraham, Yosef, Iyov, and Ovadyah, for concerning all four of them it is said in Scripture that they feared the Lord. She answered and said: I seek only the one about whom it is written "he feared the Lord greatly," and that is Ovadyah, about whom this special expression is stated. And when they informed her of his grave, she would throw herself upon his grave and cry out: my lord, my lord, where is your promise to me? When you were ill and passing away, and I asked you to whom you were leaving me and my two children, you answered me that the Master of the world would be a shield for me, and you said to me, "Leave your orphans, I will keep them alive, and let your widows trust in Me" - that He would provide for my sustenance and the sustenance of the children. And now, she says, there is no savior, and the orphans too are crying out and saying: we have received a father, we have received a father.
Ovadyah answered and said to her: go to Elisha, and with the little oil that remains with you he will bless you. For I, when I hid the hundred prophets and sustained them in the cave with bread and water, the oil was not lacking to them neither by day nor by night. And why did they need oil? For light, for how could they study Torah without it. I cared for them and they never lacked oil, and therefore the oil that is with you is worthy of a blessing. And he added: remind the prophet to mention my matter before the Holy One, blessed be He, and let the Lord repay you for what I, as it were, lent to Him. For that which I sustained the prophets is like a loan to Hashem, as it is said, "He who is gracious to the poor lends to the Lord" - anyone who has mercy on the poor and the destitute lends to the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Lord says: I am your creditor, I am to repay you. And so she went and informed Elisha of the entire matter.
Who Is the Creditor
Until now we have understood what brought about the terrible situation: Ovadia needed large sums to feed and support the prophets, and for this purpose he took loans. Now the loans must be repaid, and the creditor comes, sees that there is no money, and wants to take the children as slaves.
And who is the creditor? The Midrash says: it is Yehoram son of Achav. Ovadia fulfilled "his money he did not give with interest" and was careful about ribbis, and it was Yehoram who lent with interest, for Ovadia had no choice but to take a loan from Yehoram son of Achav at interest in order to sustain the prophets. Said the Holy One, blessed be He: is he still alive until now? Let Yehu come and kill him, as it says "with interest he lent and increase he took" - he shall not live. And this is what is written: "And Yehu drew his bow with full strength and struck Yehoram between his arms, and the arrow came out of his heart." And what is the emphasis on the arms and the heart? Because he hardened his heart and stretched out his arms to take interest, therefore he was struck between his arms and the arrow pierced his heart.
Something the tzaddik was careful about
The Malbim explains her claim: she comes crying that her husband was one who greatly feared Hashem, and now the creditor comes to take her children as slaves. And indeed our Sages taught us regarding the daughter of Rabbi Nechunya: is it possible that something a tzaddik was careful about should cause his offspring after him to stumble? That is to say, sometimes the attribute of strict justice strikes a tzaddik, this is possible. But it is not possible that the attribute of justice should strike a tzaddik precisely in that very point in which the tzaddik was careful all his days - in this Hashem protects the tzaddik. Nechunya the well digger used to dig cisterns to give water to the pilgrims, and it is not possible that his daughter should drown precisely in a cistern he dug for the needs of the pilgrims.
Therefore she comes and argues: my husband all his days was engaged in saving people from death, he saved the prophets, redeemed people from slavery, from hunger, from distress, from Izevel and from death, and behold it says "I have not seen a tzaddik forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread" - how is it possible that such a God fearing man, and his sons should be handed over to slavery and even be in danger of death?
And there is another explanation for what is said "your servant my husband is dead": regarding Yoav it says "and Yoav died," and our Sages say, why was his passing called death? Because he left no son after him, and one who leaves no son after him to inherit him is called dead. According to this, says the Malbim, there is meaning to her words: for the creditor is about to take her children as slaves, and if so, from now on it is fitting to say of her husband that he is dead, for he left no son after him to inherit him.
"What do you have in the house" - the blessing needs a vessel
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶיהָ אֱלִישָׁע מָה אֶעֱשֶׂה לָּךְ הַגִּידִי לִי מַה יֶּשׁ לָךְ בַּבָּיִת וַתֹּאמֶר אֵין לְשִׁפְחָתְךָ כֹל בַּבַּיִת כִּי אִם אָסוּךְ שָׁמֶן׃ - And Elisha said to her: What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house? And she said: Your maidservant has nothing at all in the house except a jug of oil.
