A Word from Rav Yitzchak Breitowitz

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We continue our Bitachon journey. We discussed in the previous session that in the Shemona Esrei, when we say the words for your salvation Hashem, we have hoped for, we should have in mind two things. Number one, we should have in mind that Hashem will send us the ultimate salvation and we should hope for that salvation, the ending of the exile and the coming of Moshiach. And number two, we should also have in mind all of our personal salvations, for ourselves and for all those around us, and we should hope to Hashem that He will send us those salvations.   And along similar lines, we now look at a piece from the Chofetz Chaim in his Sefer Machaneh Yisrael (2:2) where he writes, Every single Jew should hope for Hashem's salvation every single day. Because the salvation of Hashem comes at the blink of an eye. And just like we say in the Shemona Esrei, for your salvation we have hoped the entire day Hashem, tSfarim teach that one should not only hope for the salvation of the ultimate redemption and the ending of the exile, but rather with regards to every form of distressing situation, we should place our hope in Hashem that He will protect us from such situations.   Let us remind ourselves that one of the fundamentals about Bitachon is to specifically hope to Hashem to send us the things that we require in the way that we require.   “Hashem my dear Father, I am learning here that one of the most basic elements of bitachon is to place our hope in You and to hope to You Hashem that You will send my salvation. Hashem my dear Father, I am currently struggling tremendously to make ends meet at the end of each month, and I am coming to You my dear Father to place my trust and hope and reliance in You that You will send my salvation. Hashem I am prepared and ready and doing my best to fulfill the mitzvah of Ishtadlus, but I am also trying to digest that it can be a tremendous stumbling block to assume that our Hishtadlus, our efforts in this world, is what brings us our own success, God forbid that is very close to idol worship.   It is You exclusively Hashem who brings me my success. And that being the case Hashem, I am asking You, please Hashem, send me other avenues where I should be able to even have more time available to devote towards Torah learning and davening to You and talking to You, and I should be able to have a respectable job in a way that we can have the parnasssah at we need, knowing with absolute clarity, without a shadow of a doubt, that my parnassah comes 100% from You, not flattering any boss in the wrong way, nor anything similar, but rather Hashem I am coming to You and placing my hope in You, because I know that You can do anything Hashem, You own all the money in the world, You are the one who creates opportunities for people, and I am asking You Hashem, please send me a good opportunity where I should be able to be happy at my work, and I should be able to succeed financially, whilst at the same time, succeed in the true sense of the word, that I am a true success story when it comes to emunah and bitachon, and placing my hope in You, because ultimately Hashem, I know that my success, be it financial or any other area, does not come from anyone, nor anything, except for You, Hashem my dear Father, I am placing my hope in You and I am asking You Hashem, please do not let me down.”   B’ezrat Hashem, let's move forward in this incredible journey about bitachon, and transform our lives.

We're moving forward now, B’ezrat Hashem, to the next Torah passage we're going to be exploring. And this is a piece from one of the commentaries to the Shulchan Aruch, the Shaarei Teshuva (see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 118), where he writes, In the Shemona Esrei, in the passage Es Tzemach David Avdecha, we tell Hashem that for Your salvation we have hoped, Hashem, and says the Shaarei Tsehuva that when we say these words “for your salvation we have hoped”, We should actually have intention that we have hoped for the ultimate salvation, which is really the coming of Mashiach and the ending of the exile. So the main thing to pray for, says the Shaarei Teshuva, is for the ultimate redemption.   And again, the Shaarei Teshuva is teaching us here what we should have in mind when we say these words of the Shemona Esrei, That we are having hope in Your salvation, Hashem. But obviously, this idea can be extended to not only the words of the Shemona Esrei, but any time we delve into Hashem in our own words, as we've elaborated on many times previously. This idea of hoping to Hashem for the ultimate redemption should be at the forefront of our minds.   And the Sharei Tshuva now quotes from one of the great rabbis, who states that besides having in mind for the ultimate salvation, he also has in mind the personal salvations that he needs in his life. So we're learning two things here from the Sharei Tshuva. Firstly, we should have in mind that the ultimate salvation is the salvation of the ending of the exile and Hashem bringing Mashiach, and ultimately that also leading to salvation in every and all other areas.   And secondly, we should also have in mind our personal salvations that we need, be it paranossa, be it family relationships, illness, or any other situation we might be experiencing. But it is so important to also remember, guys, as so many other Torah passages teach us, it is not only about our own personal problems.   We are all accountable for one another, and there are so many people going through so many things. We are to pray and hope for one another, and constantly, We see someone in trouble, we see someone going through a difficult situation, as the one who doesn't pray for them, as the Gemara says, is considered a sinner, because maybe our prayer will just be the only one that makes its way up to Hashem to help this individual.   So let us take to heart that both through the official texts, such as Shemona Esrei, as well as through our personal prayers, we are to hope to Hashem for the ultimate redemption as well as for all our personal redemptions and salvations, but not to limit it to ourselves, but rather to remember one another, that we are to pray for one another, and constantly hope that Hashem will send our salvation. B'ezrat Hashem, let's continue on this most incredible journey about Bitachon, and transform our lives.

