The Wells Allude to the Batei ha-Mikdash
The Ramban writes (Bereishis 26:20) on the narrative of the wells dug by Yitzchak:
“‘And he called the name of the well Esek’ — Scripture relates and elaborates at length on the matter of the wells, yet in the literal narrative there appears to be neither inherent benefit nor great honor for Yitzchak, and both he and his father accomplished them equally” — that is to say, Yitzchak did not innovate new wells, but merely redug those of his father — “Rather, there is a concealed esoteric matter embedded within it, for it comes to foretell future events. For a ‘well of living waters’ (be’er mayim chayim) alludes to the House of G-d which the descendants of Yitzchak would ultimately fashion. Therefore, Scripture mentions a well of living waters, echoing the verse (Yirmiyahu 17:13): ‘The source of living waters, Hashem’—since Hakadosh Baruch Hu is termed the Source of Living Waters, the Beis ha-Mikdash is correspondingly designated a well of living waters.
And he named the first Esek, alluding to the Bayis Rishon, concerning which they contended (hise’asku) with us, waging numerous disputes and wars against us until they destroyed it. The second he called Sitnah, a more severe designation than the first, referring to the Bayis Sheni, which is called by this very term, as it is written (Ezra 4:6): ‘And in the reign of Achashverosh, at the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation (sitnah) against the inhabitants of Yehudah and Yerushalayim.’ Those who penned this sitnah were the sons of Haman, as Rashi notes (Esther 9:10) citing the Seder Olam: ‘And throughout his days they were an adversary (le-sitnah) unto us until they destroyed it and exiled us into an agonizing exile.’ Rabbeinu Bachya adds to this: ‘You ought to be awakened by the name of this well, for therein resides the Satan, who is the Sar of Eisav that constantly prosecutes against us.’ Inasmuch as the Satan is the celestial prince of Eisav, the nation of Eisav—the kingdom of Edom—are the foot soldiers of the Satan; they are the ones who permeated the entire cosmos with their vanities, embodying the very reality of the Satan in this world. It is termed Sitnah because at the inception of the Second Commonwealth the ten sons of Haman began drafting their sitnah, and at its demise the sons of Edom, the kingdom of Eisav, brought about its destruction—the very Galus under which we languish to this day. Thus, the Bayis Sheni was termed Sitnah.
The Ramban continues: ‘And the third he called Rechovos, which represents the Future Beis ha-Mikdash, may it be rebuilt speedily in our days, which will be established without strife or contention, and the Almighty will expand our borders, as it is stated (Devarim 19:8): “And if Hashem your G-d shall enlarge your border as He promised you,” which pertains to the ultimate future...’ The term ‘yarchiv’ is formulated in the future tense; and since the ultimate future is termed ‘expansion’ (harchavah) in the vernacular of Scripture—being the era wherein the Creator of the Universe will grant us expansion—the Bayis Shlishi, the manner through which the future Geulah will become manifest in the world, is called Rechovos.”
We deduce from the words of the Ramban that Esek, Sitnah, and Rechovos correspond directly to the three Batei ha-Mikdash, designated here allegorically as wells, while the Pelishtim represent those who stop them up. Avraham was the initial excavator; once the Pelishtim stopped up what he had dug, Yitzchak redoubled the effort and redug them. Thenceforth, we find no further excavation mentioned in Scripture, for the excavation executed conjointly by Avraham and Yitzchak was sufficient, and these very excavations constitute the metaphysical root of the Mikdashos.
The Essence of “Mayim Chayim” and Why It Specifically Alludes to the Beis ha-Mikdash
The Ramban explains that a be’er mayim chayim alludes to the Beis ha-Mikdash because the Creator is termed the Mekor Mayim Chayim. Yet it remains to be understood why this property of mayim chayim was uniquely designated to symbolize the Beis ha-Mikdash, and what precise potency inheres within water—specifically the eruptive force of the spring that draws forth subterranean waters from the abyss (tehom)—by virtue of which it was distinguished from all inanimate matter in creation to bear the moniker “living waters.”
