In our reading, Yaakov is informed that Esav is coming out to meet him with 400 men. Yaakov prepares to face tremendous losses—”And he said, if Esav comes upon one camp and strikes it, the remaining camp will be for a remnant” [32:9].
The Medrash say that Yaakov prepared himself in three ways: with gifts, with prayer, and for war.
The Niflaos Chadashos asks: if the prayer doesn’t work, how are gifts and warfare going to help? Since it all depends upon G-d, what is the value of Yaakov’s other efforts?
Rather, he explains, it is clear that the one, truly important preparation was Yaakov’s prayer. Yaakov prayed that his gifts would have their desired influence, and mollify Esav. He also prayed that, alternatively, he would win the battle.
But again, couldn’t Yaakov have simply prayed for redemption, by whatever means Hashem would bring that about? The answer to that, he says, is that the way of a righteous person is not to rely upon a miracle, at least not until there is no other hope. Rather, he must put in all appropriate efforts, executing plans for success, and then pray that those efforts will bear fruit.
A key element of true reliance upon G-d is to recognize that one is obligated to put in all appropriate efforts, yet understand that whether those efforts will succeed or fail is entirely in Hashem’s hands.