Elisha teaches her a principle: in order for blessing to rest, there must be a "something." The Holy One, blessed be He, does not create something from nothing except in a one time way, at the creation of the world. Since then, all that is in the world - what was is what will be; all the matter exists, and from it new things are formed. This is what is called the law of conservation of matter and the law of conservation of energy: everything that happens in the world remains in it, and from it new things are formed, but the creation of something that did not exist at all - that was only at the creation of the world. Therefore the prophet tells her: in order to bring blessing to rest I need something existing, and therefore "tell me what you have in the house."
And she answers "your maidservant has nothing at all in the house except a jug of oil." And why did she elaborate so much? She could have simply said: a jug of oil, that is what I have. But they explain that Elisha asked her what merit do you have, for a woman has three special mitzvos, and their acronym is Chanah: challah, niddah, and lighting the candle. She said to him: challah I do not have, for I have no flour, and how can I fulfill the mitzvah of challah? Niddah too I do not have, for my husband is dead and I cannot be careful about the purity of niddah. If so, what remains to me? Only the lighting of the candle - "except a jug of oil." This is the only mitzvah left to me, and from it I have a certain merit from which it is possible to begin, in order to merit a miracle.
"Do not gather few empty vessels"
וַיֹּאמֶר לְכִי שַׁאֲלִי לָךְ כֵּלִים מִן הַחוּץ מֵאֵת כָּל שְׁכֵנָיִךְ כֵּלִים רֵיקִים אַל תַּמְעִיטִי׃ - And he said: Go, borrow for yourself vessels from outside, from all your neighbors, empty vessels; do not gather few.
In order for the miracle to happen, she must take advantage of that very moment when the spring is opened and pours forth the abundance of oil. She would not be able, after the fact, to go out and search for vessels; rather she must prepare in advance a large quantity of vessels, so that when the spring flows from within the jug it will not stop, but will flow and flow according to the number of vessels she has. Therefore he tells her to borrow vessels from all the neighbors, so that these vessels will be a source and a preparation for receiving the abundance. Elisha wanted that already from the first time the oil came out, there would be so many vessels that they would suffice both to pay the debt and to provide a livelihood for the future, and therefore he told her: "do not gather only a few empty vessels" - bring a large quantity that will suffice for all your needs.
"And shut the door" - the glory of God is to conceal a matter
וּבָאת וְסָגַרְתְּ הַדֶּלֶת בַּעֲדֵךְ וּבְעַד בָּנַיִךְ וְיָצַקְתְּ עַל כָּל הַכֵּלִים הָאֵלֶּה וְהַמָּלֵא תַּסִּיעִי׃ - And you shall come in and shut the door behind you and behind your sons, and pour out into all these vessels, and set aside the full ones.
Why must she shut the door? First, the honor of a miracle is that it be performed in private. This is a principle one must always know: the glory of God is to conceal a matter. In today's terms everything requires publicity and everyone knowing about it, and if you did not publicize it, you did not do it. In spirituality it is exactly the opposite. Therefore the secrets of the Torah are not transmitted to just anyone, and we see how careful the Arizal was in transmitting the secrets of the Torah, to the point that for those in the know, even his early death was caused by his having transmitted secrets he did not wish to transmit and was not permitted to reveal, but his students pressured him.
And we have already said once: everything, the more modest it is, the more elevated it is. An animal walks without clothing, but in a person, the measure of his modesty shows the measure of his greatness. When you walk down the street and see a person in short pants, immediately a certain stigma about him forms in your mind; if he also walks in an undershirt, the stigma is lower; and if also without an undershirt, you say about him "he is compared to the beasts that perish." And all this is because the glory of God is to conceal a matter: the more modest something is the more honored and elevated it is, and the more exposed it is the more it shows debasement. Therefore he told her: shut the door behind you, so that the miracle will be performed in private for the honor of Hashem.