Rabbeinu Bachya writes regarding the verse, “And every offering of your meal-offering you shall season with salt” (Vayikra 2:13):
“By way of Midrash, there is an explanation grounded in the esoteric path of Kabbalah: A covenant was forged with salt from the Six Days of Creation, wherein the Lower Waters (Mayim ha-Tachtonim) were assured that they would be offered on the Mizbe’ach through salt and through the Nisuch ha-Mayim on Chag ha-Sukkos. So too did Chazal expound in the Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 5:3): The lower waters were termed ‘weeping waters’ (mayim bochim). Why were they so called? For when Hakadosh Baruch Hu bifurcated the waters, placing these above and these below, the lower waters began to weep. This is the meaning of the verse (Iyov 28:11), ‘He binds the floods from overflowing (mib’chi neharos).’ Reb Abba stated: In tears were the lower waters sundered from the upper waters; they cried out: ‘Woe unto us that we did not merit to ascend on high to be near our Maker!’ What did they do? They summoned their audacity, cleft the abysses, and sought to ascend until Hakadosh Baruch Hu rebuked them...” (see further in his holy words).
We deduce from his discourse that the primordial separation enacted on the Second Day of Creation between the Upper and Lower Waters engendered within the Lower Waters a yearning to burst forth and ascend with all their might back to the heights. That primordial surge with which they cleft the abysses remained permanently infused within them. Though the Creator stationed them below, He endowed them with that indelible reservoir of vitality by virtue of which they continuously surge upward. This ardent longing to ascend (teshukah la’alos) pulsates within them. Consequently, despite water belonging fundamentally to the realm of the inanimate (domem), having been uniquely vested with this dynamic power of emergence, it earns the title “Mayim Chayim” (living waters).
Thus, the vital animation coursing through water originates entirely from its longing to revert to the elevated station from which it was cast down. This yearning persisted within them, and this alone connects them to true life. By virtue of this deep yearning, the Lower Waters were promised the rite of Nisuch ha-Mayim during the festival of Sukkos, where they themselves constitute the sacrificial offering—a singular avodah executed upon the living waters in their pristine state. Furthermore, they were promised that an indispensable element of every korban would derive from water: “Upon all your offerings you shall offer salt”—no sacrifice may be brought upon the Mizbe’ach without the presence of salt.
The Beis ha-Mikdash as a House of Tefillah, Aligned with the Heavenly Temple
This reality of synthesizing the upper and lower realms—precisely aligned one against the other—finds its ultimate locus in the Beis ha-Mikdash. The Beis ha-Mikdash is the setting of that “ladder set upon the earth whose top reached unto heaven.” There is the nexus where “nashkei shmaya ve-ar’a ahadadei” (Bava Basra 74a)—where heaven and earth kiss one another.
Our earthly sanctuary below is characterized by the verse: “For My House shall be called a house of prayer (beis tefillah) for all peoples” (Yeshayahu 56:7). Its very essence and appellation is a house of tefillah. Furthermore, we encounter the remarkable statement in the Gemara (Berachos 7a):
“R’ Yochanan said in the name of R’ Yose: From where do we derive that Hakadosh Baruch Hu prays? As it is stated: ‘And I will bring them to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer’—it does not say ‘their prayer,’ but ‘My prayer’ (tfilasi); from here we derive that Hakadosh Baruch Hu prays. What does He pray? Said Rav Zutra bar Tovia in the name of Rav: ‘May it be My will that My mercy suppresses My anger, that My compassion prevails over My strict attributes, that I conduct Myself toward My children with the measure of mercy, and that I enter with them beyond the strict letter of the law.’”
The Gemara proceeds to relate that Reb Yishmael the Kohen Gadol entered the Kodesh ha-Kodashim to offer the ketores, beheld a revelation of the Shechinah, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to him: “Yishmael, My son, bless Me.” Reb Yishmael recited this identical prayer. The Beis ha-Mikdash is named beis tefillah and beis tfilasi—as it were, both we and the Ribbono shel Olam beseech regarding the very same objective.
The earthly Beis ha-Mikdash constructed below in our physical realm stands severed from the Celestial Sanctuary (Beis ha-Mikdash shel Ma’alah) stationed above. Its spiritual reality parallels that of the Lower Waters, whose vital animation is drawn entirely from their yearning to recover their pristine, elevated state—the burning desire not to sink or remain discarded in the terrestrial depths, but to surge upward to that primordial source whence they fell. This very dynamic transforms the Beis ha-Mikdash into a Beis Tefillah. Here too, the inanimate (domem) transmutes into a pulsing, living entity.
