The root of the word בטחון is the three letters ת"חי ת"טי ת"בי. The Bas Ayin (Bamidbar) notes that all three letters have the letters י"ת in them when they are spelled out in full. The gematriya of י"ת is 410 (ש"קדו), so ח"בט hints to קדוש. It tells us that with bitachon one can achieve kedushah.
The Bas Ayin also teaches that בטחון comes from the word ח"ט, which means cover. This is because the cover of kedushah is bitachon. With bitachon, one can attain kedushah.
The Explanation
Many forms of livelihood involve tests in kedushah. The internet is an example. When one has bitachon, he will believe Hashem can support him without sacrificing his kedushah. He doesn't have to go where he shouldn’t or see what he shouldn't to earn parnassah.
Bitachon is the cover that protects us and enables us to have kedushah.
The Zohar says that the more kedushah one has, the easier his parnassah will be.
A person was standing on a pier, casting out his fishing rod, when someone came by to see what he was doing. He saw that instead of putting bait on the hook, this person attached a clock. "Why are you casting the clock into the water?" the man watching asked. "Why don't you put bait on the hook?"
"It is a great secret," the fisherman responded. "I learned it in fishing school."
"What's the secret? Please tell me."
"No. I paid a lot of money to learn this secret and will not give it away for free."
The man watching said, "I am willing to pay to learn the secret."
The fisherman said, "For one thousand dollars, I will tell you, and believe me, that is a low price compared to the amount I paid to get this information."
The man paid a thousand dollars, and the fisherman said, "Fish always keep their eyes open, and biologists (ichthyologists) discovered the reason: There is no clock in the water, making the fish wonder what time it is. This is why they swim about, with their eyes opened, looking for a clock."
"Amazing," said the new student. "So, when you put a clock into the water, all the fish come to see the time, and you can catch them."
"Exactly," said the fisherman, putting the thousand dollars he just received into his pocket.
"Tell me,” said the student, "how many fish did you catch today?"
"Today, I caught eight fish... You are the eighth one."
The nimshal is that when you access the internet to earn money, you think you made money. Actually, it isn't money that was caught. It is you who was caught. This is the yetzer hara's way of drawing you into its trap.
The Shach's father-in-law once approached the Shach (Reb Shabsi HaKohen, one of the primary poskim in Shulchan Aruch) and told him, "I can no longer support you. I want you to try your hand at business."
So, when the market came to their city, the Shach engaged in some business activity and was extremely successful.
Some weeks or months later, the market came to their city again. The father-in-law said, "You did so well last time; I’m certain you will succeed again this time."
"I will not do business this time," the Shach replied.
"But why not? You can be wealthy. You have a good mind for business."
The Shach explained that his initial success came from the yetzer hara, to lure him away from studying Torah. "The yetzer hara wants me to spend a lot of time doing business. And then, after he stole all those hours from me, he will take the money away as well. I will be left without money and without Torah."
The Shach said that this is hinted at in the words (Shemos 15:9) שלל אחלק אשיג ארדוף אויב אמר ידי תורישמו חרבי אריק נפשי תמלאמו. The pasuk can be read like this: אויב אמר, the enemy is the yetzer hara. He says, אשיג ארדוף, I will catch the Yid in my net. How will he do so? First, שלל אחלק, the yetzer hara will give him a lot of money and make him feel like a successful businessman. And then, ידי תורשמו חרבי אריק, the yetzer hara will take out his sword and make him poor. He only made him wealthy to pull him away from Torah study. After he succeeds, he will take away the money, too.
We similarly say that the yetzer hara enables people to earn or save money on the internet, but the yetzer hara doesn't want to make you wealthy. It is you he is after. And after one falls into his trap, the yetzer hara will take away all the money. The person will be left with nothing: without money and without kedushah.
Several years ago, a hacker targeted a real estate firm in Lakewood. He wrote an email to the secretary, making it appear that it came from the firm's president, asking the secretary to transfer seventy thousand dollars into the hacker’s bank account. Everything looked standard, but the hacker made one mistake. In the email, he addressed the secretary by her first name. The boss never addressed his secretary that way for tznius reasons. She was ready to transfer the money, but this point alerted her that something was off. She called her boss before moving the money, and he told her he never sent that email.
The kedushah he placed in his firm saved him a lot of money.
A yungerman travels from Eretz Yisrael to Europe every two weeks to deliver a shiur in a particular yeshiva. He generally flies on planes that don't have video sets. When the only flights available are with videos, he prefers a daytime flight because then he can immerse himself in Torah study and doesn't see anything happening around him.
Once, he had to take a night flight on a plane with video sets. He was very upset, but what could he do? He had to take this flight. So, he took along sleeping pills, and as he davened minchah in the airport, he davened that Hashem help him protect his eyes.
Then a miracle occurred. He sat between two goyim, and neither of their screens was working. They called over the steward, but he couldn't fix their sets either. His tefillos were answered. He was able to travel without sacrificing his kedushah.
Every Step in the Right Direction
The Gemara (Shabbos 22:) discusses the ner maaravi, the western lamp of the menorah, which miraculously remained lit for 24 hours, while the others only remained lit at night.
The menorah had seven lamps. Which of the seven is "the western lamp, ner maaravi"? Rashi (Shabbos 22:) explains that it is the second lamp. The menorah stood from east to west. The first lamp is considered eastern, and the next one is western, because it is the first one leading towards the west.
We would think that the furthest western lamp is the ner maaravi, but Rashi tells us that the second lamp is western.
This teaches us that every step in the right direction is precious. You are one step towards the other side and considered to be there already.
This can be the reason a miracle happened with this lamp. The Gemara tells us that the purpose of the miracle was to inform us that the Shechinah resides with Bnei Yisrael. The miracle of this lamp shows us that if you take even one step towards holiness, that is so significant. For this step in the right direction, the Shechinah resides with Bnei Yisrael.
Reb Boruch Weinberg and my father zt'l lived in Bnei Brak. They both traveled together to and from Tel Aviv every day; Reb Baruch ran a candy factory in Tel Aviv, and my father was a magid shiur in his father’s yeshiva in Tel Aviv.
They would travel by bus. One day, my father told Reb Boruch that he wouldn’t be traveling by bus any longer. "I will go by taxi." I heard this from Reb Boruch Weinberg. This was mesirus nefesh on my father's part because taking the bus was much more affordable. But my father realized it would be easier to guard his eyes when traveling by taxi, which was very important for him.
The Gemara (Kiddushin 7) teaches, “When one says this leg [of the animal] should become a korban, the entire animal becomes a korban.” The sanctity spreads from that one limb to the rest of the animal’s body. The Rebbe of Radzamin taught that this also occurs when one sanctifies one limb of his body. For example, when one is careful with what he sees. He purified one limb, but the purity extends to his entire essence and being.
The days of Shovavim are approaching. They begin on Motzei Shabbos Vayechi. May we merit to utilize the days of Shovavim to become pure before Hashem.
