Chasidut for Shabbat 302:12

Genesis 49,19. “Gad shall be raided by raiders, but he ‎shall raid at their heels.” We can best understand this ‎blessing by referring to the Talmud shabbat 151 where we ‎are told that when human beings demonstrate that they are ‎merciful to G’d’s creatures, G’d in turn will have mercy on them.” ‎Man’s actions trigger responses in heaven; in this instance, ‎positive responses. What possible example of Gad’s having ‎preformed acts of mercy do we know of? We have learned on folio ‎‎104 of the tractate Shabbat that the very sequence of the ‎letters ‎ג‎ and ‎ד‎ which make up Gad’s name are an acronym ‎meaning ‎גומל דלים‎, “relating with loving kindness to the poor.” ‎When a person deals charitably with the poor and he expects that ‎G’d will in turn reward him for this by causing him to forget ‎about the impending reward at the time the charitable deed is ‎performed, so that this person has attained an even higher ‎spiritual level thereby. Yaakov alludes to this when saying words ‎which at first glance sound as if he is repeating himself, whereas ‎actually he hints that certain actions inspired by one ‎consideration may prove to be even more profitable (spiritually) ‎when carried out altogether altruistically. The word ‎עקב‎ in our ‎verse may be understood as in Deut. 7,12 ‎והיה עקב תשמעון‎, “it will ‎be as a result (automatic) of your hearkening to G’ds laws, etc.” In ‎that verse G’d promises that He will honour the terms of His ‎covenant with the Jewish people. The word ‎גוד‎ may be related to ‎Daniel 4,11 (Aramaic) ‎גודו אילנא‎, “cut down the tree,” i.e. when ‎the Jewish people perform deeds of loving kindness their enemies ‎will be cut down by G’d. According to Targum Onkelos on ‎Deut.7,12 who renders ‎עקב תשמעון ‏‎ as ‎חלף תקבלון‎, “what you will ‎receive in exchange,” this is what is meant in our verse as ‎יגוד‎, “as ‎reward for forgetting about any reward”.‎

It is well known that it is G’d’s intention to confer ‎blessings and benefits on His creatures; however, there ‎are times when the benefits remain in the realm of the ‎celestial regions, never reaching its addressees, ‎whereas on other occasions these benefits are ‎executed so that they become visible and felt by its ‎recipients. The Baal Shem tov of blessed ‎memory dwelled on this when he explained the verse ‎ה' ‏צלך על יד ימינך‎, “the Lord is your shadow, always on your ‎right.” (psalms 121,5) He explained that just as the ‎shadow reflects its owner’s movements, so G’d’s ‎dealings with His creatures reflect these creatures’ ‎deeds. If man emulates G’d’s attribute of Mercy in ‎dealing with his fellow man, G’d can be depended upon ‎to deal similarly with that creature also. The Talmud ‎‎Shabbat 151 phrases it thus: ‎כל המרחם עם הבריות ‏מרחמין עליו‎, “anyone who has shown mercy to the ‎creatures will experience that when called for G’d will ‎deal mercifully with him.” If man practices the advice of ‎the sages to be ‎משמח בחלקו‎, “to accept always with good ‎cheer what fate has in store for him,” he will find that ‎G’d will respond to his virtues in kind. This is what the ‎‎Midrash says on the verse in psalms 121,5. It ‎follows that when man possesses the faith that G’d will ‎help him through some major problem that faces him, ‎he can rest assured that G’d will indeed do so ‎‎[if G’d feels that this is for this person’s ‎benefit. We do not always know what is good for us. ‎Ed.] If a person forever worries about where ‎his parnassah, livelihood, will come from, he is ‎liable to experience that “G’d, acting like a shadow, ‎shares in his worries, rather than provides the ‎solution.”‎
‎[The author continues with exegesis of the verse in ‎psalms 121,5 at length. As this is very repetitious and ‎germane primarily to someone writing a commentary ‎on psalms, I have decided to omit this. Ed.]