And there is a famous very beautiful passage in the Meshech Chochma. There are the pesukim in Nach which speak explicitly about the bitachon in Tehillim, in Yirmiyahu, elsewhere בטח בהשם ועשה טוב. Pesukim speak of bitachon. Question is, well, where do you find it in the Chumash? Where's the pasuk in the Chumash that reflects this obligation to have bitachon? The Meshech Chochma comments on what's the makor in the Torah, what's the source in the Torah for the obligation to have a sense of bitachon? So he comments on the pasuk of u'bo sidbak. Right, we generally translate that as clinging to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So the Rambam quotes the Drashas HaSifrei when the Rambam counts u'bo sidbak as a mitzvas asei, he quotes the Drashas HaSifrei that it's להדבק בתלמידי חכמים and the Rambam interprets that kedei lilmod m'maaseihem. To put yourself in the company of talmidei chachamim, to try to be mehaneh talmidei chachamim, but the kiyum of the mitzvah is kedei lilmod m'maaseihem. So that's how the Rambam presents the mitzvah of u'bo sidbak. רמבן על התורה says that he thinks that the chiyuv of u'bo sidbak is that a person's machshava should be constantly devuka b'Hashem. That's what u'bo sidbak means. And the Meshech Chochma says that he thinks u'bo sidbak, it's interesting, in English we have an idiom which is similar to what according to the Meshech Chochma the pasuk means, the peshuto shel mikra means, which is, let's say a mashal. Let's say we're going for a hike and I know the path, it's a winding, circuitous path. I've done this hike before so I know the hike and there are some people who are going with me for the first time and they're a little bit unsure about their ability to follow the path, to navigate it. So I'll tell them, stick with me and you'll be okay. Right, stick with me and it'll be fine. So the Meshech Chochma says that's what u'bo sidbak means. U'bo sidbak means that stick with Him, capital H, in the sense of having bitachon. And he says this is the pasuk in the Chumash which contains the obligation to have a sense of trust and to rely on Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The Rishonim who didn't suggest an explicit makor, so perhaps the correct understanding in the Rishonim is perhaps as follows, to give a little bit of a mashal. Rav Moshe Feinstein has in Igros Moshe that Bnei Noach, gentiles are obligated to daven because in eis tzara, if they find themselves in danger, so then they're obligated to daven. Aye, but it doesn't say anywhere that Bnei Noach are obligated in tefillah. It says in Tefillah Shlomo that they can daven, they can come to the Beis HaMikdash to daven and that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should accept their tefillos, but where do you find that Bnei Noach are obligated to daven? So Rav Moshe says Bnei Noach are obligated to have emunah b'Hashem and if a person genuinely, authentically has emunah in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so then of course b'eis tzara he'll daven, right? There are no atheists in foxholes. If a person genuinely has emunah in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, then that has to translate in an eis tzara into tefillah. If it doesn't translate, if a person finds himself, rachmana litzlan, in an eis tzara and he doesn't daven, so it's quite clear that he doesn't have emunah. Hence, says Rav Moshe, anyone who's obligated in having emunah and all of humanity is obligated to believe in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to recognize Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so mimila that translates into a chiyuv tefillah as well. So יתכן הוא הדין הוא הטעם that the same type of reasoning, the same type of thinking applies to the chiyuv bitachon as well. A person genuinely believes in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so then one doesn't need a separate mitzvah to obligate us. it naturally has to translate into and it naturally has to express itself in placing one's trust and one's reliance upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. What does bitachon entail halacha l'ma'aseh is sometimes a little bit tricky to pin down because we know that there also is a chiyuv hishtadlus that we're supposed to make effort on all fronts. We're supposed to make efforts, we're supposed to make efforts to safeguard our health and גדול הנהנה מיגיע כפו and people have to make hishtadlus to earn a livelihood. So we're supposed to make hishtadlus and the definition of hishtadlus is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu chooses to send his bracha to us through natural channels. So the hishtadlus is going to express itself again in natural means. So if that's the case, so how does the bitachon express itself halacha l'ma'aseh? So certainly first and foremost ein hachi nami it's a question of attitude that bitachon means that a person doesn't have an attitude of kochi v'otzem yadi, he doesn't suffer from the illusion from the delusion that he's going to determine or dictate the outcome, but