Believing In Our Abilities

In his vision of the throne of Hashem, Yechezkel (10:14) describes seeing four faces; a cherub, a lion, an eagle, and a human. The Gemara in Chullin (91b) elaborates on Yaakov’s dream and suggests that the angels were going up and down, looking at the picture of the man’s face by the throne and comparing it to Yaakov’s face. Seeing the resemblance, they became jealous of his presence on the throne and wanted to harm him, so Hashem had to protect Yaakov. Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli suggests that Yaakov was previously aware that there were creatures that could reach elevated spiritual heights. He knew that the cherub, lion and eagle had their place by the throne of Hashem, but he was not aware that his image was there as well. It wasn’t until the dream, where he saw the angels comparing the image on the throne with his face that he realized his true potential. In a brilliantly creative rereading of the pasuk, Rabbi Shimshon suggests that alluded to in Yaakov’s word choice is this discovery of self-efficacy. Yaakov already knew the spiritual potential of “achein,” in Hebrew spelled aleph – chof – nun, representing the lion (aryeh, which begins with an aleph), cherub (which begins with a chof), and an eagle (nesher, which begins with a nun). Yet, until this dream, he was unaware of the spiritual potential of anochi, literally myself, and spelled aleph – nun – chof – yud, representing, the three from “achein” with the addition of the yud for Yaakov.

This newfound self-efficacy was not domain specific. It was not just limited to spiritual pursuits. Yaakov’s new attitude pervaded all his interactions, as is clear from the very next episode regarding the shepherds by the well. In a powerful drasha (“The Stone on the Well – Boulder or Pebble?”), Rabbi Norman Lamm contrasts the attitude of the shepherds with that of Yaakov. When Yaakov asks the shepherds why they aren’t working, they respond that there is a giant stone covering the well and until more people come to help push it off, “lo nuchal” – they just can’t do it. They don’t believe in their ability, so they don’t even try. Yaakov, believing in his ability to accomplish, walks over to the stone, tries, and succeeds in removing it from the well. He believes in his ability to affect change, puts in the effort and succeeds.

How many areas of life, spiritual or otherwise, do we write-off as being too hard or not within our abilities? Perhaps if we learn this lesson from Yaakov, we can work on boosting our self-efficacy by realizing our potential, putting in the effort and increasing our chances of success and accomplishment.