Bereishit 26:15-19
And the Philistines stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with earth. … Isaac dug anew the wells which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham’s death; and he gave them the same names that his father had given them. But when Isaac’s servants, digging in the wadi, found there a well of spring water [living water] …
Berakhot 56b:7
Rabbi Natan says: One who sees a well in his dream it is a symbol that he has found Torah, as the well symbolizes Torah. As it is stated with regard to the Torah: “For whoever finds me finds life” (Proverbs 8:35), and it is written here: “A well of living water,” and we see that a well is linked to Torah as both are associated with life. Rava said: The well in the dream symbolizes actual life.
Rabbi Yehudah Leib, Alter of Ger, Sefer Emet
My grandfather and teacher used to say this about the wells the patriarchs dug. Everywhere this is a hidden point of God. We only have to remove the external covering in order to reveal that innermost point, which is called “a well of living waters.”
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even before the Torah was received, the patriarchs explained/”welled” the wisdom of Creation, since everything was created through Torah and for God’s glory.
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The real intent is that the Jew receive godliness from everything that exists in the world. … Through the power of human effort … the hidden sparks of holiness, can be brought forth in this world
Aidan Steinsaltz
The problem of Isaac’s divine service is part of a larger dilemma — the difficulty of renewal …
Without Isaac, without Isaac’s ability to provide continuity, Abraham would not be Abraham at all. … In this sense, just as Abraham begets Isaac, Isaac “makes” Abraham by giving him relevance and an enduring legacy. … The ability to create continuity is not only important in itself and significant for the future, but it even changes the significance of the past.
… just as there is a mitzva to “be fruitful and multiply” in the physical realm, there is a similar mitzva in the spiritual realm … To reach the point where one feels the need to renew oneself — where one is able to consistently dig the well anew, asking “Why?”, “For what purpose?”, and “For what reason?” – requires much training and practice. One must train oneself to understand that “that’s just the way it is” [is not a satisfactory answer]
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the essence of Hasidism is that one must constantly be asking, “Why?” about everything that one encounters in life.