We now move forward to a beautiful passage from the Malbim to Tehillim (27:14), where the Malbim states, Placing one's hope in Hashem differs from placing one's hope in another individual in two ways. Firstly, that when we rely on another individual, that actually causes pain and grief in our heart. Because sometimes when we rely on another individual, we get let down, either because that individual tricked us and did not help us out in the way we needed, or alternatively, even when it comes to a well-meaning individual, because they are limited by their human resources and capacity, we might have been let down because they were not able to help us in the way that we needed.   Whereas when it comes to placing our hope in Hashem, not only does that not cause us grief and pain to our hearts, but rather it has the opposite effect. It causes us a feeling of strength and courage in our hearts. Because we know we are in the hands of the master of the universe, who certainly can help us, and when we rely on Hashem properly to its highest degree, as we've learned so many times by Bitachon, we know that He will help us without a shadow of a doubt.   And the Malbim now states the second difference that there is between relying on another individual as opposed to relying on Hashem: When we are hoping to another individual for a certain outcome, the hope itself is not the desired result, but rather what we truly desire is the desired result itself. So let's say, I am hoping to a doctor to cure me. I don't place any value necessarily in the actual act of hoping to the doctor to send me my cure, but rather I just want to be cured. And therefore it comes out that the true goal of placing my hope in another individual is to not have to hope in them anymore, because I'm hoping now that this individual will give me money, and the goal is that I should get the money and not need to place my hope to them anymore.   Whereas hoping to Hashem is an ends to itself, and not just a means to an ends. It is not just that I'm hoping to Hashem to send my salvation, and the goal is receiving my salvation. Rather, the hope itself that I'm placing in Hashem has tremendous intrinsic value. To the point that the whole purpose of placing our hope in Hashem is not just that we're hoping to receive our desired result, but rather it is building a relationship with Hashem. And one of the main ways that we build our relationship with Hashem is hoping to Hashem for all of our needs.   Although ideally, certainly each one of us want to receive the salvations that we are hoping Hashem will send us, however much more important than actually receiving the salvation is the act of placing our kivui, our hope and reliance on Hashem. Because as we've discussed many times, receiving the salvation that we need, although it might be something that we see as the grand prize, however ultimately, a relationship with Hashem and everything that that leads to is way greater than the greatest grand prize that we might be able to imagine for ourselves.   So it's much more than just receiving the salvation. It's actually about creating a personal relationship with Hashem, and when we hope in Hashem once, what that should ultimately lead to is hoping in Hashem again and again and again. Because it's not about just receiving what I need and then being done with the hope, but rather we see tremendous intrinsic value in the kivui itself. B'ezrat Hashem, let's move forward in this incredible journey together and transform our Bitachon.