In point of fact, the physical anatomy of human vitality is mirrored within the Mikdash, containing as it were the physical faculties that bind man to life: the mystical nose that inhales the fragrant aroma and the mouth that consumes the offerings. Indeed, the Mikdash is termed Beis Chayeinu (the House of our Life), and in its devastation we mourn for it as one mourns for a deceased relative, conducting ourselves as an onein whose dead lies before him.
Even amidst its churban, this visceral longing echoes ceaselessly. This was the heavenly voice (bas kol) heard by Reb Yose in the first perek of Berachos (3a):
“Reb Yose taught: Once, I was walking along the path and entered into one of the ruins of Yerushalayim to daven... And Eliyahu ha-Navi said to me: ‘My son, what sound did you hear in this ruin?’ I answered: ‘I heard a bas kol cooing like a dove and proclaiming: Woe to the children on account of whose iniquities I destroyed My house, burned My sanctuary, and exiled them among the nations!’”
This manifests the supreme anguish reverberating from the site of the ruined Mikdash, alongside the unrelenting teshukah to return.
This serves as the underlying premise for why the root of the Batei ha-Mikdash within the principle of Ma’aseh Avos siman la-banim is rooted precisely in the excavation of the wells: the Beis ha-Mikdash is the epicenter wherein resides the tefillah destined to restore us to the celestial heights.
The Pelishtim Who Stopped Up the Wells
We must now clarify the essence of these Pelishtim who systematically stopped up the wells. The Gemara in Avodah Zarah (18b) states:
“Rav Shmuel bar Nachmani said in the name of Reb Yonasan: ‘Ashrei ha-ish asher lo halach ba-atzas resha’im’—this refers to our father Avraham, who walked not in the counsel of the Generation of the Dispersion, who were wicked... ‘u-ve-derech chata’im lo amad’—who did not stand in the path of the sinners of Sodom... ‘u-ve-moshav leitzim lo yashav’—who did not sit in the seat of the scornful, this refers to the people of Peleshes, because they were cynics and jesters (leitzanim), as it is stated (Shoftim 16:25): ‘And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said: Call for Shimshon, that he may make sport for us (vi-sachek lanu).’”
Since the Pelishtim sought cheap amusement (sechok), Chazal reveal that the definitive ethos characterizing this nation is leitzanus (frivolity, cynicism, and mockery).
The root of this trait is embedded within their very appellation: Pelishtim, denizens of Peleshes, which is cognate with mefulash—a completely open, unpartitioned thoroughfare lacking any barrier or boundary. One passes through it unobstructed, as though traversing a vacant void where nothing inhibits passage; everything is accessible and permissible. While every nation and culture maintains at least some modicum of internal boundaries and inhibitions, the Pelishtim recognize no constraints whatsoever.
Regarding the genealogical provenance of the Pelishtim, Scripture states (Bereishis 10:13-14): “And Mitzrayim begot... the Pathrusim and the Casluchim, whence came the Pelishtim.” Rashi elucidates: “They emerged from both of them, for the Patrusim and Casluchim would promiscuously swap wives with one another, and from them emerged the Pelishtim.” It was indeterminate whether a child stemmed from this lineage or that, and to their sensibility, it was entirely inconsequential.
Furthermore, we discover that the quintessential avatar of the Pelishtim is Golyas ha-Pelishti. The Gemara in Sotah (42b) notes that immediately after “Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Rus clung to her,” Orpah departed, and on that very night she was promiscuous with one hundred men, from which Golyas was conceived. We encounter here an absolute, unbridled licentiousness—a total absence of boundaries. This is the pedigree of the Pelishtim: a baseline of absolute degradation, where all is rendered profane, accessible, and cheap.
Leitzanus: The Obliteration of All Inherent Value
Let us define this destructive trait termed leitzanus. A person devoid of reverence (kavod) is designated a leitz. He is an individual who disparages all things, upon whom nothing can make an impression, because he is incapable of being moved or inspired by anything. True honor and gravity is termed yakar (precious, weighty), as in “all the wives shall give honor (yekar) to their husbands” (Esther 1:20); its polar antithesis is zilzul—to cheapen everything, rendering it trivial and worthless (zol). To the leitz, nothing that transpires carries weight; everything is insignificant, stripped of sanctity, and unworthy of exertion. Such individuals dismiss all pursuits out of hand; within their worldview, there is nowhere to aspire and nothing to yearn for.
