Our Gemara on Amud Beis discusses a dispute about one of the rules about the Schach, regarding a situation where the roofing is very thick. Shulkhan Arukh advises halakha lemaase that the covering should be open enough that one should see the stars, of course still keeping to the requirement that there be more shade than sun. Mishna Berura (636:6) Records an opinion that if the roof is so thick that rain would not even come inside, it is too close to a house instead of a Succah, and is not valid.

The Akeidas Yitschok (67:8) offers us a symbolic interpretation of this halakha, which has implications in terms of our responsibilities to take care of ourselves versus trusting in God‘s providence. As we have discussed in prior Psychology of the Daf’s, the Succah represents God’s Providence. The Akeidas Yitschok takes this further by comparing the two opposing laws about Schach, of not having too much shade or too little shade to represent trusting in God but not foolishly trusting to the point of no effort.

On a related point, there is a key passage in Targum Onkelos that significantly addresses this. The verse states (Devarim 8:18)

וְזָֽכַרְתָּ֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ כִּ֣י ה֗וּא הַנֹּתֵ֥ן לְךָ֛ כֹּ֖חַ לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת חָ֑יִל 

⁦Remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to get wealth.

However, Onkelos translates a key phrase, “who gives you the power to get wealth”, differently: 

וְתִדְכַּר יָת יְיָ אֱלָהָךְ אֲרֵי הוּא יָהֵב לָךְ עֵצָה לְמִקְנֵי נִכְסִין

Which translates as: “⁦Remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the intellect to get wealth.”

This means, God will inspire you, but you got to do the work. 

Now for extra credit, for those of you who are scholars of the Moreh Nevukhim, you can see why the Rambam was so enamoured of Onkelos’ translation. HIs translation consistently avoids anthropomorphism, and we see this more subtly in its reticence to describe routine direct heavenly intervention. We see here incredible traces of what we call Neoplatonic metaphysics, and very possibly the Greeks received this wisdom from the Jews in Alexandria, which at a point in history was a hotbed of philosophy, science and scholarship.see for example Niddah 69b. 

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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