If We Already Have Emunah, Why Do We Need Mitzvos?
From this Ramban, we see another yesod... that a Yid must toil and strive for more emunah his entire life. It should always become stronger and stronger. Every day, he fulfills more mitzvos, in order to remember, with more clarity, the truths of Hashem’s Creation of the world, and His supervision of the world.
One may ask, “If the entire purpose of these mitzvos is to strengthen my emunah, why do I need to fulfill the mitzvos? I already know there is a G-d in the world!
“Furthermore, ten minutes before performing this mitzvah, I had a nisayon in emunah, and I overcame it! I was tempted to become angry, and I overcame the temptation—because I remembered that everything is from Above. What will this mitzvah do for me in the realm of emunah? I’ve been working on my emunah for twenty years—and I already feel clarity in it. Why do I need to perform mitzvos?”
There’s No Set Amount When It Comes to Middos
The Chazon Ish addresses this in his Kunreis Emunah u’Bitachon (Ch. 2:1), in which he explains that since bitachon is the yesod of a person, it is like all other middos a person toils for... it has no limit and no set amount. One can never say that he has arrived at the pinnacle.
The Chazon Ish presents a parable: “Every person has the middah of humility and the middah of mercy innately inside him, but we can’t compare the level between one person and another. Because there are so many nuances in each person, we cannot say, “This person is merciful, and this person is merciful... they’re the same.” Middos are so sensitive that every person has them in different measure... and we cannot compare any two people in this regard.
Middos are not material things that are measured, and they arrive at a full point. Rather, they can constantly change to various levels. Therefore, a person can never say that he has perfected the middah of rachmanus, for example... for middos aren’t something that have a beginning and an end. It’s a certain feeling, a certain understanding in the heart, and we can always internalize it better and deeper and stronger.
