Traveling Long Distances for Parnassah Is a Contradiction to Bitachon
Another Benefit for the Ba’al Bitachon
Previously, we elaborated on the words of the Chovos haLevavos in which he details the benefits of bitachon. In ruchniyus, he will be successful in Torah and avodas Hashem. And the Chovos haLevavos then explains that the ba’al bitachon will merit a pleasant and successful life even b’gashmiyus.
The first benefit b’gashmiyus is that the ba’al bitachon will never suffer from aggravation. He will be spared from heartache and pain, and his life will be serene and pleasant.
We Need Not Travel Long Distances
Now, says the Chovos HaLevavos, there’s yet another material benefit for the ba’al bitachon: “One of them is menuchas hanefesh from not being required to travel to distant places—an ordeal that destroys the body and brings closer the end of one’s life.” How do we know that long-distance travel makes a person pass away sooner, R”l? As it says: ימי קצר כחי בדרך ענה, He has afflicted my strength on the way; he has shortened my days.
The ba’al bitachon won’t have to travel long distances for his parnassah, and he won’t have to endure the damage to his health that comes from traveling far away.
What the Gentile Told the Tzaddik
The Chovos HaLevavos then tells us about a tzaddik who was just starting out on his journey of perishus (separation from worldly matters): He traveled to a distant land in search of a livelihood. Had he been further into his journey of piety, he wouldn’t have been traveling in the first place—because he’d know that Hashem can bring him his parnassah wherever he is—but he was still at the beginning of his journey to bitachon.
In that distant land, he encountered a gentile and told him, “How foolish and blind you are to be worshipping idols!” Said the gentile to him, “And what do you worship?” Said the tzaddik, “I serve the Creator, the sustainer, He Who allots [our sustenance], there is no one like Him.” Said the gentile, “Your actions contradict your words!” Said the tzaddik, “How so?” And he answered, “If it is as you say, then He would sustain you in your own city just as He sustained you here, and you wouldn’t have bothered to travel to such a distant land. Why does it occur to you that you need to travel at all?! Does distance play a role for the Ribbono shel Olam so that you wouldn’t be able to receive your sustenance where you are?!”
The claims of the tzaddik were disproved, and he returned home, accepted to be a true parush, and never ventured out of his city again for his parnassah. Since he was a pious person, he accepted the truth from wherever it came, and from then on, he remained home with true emunah and bitachon. If we have emunah, it is complete—no two ways about it!
A Clear Contradiction
The Chovos HaLevavos is teaching us a yesod here: A person who thinks that the only way he can attain his parnassah is through enduring great travails and traveling great distances, is simply mistaken in his emunah. It is a mistake that even a non-Jew can understand!
One may say, “What should I do? I don’t have a way to earn money except by going to this-and-this place!” This is simply untrue! There’s no truth in saying that hishtadlus must come in such a way!
The Shefah Comes Right Down to You
In the coming chapters of the Sha’ar HaBitachon, we will learn in detail the parameters of proper hishtadlus. But here, in the introduction, the Chovos HaLevavos tells us: Know one thing for certain! This is not considered proper hishtadlus. A person will never be required to travel long distances in order to attain his parnassah.
When the Ribbono shel Olam sends a shefah, He does so through צינורות, conduits—but these conduits come right to your door! They do not go to another, more distant place! The Ribbono shel Olam is the נותן בשר לכל לחם, the Feeder of every flesh, and indeed, right where you are, you will receive your sustenance. If you think that you must pursue it, you are lacking emunah! If you have the proper emunah, the shefah will reach you without your needing to travel long distances.
We Only Lose by Exaggerated Hishtadlus
Sometimes, a person will say that he does need to travel to long distances for his parnassah. As proof of this, he will cite the fact that he did travel to a faraway place and earned lots of money there. If he had remained at home, he would never have earned that money.
The answer to this is twofold:
First: If you had had the proper emunah, the shefah would certainly have reached you in your place and you would have avoided the entire ordeal of needing to travel long distances, which destroys the body and shortens one’s days, R”l
Second: If you had remained at home with proper emunah and bitachon, you would have received even more shefa, because you would not have contracted the shefa through your efforts and exaggerated hishtadlus. Now that you did improper hishtadlus, you have only lost out!
In any case, the Chovos HaLevavos teaches us that running to far distances for parnassah is a mistake. It emanates from not understanding the way that Hashem feeds His creations; therefore, we tell the person: Your efforts are in vain; you can have a very pleasant life! You don’t need to toil in this way and to travel far distances for your parnassah.
The Yesod of the Chassidic Masters That We Must Sometimes Travel Far Away
“Had He Learned Kisvei Arizal, He Wouldn’t Have Gone Home”
Rebbe Yankele (Leiser) of Pshevorsk said in the name of his father-in-law, Rebbe Itzik’l (Gevirtzman) of Pshevorsk, who heard from the Shiniver Rav that if the tzaddik in the story of the Chovos HaLevavos had learned kisvei Arizal, he wouldn’t have returned home! Had he learned the writings of the Arizal, he would have understood that the reason he had to be in this place was to repair and rectify the holy nitzotzos (sparks of kedushah), and he wouldn’t have gone home until he had completed his work.
You’re There to Repair
This yesod is brought frequently by the Chassidic masters, the talmidei Ba’al Shem Tov. The Toldos Yaakov Yosef writes (Parashas Beha’aloscha) in the name of his Rebbe, the Ba’al Shem Tov: The inyan of people traveling from one place to another for parnassah, and so forth, is because his nitzotzos can be found there; he must toil to withdraw them from there and return them to kedushah.
The Ba’al Shem Tov taught that when a person must travel for his parnassah, it is because he has a connection to that place. He must serve Hashem with emunah in that place, he must say a berachah in that place. One person must make these repairs in Beijing, while another must do so in Hong Kong, and another person in South America. We must reach everywhere!
We Must Go Everywhere to Repair the World
The Ribbono shel Olam has ordained that Yidden must go to many distant places to redeem these lost sparks. And indeed, we see—especially in our times—the way Yidden manage to make their way to the most far-flung places in the world.
What is the cheshbon of this? Says the Ba’al Shem Tov, it is a part of the order of Creation that Yidden must repair the lost sparks. For this reason, Hashem made it so that a Yid will take the offer of a job which will require him to travel to faraway places, and there serve Hashem with ehrlichkeit, and through this he brings back these lost sparks, hastening the Final Redemption!
Reconciling the Two Teachings
When we learn this yesod in chassidishe sefarim, the kushya presents itself: What about the Chovos HaLevavos who exhorts us not to travel far away for our parnassah, and warns us that this is a lack of emunah?
We must know that the Chovos HaLevavos was one of the early giants whose every word was written with ruach hakodesh. He didn’t learn kisvei Arizal because he preceded the Arizal—but his Torah was certainly written with ruach hakodesh. It is Torah lishmah, and every word is emes, and it can be reconciled with the emes of the words of the later tzaddikim.
We must only find a mehalech of how these two teachings—that of the Chovos HaLevavos and of the Arizal and the Ba’al Shem Tov—can co-exist, and there should be no contradiction between them.
To be continued....
