From the shiurim on Kav Hashgacha Pratis
Bitachon in Hashem is one of the most important middos, and it is even a fundamental principle of Torah. There is no one who disputes the obligation of bitachon.... It is found throughout the nevi’im, and many pesukim in the Torah point to it. It would be enough to just mention the words (Devarim 8:3), “For on all the Words of Hashem man shall live,” or the command to refrain from planting and sowing and to forgo ownership of the produce of the land during the shemittah year, which is based on the principle of bitachon. And it is stated explicitly in Torah (Vayikra 25:20-25) that if a person worries about what he will eat at this time, he should place his trust in Hashem’s blessing.
The main point in bitachon is to strengthen the belief that Hashem is the Creator and the Provider, the One Who gives life and takes it away; He determines who will be healthy and who will be ill, who will be wealthy and who will be poor. He is the Source of all that happens in the world – both to communities and to individuals. He created all these occurrences and decreed them and makes them happen.
(Hamaspik L’ovdei Hashem, Rabi Avraham the son of the Rambam)
They Direct Their Hearts to Their Father in Heaven
Rabi Shimon ben Yochai’s disciples asked him: Why didn’t Am Yisrael receive manna in the desert once a year, to cover their needs for the entire year?
He told them: I’ll answer with a parable. This can be compared to a human king who had one son, and he decreed that he be given his sustenance once a year. Then the prince would see his father only once a year. So the father decreed that he be given his needs every day, and then the prince would greet his father every day.
Am Yisrael is the same. Someone with four or five children would worry and say, “Perhaps the manna will not fall tomorrow, and then everyone will die of hunger.” So it turned out that everyone directed their hearts to their Father in Shamayim (Yomah 76a).
Someone Who Has Emunah Speaks Only Truth
The main thing is emunah – to believe that every occurrence comes from Hashem yisbarach, with His personal hashgachah. And he [mori v’rabi Refael z”l] would mention the words of the Gemara (Makkos 24): “Chavakuk came and condensed them (v’he’emidan) to one: And a tzaddik shall live through his emunah” (Chavakuk 2:4). Why did the Gemara use this term v’he’emidan, which literally means “and he stood them”? We have been taught (Osios d’Rabi Akiva, nusach 2), “Falsehood has no legs.” And we say “truth and emunah,” because someone who speaks the truth has legs to stand on, and he has emunah in Hashem yisbarach, unlike someone who speaks falsehood. As the rav z”l said: Habitual liars have thoughts of avodah zarah. That’s why it says “he’emidan” – he stood them; because someone who has emunah certainly speaks the truth. He stands on his own two legs.
(Imrei Pinchas, Shaar Emes V’emunah, 37)
The Reason There Is a Lack of Emunah in Our Times
Why is it that nowadays emunah is lacking and bitachon in Hashem has deteriorated? Perhaps because in the past, the standard of living was not so high and people lived more simply. There were no officials or other people with positions supported by the public; in general, people did business, and when they opened their stores in the morning they would say, “We will act with the Name of Hashem and we will succeed,” and thus they would place their trust in Hashem and live lives of pure emunah. But today, a person feels as though his salary is coming to him naturally, and he trusts in his employer or in the institution that provides his salary, and thus his bitachon in Hashem weakens in his heart, and his yiras Shamayim and emunah deteriorate.
(Ohr L’Tzion Chochmah Umussar, p. 231)
One Who Is Engaged in Hishtadlus Needs to Daven to Enter and Leave in Peace
The Rema said (responsa Rema #18) that “cursed” is considered being endangered, as the navi told us (Yirmeyahu 17:5), “Cursed is the person who trusts in other men.” Anyone who trusts in another person places himself in danger. Not only someone who trusts in a stranger or in his fellow man, but also someone who trusts in himself and his hishtadlus and powers and abilities – he too is in this realm.
Therefore, we should be afraid of all our forms of hishtadlus, because they place us in danger. We should limit hishtadlus as much as possible and be happy that nothing that would place us in danger has come our way, chalilah. And if something like this does come our way, when we need to do hishtadlus, then we should certainly daven like the tefillah of one who is entering a danger zone – to enter and leave in peace, as it says in the Mishnah (Brachos 54a, and in the Gemara ibid., 60a).
We’ve learned about the tangible danger that is hidden in doing hishtadlus, and “danger is more severe than forbidden things.” But the truth is that besides the danger, it is also forbidden, since we were warned explicitly by the Torah (Devarim 8:11-18), “Take care, lest you forget Hashem, your G-d...lest you eat to satiation and build fine homes and settle in them, and your cattle and sheep will multiply, and you will accumulate much gold and silver...and your heart will grow haughty, and you will forget Hashem, your G-d Who took you out of Mitzrayim...and led you through this great and awesome desert, where there are snakes and scorpions and thirst.... He fed you manna in the desert...and you will say in your heart: My talents and the strength of my hands have brought me this wealth.”
On the other hand, there is a positive commandment to “remember Hashem your G-d, Who gives you the talent to accumulate wealth.”
(Collection of Sichos Mussar, part 2, p. 83)
