Concealment is an opportunity for tikkun

ויהי רעב בארץ מלבד הרעב הראשון כו'.

"And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine…" (Bereishis 26:1).

The Sefas Emes notes the Torah's phrasing that Yitzchak's famine was "besides" the earlier famine of Avraham's days.

ומשמע שעדיין הי' גם הרעב הראשון.

And it implies that the first famine was still in effect as well.

The word "besides" suggests the earlier famine had not simply ended; in some sense it still endured alongside the new one.

והענין הוא עפ"י המדרש עשרה רעבון באו לעולם וכולן בימי אנשים גדולים כו'.

And the matter is understood according to the Midrash: ten famines came to the world, and all of them in the days of great men.

The Midrash teaches that the world's famines arrived specifically in the eras of great tzaddikim, which the Sefas Emes will explain is no coincidence.

כי המה הסתרות שצריכין התחתונים לתקן אותם.

For they are concealments (hester) that those below must repair.

A famine is really a spiritual concealment of Hashem's presence, sent so that the people of that generation can rectify it through their avodah.

ולכן אברהם אבינו תיקן הרעבון ופתח פתח לעבוד ה' בבחי' אהבה.

Therefore Avraham Avinu repaired the famine and opened a doorway to serve Hashem through the aspect of ahavah (love).

Avraham, whose middah was love, rectified his particular concealment and thereby opened a new pathway of serving Hashem out of ahavah.

וידוע שלכל מדה יש הסתר שיש אהבה טובה ואהבה רעה כי אחר החטא יש בכל דבר תערובות.

And it is known that every middah (trait) has a concealment, for there is a good love and an evil love — since after the chet (the sin of Adam) there is an admixture in everything.

Every spiritual trait has a counterfeit shadow; love can be holy or corrupt, because since the first sin good and evil are intermixed within every thing.

וכן בפרט בכל אדם אחר כל ענין השגה הולך עמו התנגדות והסתר.

And likewise in particular, in every person, after every attainment there follows an opposition and a concealment.

On the personal level too, every spiritual achievement is immediately shadowed by resistance and concealment that test whether the gain will hold.

רק הקב"ה בורא רפואה קודם למכה.

But the Holy One creates the cure before the affliction.

Hashem always prepares the remedy in advance, so the very strength needed to overcome each concealment is granted before the concealment arrives.

ואחר עבודת אברהם אע"ה בא הרעבון שהי' מיוחד שיתוקן ע"י עבודת אאע"ה.

And after the avodah of Avraham, our father, peace be upon him, came the famine that was designated to be repaired specifically through the avodah of Avraham Avinu.

Avraham's service came first as the "cure," and only then did the famine arrive — the very concealment that his particular avodah was destined to rectify.

וכן הוא לעולם.

And so it is always.

This pattern — strength granted first, concealment coming after — is the constant rule of spiritual life in every generation and in every person.

לכן עובד ה' שמתרעם בראותו הסתרות שונות בעבודת ה'. לא מחכמה שאל ע"ז.

Therefore one who serves Hashem and complains when he sees various concealments in the avodah of Hashem — it is not out of chochmah (wisdom) that he questions this.

It is unwise to grumble at the obstacles and hiddenness that arise in one's service, as if they were a sign of failure or abandonment.

כי אדרבא לטובה בא לו ההסתר באותו הזמן שכבר יש לאל ידו לתקנו.

For on the contrary, the concealment comes to him for the good, at the very time when it is already within his power to repair it.

The concealment is a gift, sent precisely when the person already possesses the strength to overcome it — proof that he is being given an opportunity, not a punishment.

והאבות תקנו כל א' רעבון מיוחד.

And the Avos each repaired a particular famine.

Each of the forefathers was assigned his own concealment to rectify, matching his own avodah.

ולא ביטלו הרעבון רק פעלו עצות למצוא ההארות והתגלות גם בתוך הרעבון.

And they did not nullify the famine; rather, they devised means to find the illuminations and revelation even within the famine itself.

Their tikkun was not to make the hardship disappear but to discover Hashem's light and presence from within the very midst of the concealment.

וזה ענין מלבד הרעב הראשון ודו"ק.

And this is the meaning of "besides the first famine" — contemplate it well.

The first famine "remained" because the Avos did not abolish their concealments but transformed them into vessels for revelation, so their work endured into the next one.

וזה עצמו הענין שכ' חז"ל האבות בחרו הגלות. כמ"ש צורם מכרם כו'.

And this itself is the matter that Chazal wrote, that the Avos chose galus, as it is written, "their Rock sold them" (Devarim 32:30).

This same principle explains the teaching that the forefathers willingly chose exile for their descendants, hinted at in the passuk that speaks of being "sold."

פי' שרצו להשאיר עבודה זו בזרעם אחריהם לתקן ולברר כבוד מלכותו ית' גם בימי הרעבון והגלות:

The explanation is that they wished to bequeath this avodah to their offspring after them — to repair and to clarify the glory of His kingship, may He be blessed, even in the days of famine and galus.

The Avos deliberately left this avodah as an inheritance: to reveal Hashem's kingship from within concealment, so that their children could find and proclaim His glory precisely amid the darkness of famine and exile.

Summary: Famines — and all spiritual concealments — come specifically in the days of great tzaddikim because a concealment is an opportunity for tikkun, sent only when one already has the strength to overcome it; the Avos did not abolish their famines but revealed Hashem's light from within them, and they bequeathed this very avodah to their children, choosing galus so that Bnei Yisrael could clarify Hashem's kingship even in the darkest concealment.