The Hand Reaches

I was reading this, again, very short aliyah of Parasha Behar and a phrase jumped out at me from VaYikra 25:26 which I knew I had seen before.  That pasuk reads "A man, if there should not be for him a redeemer [meaning someone who can buy back land he sold when he became poor], but his hand reached and found sufficient means for [the land's] redemption, then he shall calculate the years of his sale and he shall return the remainder to the man that he had sold it to him and he shall return to his ancestral heritage."

Compare this to VaYikra 5:7, which sets forth that if someone does not have the financial means to bring a sheep or a goat for a sin-offering, because "his hand does not reach enough" for a sheep or a goat, then he can bring "two turtledoves or two young doves."  

This is such an interesting phrase - a reaching of the hand.  It honestly reminds me of when I lived in New Orleans and a friend told me that a local had told him that the best way to make a gumbo was to throw in the pot "whatever the hand reaches for."

On one hand, it seems like pure randomness - just grab, or do not grab, whatever the hand reaches for.

But we know for certain that the Torah does not and cannot ever speak in terms of randomness.

So, in contrast to other discussions in which I made mention of a relationship in which we do a ton of the work to bring down the blessing, which surely will be abundant, it seems like there are times in which the hand reaches and G-d either has or has not provided the blessing.  And that seems specifically tied to financial blessing, specifically, money.  Surely this type of blessing or lack thereof is tied to all the commandments about which we have learned, but I do want to leave space for a slightly grayer area, that things can be given or taken away not as a consequence but rather as an impetus.

How so?  Well, if I go to buy a sheep or goat and my hand doesn't reach sufficient money, then that spurs me to still bring a bird korban.  And if I have to sell my land, but I reach into an old drawer and find a bunch of money, that spurs me into taking action to redeem my land and return to the ancestral heritage.

Both the blessing and the lack still spur the mitzvot.  The mitzvot, as mentioned above, result in the circumstance, but sometimes the circumstance results on the mitzvot.

Fascinating stuff.  Reward, punishment, action, reaction, input, output - I am sure that they exist in the divine realms and in both G-dly and natural law - call it mazal, call it karma, call it whatever you'd like.  Again, randomness cannot and does not exist.  But the rules can be flipped, can be doubled up, can span over many years or even many lifetimes.  The cause can be become the consequence, the cause can also be the consequence, the consequence can come first, the consequence can come four reincarnations later.  May we dig deep to assign meaning to each one and find truth there.