A Thought on Bitachon
From the shiurim on Kav Hashgachah
On the day of Purim we give mishloach manos and matanos la’evyonim, and through these mitzvos we increase love and friendship in Am Yisrael. The common denominator behind these deeds is the exalted middah of “seeking the good of His nation.”
Being doresh tov, seeking the good in others, is a high level on the ladder of middos. To reach that level, one must work on oneself. The basis for this middah is having an ayin tovah, for whoever sees the good in the other person can also seek and wholeheartedly desire his benefit.
How do we acquire an ayin tovah?
The answer is hidden deep within us. Most of the time, a person who tends to criticize and blame others does so as a result of his own bitterness and dissatisfaction with himself.
Critique about oneself is very destructive and can be worse than critique against others. Therefore, working on the middah of ayin tovah starts with looking at oneself positively. We need to learn to judge ourselves favorably, even for mistakes we’ve made and even for our failures. When we grow accustomed to seeing the good in ourselves, we will automatically develop an ayin tovah toward others as well.
An ayin ra’ah is the root of Amalek’s power to destroy, whereas an ayin tovah is the power to build and establish goodness. This is what we saw in Mordechai and Esther, who always wanted to build and to do good to others.
This is our main tafkid on Purim: to increase our ayin tovah toward ourselves and toward others, and to seek good for as many people as we can. Every step we take toward positivity is priceless. With this approach, the days of Purim will make us greater and better in so many ways.
Excerpts from the popular shiur by Harav Yehuda Mandel shlit”a from Lakewood
