The yetzer hara convinces us that we need a large dowry in order to live after our wedding. This is the meaning of the passuk, “Cast your burden on Hashem, and He will provide.” This is like a poor man who went out carrying a heavy sack of food. He met up with a generous man traveling by wagon, who offered him a ride. The poor man quickly put some items from his sack into a smaller sack, which he placed in the wagon, holding the rest of the food on his shoulders. His benefactor was astounded. “Do you think those remaining few pounds of food make a difference to me?! Put your entire sack onto the wagon, and I’ll take you wherever you need to go!”
This is exactly how it is with us. When you ask one person, “How much of a dowry did you get?” he’ll say, I got a large dowry. Baruch Hashem, this will give me enough parnassah for three or four years, even if I don’t have any business to earn money.” And then if you’ll question the man further: “What will you do for the remaining 44 or 45 years of your life – until you’re 70 years old, which is the average length of a person’s life?” he’ll answer, “I trust that Hashem will send me some sort of business to provide me with parnassah.
And because in the end a person will need to trust in Hashem to provide for him and his household for the rest of his years, he can trust in Hashem yisbarach already now! Even if he gets just half the dowry he expected to receive, Hashem will provide for him for the additional two years.
This is the meaning of the passuk, “Cast you burden on Hashem” – don’t leave over even a small amount of your burden for yourself to carry. Ultimately, a person has no choice but to come to trust in Hashem for everything, and then, when you genuinely trust in Him, He will certainly provide for you. As the passuk states (Yirmeyahu 17:7), “Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem, and Hashem shall be his Source of confidence.”
(Machaneh Yisrael, by the Chafetz Chaim)
