Q & A: Protection of Emunah
QUESTION: How can emunah protect us?
ANSWER: There are various mystical ways brought in sefarim hakedoshim which explain how to protect oneself from harm. But there is one kind of protection which is higher than all of these ways – and it is through emunah.
Sefer Nefesh HaChaim (3:12) writes that there is an amazing segulah one can do to be protected from harm: when one firmly believes in his heart that Hashem is in control of everything, and that there is nothing besides for Him who can do anything: “Ain Od Milvado” (”There is nothing else besides Him”).
There is actually an even higher level that what is described in sefer Nefesh HaChaim, however. Sefer Nefesh HaChaim is speaking about someone who wishes to save himself from harm, so he uses the power of “Ain Od Milvado” as a way to protect himself. But there is a higher level, and that is, for a person to nullify his ratzon (will) altogether. It is for a person to accept that “If Hashem wants to me to get hurt, so be it – I’m ready to accept the blow with love.”
This is known as hishtavus, “equilibrium” - to be at peace with a situation.
A person is able to come to this when he establishes a deep emunah in his heart, a belief in “Ain Od Milvado” – that only Hashem is in charge, as the Nefesh HaChaim describes. And he can reinforce this belief by thinking: “So what if I get hurt? If I get hurt, that is Hashem’s will, and I do not want to oppose Hashem’s will. Hashem knows what is best for me. If it is good for me to get hurt, then I am accepting it with love. It’s the same will of Hashem whether I get hurt of whether I don’t get hurt. I am a tool in the hands of my Maker, and He can do with me whatever He pleases.”
Understand this well, because this is a truthful and inner matter. It is the perfected level of emunah one can reach; it is to nullify oneself to the Creator.
(אמונה – ככח שמירה וככח לשינוי הטבע)בלבבי חלק ז’ עמ’ טו-יז
