How to Have Bitachon
QUESTION: In the series on Bitachon [Actualizing Our Faith] the Rav explains about a kind of bitachon where I trust that Hashem will fulfill what I wish, and that there are certain times when one can use this kind of bitachon. However, the Rav didn’t explain more than that. I want to know:
- When can I use this kind of bitachon? Can it be used for material concerns or spiritual concerns? Can it be used for worldly matters? Is this a level that a person can practice throughout the day, or only at certain times?
- Also, what is the way and attitude by which a person can acquire this kind of bitachon?
- From what power in soul is a person able to have faith that his wishes will be fulfilled?
- How can a person do this on a level of lishmah?
- What is the way to reach it, and what are the tools that a person needs, through which a person cannot acquire this bitachon without? What is the advice for this? What prevents it, and how can a person overcome the obstacles towards it?
ANSWER: It can be used for all matters [worldly and spiritual]. Generally it should be used at certain times of the day, except for a few rare individuals [who are able to be on this level throughout the day]. Hashem has designed a law within Creation that if people place their trust in Him, this is a power that draws down blessing to them.
By having emunah (belief) that Hashem has designed Creation this way, as stated above. Alternatively, if one has faith for the purposes of pure Avodas Hashem. The external layer of this power is the ability to be stubborn. The inner use of this power is to have pure emunah (belief/faith/trust/reliance in Hashem).
[Bitachon is prevented by a] lack of stubbornness and a lack of emunah, as implied above. The rest follows.
No One to Talk To
QUESTION: I had asked the Rav if the Rav knows anyone today who’s well-versed in pnimiyus who we can speak to clarify any matters of pnimiyus and inner avodas Hashem, and the Rav answered, “Unfortunately to my great pain, I don’t know of anyone.” My question: So what should a person do if he doesn’t have someone to guide him in these matters? Every person needs someone to guide him in avodas Hashem, and without having the right guide, it is very, very hard.
ANSWER: Try to clarify a matter as much as you can [with someone who is capable of helping you clarify a matter.] But beyond that (for anything you can’t clarify enough), “We have no one to lean on except on our Father in Heaven.” [When we need help and we aren’t finding it and there’s no one to speak to], we need to daven and place our hope and bitachon in Hashem.
Making It to the Geulah
QUESTION: The Rav explains the words of the Ohr HaChaim that the only way to be saved from the 50th level of tumah is through the Torah, which is really referring to the power of becoming connected with G-dliness (Elokus), and that this is the only thing that will enable a person to survive the final days and be worthy of the Redemption. Does this mean that a person needs to learn Torah along with a sense of Hashem, or is it enough to think about Hashem (and the concept of Elokus/G-dliness)?
ANSWER: Thinking about Elokus (G-dliness), as explained in the teachings of Chabad (the Baal HaTanya, etc.) is totally considered to be a form of Torah learning.
QUESTION: The Rav mentioned in a response that one of the conditions necessary to be worthy of the Geulah is to observe the mitzvos. But every person is lax in some of the mitzvos and commits aveiros, especially common aveiros such as lashon hora and wasting time from Torah study, etc., so wouldn’t that effectively make no one deserving of the Geulah, chas v’shalom?
ANSWER: If a person falls into a sin and he tries to do teshuvah, he is included in the category of one who observes the mitzvos.
QUESTION: The commentary of the Rosh on the Torah (Shemos 10:22) asks that if the four-fifths of the Jewish people died in the plague of darkness because they weren’t worthy, why were Dasan and Aviram spared, since they were reshaim? He answers that it was because they didn’t despair from the Geulah, and this alone made them worthy of Geulah. Similarly, the Vilna Gaon said that the ones who hold strong in emunah and bitachon in Hashem will be those who survive the final days and make it to the Geulah. Someone brought proof from the above sources that even a rasha is worthy of the Geulah, as long as he has bitachon in Hashem’s kindness that he will make it to the Geulah. How does this fit in with what the Rav has been saying that those who remain connected to the 50th level of tumah that is the internet are the reshaim, the Erev Rav, who won’t be worthy of the Geulah?
ANSWER: The Rosh’s words that Dasan and Aviram merited the Geulah because they didn’t despair from the Geulah is because there is a secret of the kav EinSof (the “line” which descends from the Infinite Light which enters into the Creation, which connects a person with Hashem’s infinite kindness), because the kav EinSof, also called the kav, is from the word tikvah, hope, and the Ramchal teaches in Derush HaKivuy that through tikvah, through placing one’s hope on Hashem, one becomes connected to the kav EinSof of Hashem’s endless kindness. However, our main avodah is to maintain our holiness, our tzuras adam, the ideal way we are supposed to look, which is rooted in the dimension of Adam Kadmon (Supernal Man). The dimension of the kav EinSof (the line that connects one to the infinite light) is above the dimension of Adam Kadmon. But chas v’shalom (G-d forbid) can we tell people that they can become connected to this higher dimension of kav EinSof by trying to “bypass” our tzuras adam, because this is the antithesis to Torah. That is why I listed “observance of the mitzvos” as one of the conditions necessary for the Geulah, because that is what gives a person a proper tzuras adam, the observance of the mitzvos is what gives a person his very form, for the 248 limbs and 365 tendons of the body correspond to the 248 negative commandments and 365 positive commandments of the Torah.
