If We Are Davuk to Hashem, Nothing Can Hurt Us
The Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim Part 3, Ch. 51) writes along similar lines. “When a person turns his mind away from worldly things, and he comprehends that the Ribbono shel Olam runs the world, then it is impossible for bad things to happen to him, עמו, וה' ה' עם הוא כי for he is with Hashem, and Hashem is with him.
Conversely, when a person ceases to think about Hashem, he becomes separated, chas v’shalom, from Hashem—and when one is separated from the Ribbono shel Olam, he is a target that can easily be found by negative events, R”l. The moment that you’re with Hashem, then Hashem is with you, and nothing can affect you.
It’s Not a Segulah; It’s a Way of Life
There’s a well-known segulah from Rav Chaim Voloziner (Nefesh HaChaim, Sha’ar 3, Ch. 12) that when a person feels surrounded by severe dinim, he should establish in his heart that מלבדו, עוד אין there is no one but the Ribbono shel Olam, and he will thus be saved.
The truth is that this is what the Ramban and the Rambam are teaching us, as noted above. But this doesn’t mean that we should make a segulah out of it, so that when a person finds himself in a tzarah, he should pull out the segulah book and think these words. Rather, these great tzaddikim are teaching us that this is a way of life by which we must always live.
What they’re saying is that had this person been thinking מלבדו עוד אין fifteen minutes before this frightening occurrence, he would never have found himself in this dilemma to begin with! Only the power of emunah is so great that even after the tzarah has visited him, he can still claw his way back and begin thinking proper thoughts. But it is a shame... for once a person finds himself in a dire situation, it is so much harder to begin thinking positive thoughts of emunah. It is far more preferable to be thinking these thoughts beforehand, when it is much easier.
Concealment Stems from Our Thoughts
The Rambam further explains that this is the pshat in the pesukim in Parashas Vayeilech: ביום ואמר וצרות רבות רעות ומצאהו לאכל והיה מהם פני והסתרתי האלה, הרעות מצאוני בקרבי אלהי אין כי על הלא ההוא and I will conceal My face from them and they will become prey, and many evils and stresses will encounter it. It will say on that day “Is it because my G-d is not within my midst that these evils have come upon me? (Devarim 31:17).
We see from here that when there’s concealment, R”l, we are the reason for it! The Ribbono shel Olam looks down constantly upon the world, and He does good for the world constantly. But we have departed from that good by forgetting that the Ribbono shel Olam conducts His creation—and when we, chas v’shalom, depart from that awareness... ורעות, רבות צרות ומצאוהו we become mired in problems and dilemmas, for we have created a partition, a distance with Hashem, R”l.
This Principle Applies to Every Individual
The Rambam adds that this principle applies to the individual just as it does to the community (the pesukim in Vayeilech refer to Klal Yisrael as a whole). It applies to every individual in his daily life: If you will remember and recognize that “I cannot do anything on my own to change the situation,” you will rely solely upon the Ribbono shel Olam; you will daven to Him, asking that He guide you on the proper path, remembering all the while that it is He who coordinates all events in the world—then you will see how things begin to fall into place.
For the entire reason—says the Rambam—that tzaros happen to a person is because he has become abandoned to happenstance, מקרה, as a result of being separated from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. However, שאלוקיו מי עיקר, כל רע בו יגע לא בקרבו one who Hashem is within him will not be touched by evil at all.
The Rambam concludes by saying that this is what we say in Tehillim (Chapter 91). יקוש, מפך יצילך הוא כי for He will deliver you from the ensnaring grip... יומם, יעוף מחץ לילה מפחד תירא לא you shall not fear the terror of the night nor of the arrow that flies by day. Nothing can bother one who is davuk b’Hashem... he goes on his merry way. ואפלטהו, חשק בי כי for he has yearned for Me and I will deliver him. The Ribbono shel Olam strengthens him because שמי, ידע כי he remembered Me, he lived with emunah, and therefore no events of the world, no “happenstance” can affect him.
Performance of Mitzvos Evokes Emunah
Indeed, we have mentioned many times the great yesod of צלך, ה' ash-Hem is our Shadow, and He behaves with us as we ourselves behave toward Him. The more our eyes are focused upon the Ribbono shel Olam, the more His protective eye will be turned to us. The Ramban adds that the mitzvos that we do throughout the day are all designed for us to remember that there is a G-d on the world. Every mitzvah that we do reminds us to believe in Hashem and in His orchestration of the world.
And since a person would be able to go eighty years on This World without remembering that the important principles of the Hashgachah of Hashem on This World, the Ribbono shel Olam did us the favor of designing creation in such a way that we will be reminded of this. When we forget the Ribbono shel Olam, R”l, concealment occurs, and this wakes us up... reminding us that we have deviated from our awareness of Him.
When Things Aren’t Good, It’s a Sign That We Need Emunah
Just as Hashem has made rotten food have a bad odor, so that we will know to stay away from it—it is a great favor to us—so too, when we become distant from the Ribbono shel Olam, we are reminded to come back. When we’re reminded that we have departed from Hashem, we will return to Him, and we will merit good in This World and in the Next World.