Moreover, the authentic leitz does not merely remain stagnant in his place, lounging and mocking those engaged in constructive action—as formulated in the verse “u-ve-moshav leitzim”—but actively strives to disrupt and sabotage those who labor and build. The Mesillas Yesharim (Chapter 5), explicating the Gemara in Avodah Zarah (18b), explains that the sole dialectic a leitz comprehends is suffering and afflictions (yisurim u-makos). The solitary reality to which he affords solemnity is raw physical pain. Beyond that, everything in existence is reduced to a hollow farce.
A striking illustration of this temperament is manifested in the episode of Avimelech, king of the Pelishtim, when the Almighty appeared to him in a nocturnal dream: “Hashem said to him: Behold, you shall die because of the woman whom you have taken...” Avimelech’s immediate response was: “Lord, will You slay even a righteous nation?” Rashi (Bereishis 20:4) notes:
“‘Will You slay even a righteous nation?’—Even if an individual is righteous, would You slay him? Is this peradventure Your established practice to destroy nations without cause? Thus did You do to the Generation of the Flood and the Generation of the Dispersion; I too assert that You destroyed them for naught, just as You threaten to slay me!”
Chazal interpret the word “goy” in its national connotation: Avimelech audaciously confronts the Master of the Universe, claiming: “You have annihilated entire civilizations without justification, and in my estimation, You liquidated the entire world during the Mabbul for nothing—just as You say to slay me!”
It is virtually inconceivable that a mortal privileged with divine communication in a nocturnal vision—a bona fide tier of prophecy—would respond with such brazen flippancy, casually speaking to the Creator of the Universe, saying: “This is Your pattern of conduct, and this is what You seek to do to me.” This constitutes chutzpah of the highest order. Such an insolent posture can only emanate from the archetype of all cynics—the King of the Pelishtim, whose whole essence is waged against the concept of kavod, seeking to uproot all sanctity and deference from reality.
The Pelishtim’s Opposition to the Ascending Yearning of the Waters
This precisely mirrors the act of the Pelishtim stopping up the wells, a phenomenon persisting to this very day. Their intent is to thwart that subterranean wellspring from surging upward and breaking through the surface. They choke it with dirt: “The Pelishtim stopped them up and filled them with earth.”
The leitz cannot tolerate the sight of an authentic, upward-surging spring; he cannot endure the proposition that there exists an ideal worthy of cleaving abysses for, especially knowing that the waters can only ascend so far on their own. This represents the obstruction of the Pelishtim. Yet in truth, that very teshukah to ascend is the absolute definition of life—it is the very reality of a be’er mayim chayim.
The Additional Well Corresponding to the Aron
Subsequently in the parshah, when Avimelech arrives to forge a covenant with Yitzchak:
“And they rose up early in the morning and swore one to another... And it came to pass the same day, that Yitzchak’s servants came and told him concerning the well which they had dug... And he called it Shiv’ah; therefore the name of the city is Be’er Sheva unto this day” (Bereishis 26:31-33).
Here we encounter an additional well, which the Ramban likewise aligns with the holy sanctuaries, yet his holy words demand rigorous elucidation. The Ramban writes:
“‘And Yitzchak’s servants came and told him concerning the well which they had dug’—this refers to the well mentioned earlier, ‘and there Yitzchak’s servants dug a well,’ for they had begun excavating it, and Avimelech came to him during those days; and on the day of the covenant, as they departed from him, they brought him the tidings that they had found water. And it appears likely to me that this is the selfsame well that Avraham dug, regarding which he set aside seven ewe-lambs for a witness, for the Pelishtim had stopped it up alongside the others, and Yitzchak returned and redug it, calling it by the identical name that his father had assigned to it. Therefore the city is called Be’er Sheva after the well named identically by both father and son, because there both of them swore.
And this well alludes to Mishkan Shiloh. The Pelishtim stopped it up when the Aron was captured, yet it was redug, as they returned the Aron with a guilt-offering (doron) unto G-d.”
