Horav E. Dessler, z.l., explains that all which comprises an individual’s creative personality, including his capacity to earn a livelihood, his intelligence, foresight, business acumen, and skill, are the products of Hashem’s beneficence. In fact, every facet of one’s existence is derived from Hashem. The miracle of physical and mental health is not the direct result of the nutrition inherent in the food we eat. Rather, Hashem employs the food as a vehicle by which He imparts this seemingly natural blessing.
Horav Dessler cites Targum Onkelos, who explains that the thought process which catalyzes every endeavor is actually the work of the Almighty. Hashem gives us the “ability” to make our livelihood. No part of our good fortune can be attributed to our own merit. How disparate is Torah hashkafah, philosophy, from that of contemporary society, which lauds and venerates the “self-made” man! One should realize that the “self-made” man is really one who has merited to be the recipient of a major gift from Hashem. Perhaps, if we were to be more cognizant of the origins of success, our appreciation of our gifts would be enhanced.