So we begin now, part 6 of our Transform Your Bitachon series. And the question we're going to be exploring is how does kivui relate to Bitachon? What exactly is kivui and what does that have to do with Bitachon? So let's just look at one or two passages before we talk about it further. The first passage in the Torah itself, in Bereshis (19:18), when the Torah is recounting a long passage where Yaakov Avinu is giving his sons, the 12 tribes, his final message before his departure from this world, it states, “I have hoped for Your salvation, Hashem.” And similarly speaking, we see in Tehillim (27:14), where David HaMelech teaches us, that we are to hope in Hashem, and if He did not yet come through for us, in our hope and prayer and reliance on Him, we are to be strong and courageous in re-motivating ourselves to re-hope in Hashem, and re-hope in Hashem, until He comes through for us in the way that we need. Kivui means hoping in Hashem.   Now while Bitachon is the overall topic we're learning about and has many sub-topics under its umbrella, one of the most fundamental elements of what it means to have Bitachon in Hashem is to have kivui in Hashem, to place our hope in Hashem. And while in a certain sense the two ideas of kivui and Bitachon certainly interrelate and overlap, at the same time it is very beneficial to highlight and delve into this section of kivui as its own section, and do our best to clarify what the Torah sources teach us about this topic. Now before we move further, to exploring the rest of the Torah sources in this section, I would just like to recap what we saw in one of the most fundamental pieces about Bitachon in the previous section, and that is a piece from the Leshem.   The Leshem taught us that if Hashem would come to you and tell you in a direct, clear revelation, my child, this is what I want you to do, and the mission that He gives you is something that is a little bit scary or perhaps dangerous and the like. Now if Hashem Himself tells you, don't worry, you are to take on this mission and I guarantee you I will protect you and come through for you. Now if Hashem would do that, most believing Jews who are striving to have Emunah and Bitachon would not even hesitate about fulfilling the mission that Hashem has sent them on, because He Himself has told you to do it, and He Himself has also told you that He will come through for you and save you.   Now the Leshem extended this idea in the most fascinating way to any and every situation that we might go through in our lives. The Leshem taught us that because there are so many verses throughout the Torah where Hashem calls on us, when you have a problem you must rely on Me, that I will come through for you in the way that you need. Hashem does not tell us, just accept it with love that everything I'm doing is for the best and move on. No, He says, if you're going through a problem, rely on Me that I will send your salvation. And because of that, it is as if Hashem has already written down in the Torah, when you Mr. X or you Mrs. Y are suffering poverty or going through a certain illness, I'm telling you to rely on Me, and if you do rely on Me, I will take you out that illness and I will send you all the paranosah that you need.   It's as if that line has been written in the Torah because Hashem has told you, you are going to have an issue and you are going to need to rely on Me and I'm telling you that you must rely on Me, and if you do so, I will come through for you. And the reason that I'm bringing up this Torah passage again is because this is a good foundation to this whole topic of kivui and of how kivui relates to Bitachon. What kivui, simply speaking, means is to hope in Hashem that He will come through for us in the way that we need and in the way that we desire. B’ezrat Hashem, let's continue in the next session on this incredible journey about Bitachon and together transform our lives.

Guys, today we're going to round up the section that we've been dealing with in our Transform Your Bitachon series. And the question was, why must Hashem come through for me? We discussed that according to most opinions, what bitachon means is to rely on Hashem to such an extent that He will for sure come through for me in the way that I need. And the question that we ask is, why must Hashem come through for me? Who says I even deserve it? What is the mechanism that tells me that for sure Hashem must come through for me if I am relying on Him? And we looked at three passages that helped shed some light on this topic of our bitachon journey.   The first one was a midrash in Tehillim where the midrash stated that there was an individual who got arrested in a certain town and because he didn't want to be dealt with harshly by the police, he lied to them and told them, Please do not hurt me because I am part of the family of the king. The police believed the individual and in the morning when they brought this individual to the king, the king said to him, I do not recognize you. And the man said, Listen, I know I am not from your family and I know I behaved incorrectly by telling a lie and telling them that I am from your family.   However, my dear king, the only reason I did so was because I needed a way out of this terrible situation that I'm in and I knew that my only way to salvation was to rely on you and tell them that, Please, because of the king, I am from his family, save me due to the king's merit. Now, my king, I beg you, Please, because I've relied on you, come through for me and don't leave me hanging. And as the midrash ends off, David HaMelech teaches us that anyone who does the same with Hashem and says, Hashem, I am relying on you, Please, therefore, save me, Hashem will save him because of that reason exclusively.   We similarly saw a beautiful passage from the Chofetz Chaim where the Chofetz Chaim explained that when the angels guised as human beings who appeared as guests to Lot in the town of Sedom, when the townspeople came and wanted to harm those guests, Lot pleaded with them, Please, my people, do not do them harm. And his only argument was, Because they have relied on me, it is my responsibility to take care of them. Not because they are good people, not because you are doing something inappropriate, nor because of any other reason, but just because they have relied on me, that itself is enough of a reason and motivator for me to do anything and everything within my resources to make sure that they are taken care of and protected. And the Chofetz Chaim told us that as we see from other Torah passages, that Lot is not seen as an upright individual. And nevertheless, he understood this most basic fundamental idea about accountability to another human being who is relying on you.   And as the Chofetz Chaim continues, certainly when it comes to the Great King of all kings, Hashem Himself, when we choose to rely on Him, for sure He will not let us down, and He will come through for us and send us our salvation. And the words of the Chofetz Chaim are that when a person relies on Hashem, Hashem will for sure save you and send your salvation from all challenging circumstances.   And finally, we explore the most beautiful and fundamental piece from the Leshem, where the Leshem taught us that by the fact that the Torah itself calls on us in so many Torah passages to rely on Hashem when we are in distress, when we are short of money, when we are suffering illness, when we are going through a certain challenging relationship, or whatever it might be, each one of us in our own lives, by the fact that there are so many verses where Hashem calls on us and tells us, Please my child, you have a problem, you must rely on Me that I will take care of your problem. And because of this, the Leshem teaches us that just like Hashem came through for the people in the Torah itself, where He gave them outright commands to do very specific missions and said, Do not worry, when you do that mission, I will come through for you, because Hashem has commanded us to rely on Him throughout any and every situation that we go through, again, be it poverty, illness, or anything else. It is as if Hashem has commanded us to go through that situation and told us, Do not worry, I will come through for you. And it's as if He's told that to us in a direct revelation.   We'll end off with one more beautiful piece, and that is from Rashi to Tehillim (50:15), where Rashi writes, Hashem says, it is My honor that I save those that rely on Me. Again, it is beneath Hashem's, so to speak, dignity and honor to not come through for someone who is choosing to place their hope and reliance on Hashem. What a tremendous privilege we have to be able to tap into this power of bitachon and rely on Hashem to the point that we know that when we rely on Hashem, He will for sure come through for us in the way that we desire and that we need. B'ezrat Hashem, let's continue in this most incredible bitachon journey together and transform our lives.