The Ramban establishes that this well corresponds to Mishkan Shiloh, as Shiloh was laid waste on the fateful day the Pelishtim captured the Aron ha-Kodesh, after which they were coerced into returning it because it wrought devastation among them, causing them to cry: “Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods?” The Aron spoke to them in “Pelishtian”—the sole language cynics comprehend, through afflictions and plagues.
We must analyze: What uniquely distinguished Mishkan Shiloh to merit an explicit allusive representation within Ma’aseh Avos? After all, the Mishkan stood in multiple stations—in Gilgal, Nov, Giv’on, and for forty years in the Midbar—yet none of these warranted a corresponding well, only the Batei ha-Mikdash. Why, then, Shiloh?
Furthermore, the Ramban implies that the well symbolizes Shiloh because it was destroyed when the Pelishtim captured the Aron and was reconstituted when the Aron was returned. Yet historic Shiloh was never rebuilt, and the return of the Aron was to Beis Shemesh and Kiryas Ye’arim, and subsequently to Nov!
The resolution is that the Ramban’s reference to Shiloh pertains to the sanctity of the Aron itself. Shiloh was the singular sanctuary whose churban was synonymous with the capture of the Aron, and its “re-excavation” was marked by the return of the Aron accompanied by the doron (tribute), as the Ramban articulates: “and it was redug, as they returned the Aron with the doron unto G-d.” The Pelishtim returned the Aron accompanied by a golden coffer (argaz) laden with golden treasures, and this phenomenon pertains to the transcendent kedushah of the Aron itself. This constitutes a profound episode bearing great relevance to our avodah.
The Coffer Sent by the Pelishtim: Honor Emanating from Leitzanus Itself
The prevailing ethos in this world remains zilzul and leitzanus. Yet behold: once the Pelishtim were battered by divine plagues, they returned the Aron with lavish gifts—golden vessels placed in a dedicated coffer out of profound reverence for the Aron.
Those very golden vessels accompanied the Aron constantly in the Kodesh ha-Kodashim throughout the duration of the Bayis, and when the Aron was hidden away, they were concealed alongside it, as the Mishnah teaches at the end of Horayos (12a):
“When the Aron was hidden, there was concealed with it the flask of Shemen ha-Mishchah, the jar of the Manna, the staff of Aharon with its almonds and blossoms, and the coffer (argaz) which the Pelishtim sent as a gift to the G-d of Yisrael, as it is stated (Shmuel I 6:8): ‘And put the jewels of gold, which ye return Him for a guilt-offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.’”
A wondrous concept unfolds here: the honor and deference (kavod) wrenched specifically from those very cynics—from people fundamentally devoid of honor—constitutes the ultimate, consummate honor of the Aron! That very argaz embodies the triumph of the Aron’s majesty; hence, it was joined to the Aron itself, resided alongside it in the Holy of Holies, and was concealed together with it for eternity.
The Inner Meaning of the Covenant with the Pelishtim
Now we can fathom the enigmatic covenants forged by Avraham and Yitzchak with Avimelech. On the exact day that Yitzchak concluded the treaty with Avimelech, that unique well corresponding to the Aron was opened: “And they told him: We have found water!” In that hour, the well proclaiming the kedushas ha-Aron sprang forth.
Because the coffer sent by the Pelishtim was destined to be joined eternally to the Aron, there exists at this specific junction an inner pact between Avraham and Avimelech. The covenant between Avraham and Avimelech signifies that specifically through the subjugation of the Pelishtim, through Avimelech, the ultimate glory of the Aron ha-Bris is revealed. The convergence of Avraham and Avimelech parallels the ultimate subsumption of the Pelishtim’s homage into the Aron.
In the ultimate future, when the Aron is revealed, it will eradicate all leitzanus from the cosmos, and simultaneously there shall be revealed that very argaz dispatched by the Pelishtim: “And put it in a coffer by the side thereof.”
We may add to this the conclusion of the verse: “Therefore the name of the city is Be’er Sheva unto this day.” The inner meaning is that by virtue of this singular well, these spiritual forces endure throughout all generations—this is the wellspring through which that which was embedded in the excavations of the Avos continues to flow and illuminate unto this very day.