Another reason, says the Malbim: whoever comes and sees these things is liable to cast an evil eye upon them - "look how much oil, why does she need so much oil?" - and thereby cause the abundance to stop. And furthermore: we have already seen with Elisha himself that when a wicked person is in the vicinity he causes disruptions in the reception of the divine spiritual frequency. Thus Elisha said "were it not for the presence of Yehoshafat that I regard," for the wicked Yehoram was present there and he interfered with his receiving prophecy properly, and therefore he asked "bring me a musician." Here too, if a wicked person should arrive at the place, a problem would arise with the miracle, and the very presence of the wicked person in the vicinity could create a negative influence and block the channel of abundance. Therefore he told her to shut the door.
"And set aside the full ones" - the spring does not move from its place
Note the precision: "and pour out into all these vessels, and set aside the full ones." Why set aside the full vessel? Would it not be more logical to set aside the vessel from which the oil comes out? From here you learn, say Chazal, that the point at which the blessing rests is a specific point at which the abundance rests. The vessels you will put and take, put and take, but the flask do not move, for at that very point where the abundance rests, it is not the way of the spring to move from its place, in the language of Rashi; or in the language of the Radak: the act of the miracle will only take place at the spot where it began. Therefore the flask must remain in its place, and the vessels she wishes to fill she brings underneath it and sets aside.
And he further told her: after you turn the flask over with its mouth facing down, you must pour without interruption, because the moment the spring stops it will not return again. And therefore it is written "and she poured," in the ongoing present tense. And furthermore: the abundance will rest only upon the vessels you prepare, which are the ones capable and fit to receive the abundance. And this is a well known principle in all matters of spirituality, that a person is granted abundance according to the vessels he prepares. "He gives wisdom to the wise" - and who are the wise? Those who seek wisdom. Whoever seeks wisdom merits wisdom, and who was the greatest seeker of wisdom? King Shlomo, who asked "and give Your servant an understanding heart," and therefore he merited the greatest wisdom of all. And so he told her: what you prepare will be, and what you do not prepare, it will no longer be possible to pour oil into it.
וַתֵּלֶךְ מֵאִתּוֹ וַתִּסְגֹּר הַדֶּלֶת בַּעֲדָהּ וּבְעַד בָּנֶיהָ הֵם מַגִּישִׁים אֵלֶיהָ וְהִיא מוֹצָקֶת׃ - And she went from him and shut the door behind her and behind her sons; they brought the vessels to her, and she poured.
Everything was done exactly as the prophet commanded: the door shut, the sons bringing the vessels, and she pouring without interruption.
"And the oil stopped"
וַיְהִי כִּמְלֹאת הַכֵּלִים וַתֹּאמֶר אֶל בְּנָהּ הַגִּישָׁה אֵלַי עוֹד כֶּלִי וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶיהָ אֵין עוֹד כֶּלִי וַיַּעֲמֹד הַשָּׁמֶן׃ - And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son: Bring me another vessel. And he said to her: There is not another vessel. And the oil stopped.
In the addition to Targum Yonatan a wonderful thing is brought here, and this is its translation: And it came to pass, when the vessels were completed, that she said to her son: Bring me more broken shards of earthenware, and He who decreed that empty vessels be filled will decree that broken earthenware vessels be repaired. And he was gathering broken vessels and placing one upon another, and they joined together by the word of the Holy One blessed be He, and the column of oil kept dripping upon them all until all the broken vessels were completed. The son said: There is no more oil, and the column of oil heard and stopped.
The Malbim infers precisely from "when the vessels were full" that she had not asked for so many vessels, and therefore she requested "Bring me another vessel," for she understood that more was needed. But there were not enough vessels, and the oil was not sufficient to sustain her after she would pay the debt. And one must understand that this was not like our times: today, if you tell a person to prepare vessels, he has vessels of all sorts, a Pyrex set at home, a large basin and a small basin and pots, thank God there is more than enough. But in their times, what did a person have? A few solitary earthenware vessels. Go ask all the neighbors in an entire building and you would not reach what one person has in his home today. Today, if you just collect the bottles left over from Shabbat, that is already more than everything she had. Consequently, what she managed to gather was only enough to pay the debt, and what would be with "and you and your sons shall live off the rest"? Therefore a miracle had to be added.
