An esteemed talmid chacham from Yerushalayim told me: Sometimes Hashem sends you one sentence to make a switch in your mind, and not just a switch, but He actually takes your head and simply turns it around 180 degrees. Everything you thought until now is completely transformed.
In my case – this talmid chacham said – it happened through the words of the Vilna Gaon zy”a.
The Yid unfolded a paper with a copy of chapter 3:2 of sefer Even Sheleimah. These are the words of the Gaon:
“All sins and iniquities stem from jealousy, as I wrote. The mitzvah of ‘Do not envy’ encompasses all ten dibros and all of Torah. But histapkus, which is the opposite of envy, is the foundation of the entire Torah, and it encompasses total emunah, including not worrying about the future.
“And one whose heart is filled with bitachon, even though he may transgress serious sins, is still better off than someone who is lacking in bitachon, and thus comes to jealousy and hatred – even if [that person] occupies himself in Torah and gemilus chassadim, for all this is only in order to give himself a good name.”
This talmid chacham told me emotionally: I’ll give you an example of how it influenced me. Whenever the month of Elul came around, the first thing I dealt with was to strengthen myself in refraining from bitul Torah. The story of the Chafetz Chaim, who made an accounting at the end of the year of how many moments he had neglected to learn Torah throughout the year, spoke to my heart, and I am continuing with it this year as well. But since I saw the words of the Gaon, I internalized that there are things that are much more basic, and I still have much room for improvement in those things.
I listened to him silently. This is a very chashuveh Yid, and I am amazed by how he opened up and spoke to me like a friend.
But I thank Hashem for arousing me as well.
Emunah is the foundation of the entire Torah. When a Yid has emunah in Hashem, he internalizes within his heart that there is a one-and-only Creator, Who rules the world with precise hashgachah pratis, and there is no need to worry, and certainly not to be jealous of another person. This is what the Gaon is saying: Bitachon is the foundation of the entire Torah.
And this is exactly in line with the words of Chavukuk, who posited that all of Torah stands upon one principle: “And the righteous man shall live by his faith!”
Gut Shabbat
Pinchas Shefer