Guys today we have a very fundamental torah piece we’re going to be exploring. And this is authored by Rav Shlomo Eliyashiv, who is actually the great grandfatrher of the great Rav yosef Shalom Eliyashiv from our generation. Rav Shlomo Eliyashiv, known as the Leshem, because of his Torah work – Leshem Shevo Veachlama, in one of his books known as the sefer hadeah (Chelek 2, drush 5, anaf 4, siman 5), writes the following remarkable idea. One is to be so confident in their reliance on Hashem that their situation will turn out for the good and when a person is choosing to rely on Hashem, they can be so confident in that reliance on Hashem that Hashem will come through for them in exactly the way that they need and nothing whatsoever can distract Hashem from sending their salvation. Hashem will for sure come through for them.   Because the concept of Bitachon is not limited to an explicit passage in the Torah such as when Hashem gave certain commands to our great ancestors in the Torah itself to do certain things, and then they were called on to have Bitachon to Him. Now one might argue, if Hashem also came to me in a revelation and told me to do something, I would do it and then I would rely on Him because He's told me clearly what I am to do. So one might argue, in situations such as the characters in the Torah itself where Hashem told them to do specific things and go on certain missions, they were able to have Bitachon in Hashem that Hashem would come through for them in exactly the way that was good for them and that He told them He would come through for them because He told them so. But me, Hashem did not speak to me and tell me that He was going to come through for me in the way that I am desiring. In fact, I am asking Hashem for Parnassah. I don't know if He wants me to have Parnassah. I am asking Hashem to give me health. I don't know if He wants me to have health.   And says the Leshem, one of the most fundamental ideas behind this whole journey of Bitachon, but also the concept of Bitachon applies just as much to situations where there is no explicit command from Hashem in the Torah to rely on Him in that specific situation. By the fact that there are so many pesukim in the Torah that call on us to constantly reach out to Hashem and hope to Hashem and rely on Hashem, that He is the one that will take care of us and when we are in a challenging situation to look up to Hashem that He will send us our salvation, and many verses in the Torah, such as this example that the Leshem brings, promise that somebody who trusts in Hashem, Hashem will come through for them, it is as if Hashem has written this situation that we are going through in the Torah itself and telling us, you are to rely on Me and I will come through for you.   So not only in situations where Hashem commands the individuals in the Torah stories themselves and says you are to go on certain missions, and even though it might seem like a dangerous mission, don't worry, I will come through for you in a good way. Bitachon is not limited to those situations. Rather, each and every one of us in our own situations. Because Hashem has commanded us in so many verses, when you have a problem, you are to rely on Me. So when I'm going through a challenging relationship and I come to Hashem and I say, Hashem please save me from this challenging situation. I'm relying on You and You exclusively to save me. It is as if Hashem has told me in the Torah, you are going to go through a challenging relationship and I am going to save you by the fact that so many pesukim command us to rely on Hashem.   Any situation where we need Hashem and we choose to rely on Him, it was as if Hashem had commanded us to go through that situation and had pre-told us that He will come through for us. Bezrat Hashem in the next session, we're going to round up part 5 of our Transform Your Bittachon series. And thereafter, continue to the next section of our Bittachon journey, and with Hashem's help, together, transform our lives.