Emunah Makes it Come True
Placing faith in Hashem is a basic principle of the Torah.
אֵל שַׁדַּי וּבִשְׁמִי ה' לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי לָהֶם – I appeared to Avraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaakov as E-l Shadd-ai; in My Name of Hashem I did not make Myself known to them.
They did not get to know Me in My attribute of fulfilling promises, for which I am called “Hashem”, He who is faithful to fulfill His words. I promised to them, but I did not [yet] fulfill.
Hashem said here to Moshe Rabbeinu that until now, He was known to the Jewish people only in the attribute of E-l Shadd-ai. He promised but did not yet fulfill. The attribute of the Name “Hashem” is the Divine attribute of goodness to fulfill the promises.
Based on this, R. Yerucham of Mir explained that Hashem has two modes of action. There is the mode of “I promised.” This is a promise, but not yet the fulfillment thereof. Afterward there is an additional mode of action, this time of fulfilling. From here we learn that nothing can be actualized immediately after the promise.
In order for the promise to be actualized, we must go through the stage called emunah. After we go through the stage of emunah in the promise, then the promise can be actualized and come to the stage of fulfillment.
This is an amazing statement! The fulfillment of Hashem’s promises to us requires our belief in them. It is written:
וְהָיְתָה אֱמוּנַת עִתֶּךָ חֹסֶן יְשׁוּעוֹת חָכְמַת וָדָעַת – The faith of Your times will be the strength of Your salvations, wisdom and knowledge.
The Gemara says that this verse alludes to the six Orders of the Mishnah, and the word “faith” alludes to Seder Zera’im – the Order of Seeds. This Order of the Mishnah deals with things that are planted in the ground, that are seeded.
Why does the word “faith” allude specifically to Seder Zera’im?
Tosafos cites a Yerushalmi which explains as follows:
Someone who plants, does so because he has faith in He Who is the Life of all the worlds.
A person takes valuable wheat kernels, which he could make bread from, and instead buries them in the ground. If we would ask him why he is doing such a thing, he would answer: “Don’t worry, a lot of rich ears of grain will sprout from these little seeds.”
But let’s say the person who planted the seeds starts to lose patience. He is waiting and waiting and nothing is happening. He goes and digs up the ground to see what is going on with his seeds. He finds that they started to decompose and are no longer edible. And now that he dug up the ground, he spoiled the germination process, and they won’t be able to sprout anymore.
If a person believes, if he places faith in Hashem, not only will he refrain from digging up the ground, but he will even take good, valuable water, and trouble himself to go and irrigate the ground. He will spray and weed and spare no effort to do whatever is needed. Even if a few days went by, and there are as yet no signs of growth, he will keep waiting. Why? Because he believes in Hashem.
A person who believes will keep working the ground and watering it. He will say to Him, “Ribono shel Olam, I deposited wheat grains in Your safekeeping and I believe that I will get them back with an increase.” In the end, he will receive tall ears of wheat.
But someone who breaks down in the middle, who stops believing, who digs up the ground or stops watering it, will be left with nothing in the end.