And therefore the Malbim explains: "and the oil stopped" means that the oil ceased. It no longer fills vessels, but from then on, every time she wanted, she would pour from that flask and it would not run out. However much she would pour from it, it would not diminish. This is the concept of "and the oil stopped" according to the Malbim.
And there is a Midrash that explains "and the oil stopped" as an expression of rising, that the price of oil went up. That is, the revealed miracle was not enough, and He performed for her also a hidden miracle: the prices of oil jumped, and consequently a vessel that she would have needed to sell for fifty she could sell for a hundred and fifty. The prices rose and became much more expensive. This is another explanation of "and the oil stopped."
"Go sell the oil" - advice in business matters
וַתָּבֹא וַתַּגֵּד לְאִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים וַיֹּאמֶר לְכִי מִכְרִי אֶת הַשֶּׁמֶן וְשַׁלְּמִי אֶת נִשְׁיֵךְ וְאַתְּ וּבָנַיִךְ תִּחְיִי בַּנּוֹתָר׃ - And she came and told the man of God, and he said: Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons shall live off the rest.
Rashi explains that she came to ask him financial advice: whether to sell now or to wait until the price rises further. From here, incidentally, there is support for the Chassidim who come to the Rebbe to consult in business matters: she came to take advice, the oil is rising in price, the market is going up, what does the Rav say, to wait or to get out now?
And here we learn a principle. He said to her: Go, sell. Once they asked Rothschild, I believe, how he became such a great wealthy man. He said: When I would go to buy an asset, they would tell me do not buy now, wait, the price will still drop. I would not listen to them, I would buy. And after the asset rose in value and I wanted to sell it, they would tell me do not sell now, wait a bit, it is supposed to rise more. I would not listen to them, I would sell. And thus, by God's kindness, I succeeded. One who is constantly thinking about another two shekels, such a person will not profit; but one who does the deal, sees that there is success and moves on, succeeds. And here he has support from the verse: the prophet said to her, do not wait for the price to rise, go sell it now.
"And you and your sons shall live off the rest" - what is "shall live"? Chazal say: until the dead are revived. That is, whoever finds the flask of oil today can become wealthy, for this oil exists until the resurrection of the dead. And where shall we find it? That is truly a good question: when you find the well of Miriam, afterward search for the oil; after Yaakov's ladder and the cows of Pharaoh's dream, there, turning left.
The question of tithing and her fear of the sons of Achav
On "and pay your debt" the Radak brings the Tosefta: when that miracle occurred for her, she said to the prophet of God: Am I obligated to tithe from that oil or not? He said to her: Your husband fed the prophets of God with something that is not subject to tithing, and you too are not obligated in tithes on your oil, since it comes from a miracle. And I did not quite understand what is meant by "your husband fed them with something not subject to tithing," for with the loan money he bought oil, and if I bought oil with a loan, can I eat it without tithes? And perhaps the intent is regarding the money itself, that money which I borrowed I need not tithe.
She also said to him: What shall we do about the sons of Ahav, for if they hear of it they will come and rob me? He said to her: The One who shut the mouths of the dogs of Egypt, and who is destined to shut the mouths of Daniel's lions, will dull the eyes of the sons of Ahav and shut their ears, so that they will understand nothing and will not see you. She gave thanks and praises to Hashem and went on her way.
According to the Malbim's explanation the matter is remarkable: the prophet told her that this would suffice for her livelihood, for "and the oil stopped" means that it ceased filling the vessels, yet whatever she would need for her use she has in it forever, until the resurrection of the dead. Therefore he told her that even now she could go and sell.
Summary:
The opening of the chapter presents the chain of Elisha's miracles, foremost among them the miracle of the flask of oil for Ovadya's wife. From the Targum and the Midrashim we learned the background: Ovadya, who hid a hundred prophets and borrowed with interest from Yehoram in order to feed them, and his wife who cries out in the cemetery until she is directed to turn to Elisha. From the verses we learned great principles: that the blessing rests only upon something that exists and only according to the vessels a person prepares; that a matter in which the righteous man is careful, his offspring will not stumble in it; that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the miracle was done discreetly, without an evil eye and without the presence of a wicked person; that the spring does not move from its place and one must not interrupt the pouring; and finally that whoever is gracious to the poor lends to the Holy One, blessed be He, and He repays him his debt in the time of his distress.