recognizes that Hakadosh Baruch Hu says we have to put in hishtadlus. We have to knock on the door. Which door will open? Maybe it's the same door, maybe it's a different door, but either way it's not a kochi v'otzem yadi, it's not that a person is determining or dictating the outcome. Hakadosh Baruch Hu said we have a chovat hishtadlus. So first and foremost bitachon expresses itself again attitudinally. It's a frame of mind, it's an attitude even when arguably at times maybe in terms of the hishtadlus at times it will be indistinguishable from someone who has the illusion of kochi v'otzem yadi. But there are also practical concrete nafka minas based on bitachon. Chovot Halevavot writes in Sha'ar Habitachon, the example is a little bit dated but the yesod is sharir v'kayam, the yesod is eternally relevant. He tells a story about a chasid echad who meets a non-believer, not an ma'amin b'Hashem and the non-believer asks the chasid, "So tell me what your beliefs are. What do you believe?" So he said, "I believe in the Ribbono Shel Olam, the Borei Shamayim Va'aretz who created everything, who governs everything, who exercises his divine providence over everything." So he says to him, "But your lifestyle contradicts what you say because you engage in these trans-ocean voyages, you, I don't know maybe it was the early medieval equivalent of being in the export-import business, but whatever it was, so this chasid used to subject himself to perilous life-threatening journeys crossing the ocean in order to find his parnassa." So he's challenged and the non-believer says to him, "According to what you believe that Hakadosh Baruch Hu Kol Yachol, what he can't provide you with your livelihood unless you're going to subject yourself to life-threatening conditions?" And Chovot Halevavot writes that the chasid concedes the point and from that day on so he gave up that source of parnassa and he found a local source of parnassa. So presumably we're not going to say that a person can't fly on an airplane and go on a business trip. I don't think that that's going to be the way to extrapolate from the Chovot Halevavot, but what it does mean is so for instance let's say a person is looking for a job. So he's sending his resume out when he's looking for a job. So he's not going to send his resume out to places which don't have a Jewish community, which don't have an infrastructure which can help support his Torah lifestyle. Because that's what the Chosid realizes. That's what this Ambushi challenged the Chosid and the Chosid concedes that it's not kochi ve’otzem yodi, it's not that I have to uncover the opportunity and this is the only opportunity I can find. I have to make my hishtadlus but there's no reason just as in the Chosid's example there's no reason to think that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants that Rabbeinu Bachya’s Chosid to expose himself to life-threatening conditions to earn his parnassah. So too presumably one application of that in our day is when a person looks where to find a job, so he looks in places where there is an infrastructure that he should be able to live a proper Torah life. Another application lichora halacha lemaiseh of bitachon in Shulchan Aruch in siman kuf-nun-hei, so the Mechaber writes that אחר שיצא מבית הכנסת in the morning when a person finishes davening, yelech leveis hamedrash. So he should go from shul to the beis medrash veyikba eis lilmod and he should have a set time for learning, meaning kvias ittim, one of the six questions which le’asid lavo we all have to prepare ourselves to answer is kavata ittim latorah. Kavata ittim latorah means not only did we learn but did we have time set aside that was sacred for learning. Veyikba eis lilmod, he should have a set time to learn, vetzarach says the Mechaber שאותו עת יהיה קבוע שלא יעבירנו אף אם הוא סבור להרויח הרבה
and that a person can't, he can't exchange that hour, two hours, three hours, four hours, however long that kvias ittim is, he can't even exchange it even if it promises to yield a tremendous profit. That's not just shelo yevatlenu, not just that the person shouldn't skip today's seder because he can go to a business meeting which promises to be very, very lucrative, not only can't he be mevatel the seder but he can't even exchange it. That kvias ittim has to be absolute. So here the Mishna Berura quotes the Yerushalmi, the earlier Acharonim quote as well. ואיש כזה הוא מבעלי אמנה. A person like this who adheres, who honors that kvias ittim even when seemingly he's walking away from a windfall, a large potential profit, ואיש כזה הוא מבעלי אמנה. He's a person who has emuna, he's a ma’amin שמאמין ובוטח בהשם שלא יחסר לו מזונותיו על ידי זה,
that he's not going to lose out, he's not going to lose out a penny because of his kvias ittim, ukde’isa biyerushalmi and as the Yerushalmi tells the story, mai anshei amuna? What's an example, what's a living example of someone who's a ba’al emuna? Kehada like the person דהוו צווחין ליה בפרגמטיא. The Mishna Berura translates, פירוש שהיו צועקים הקונים שיבוא עם סחורתו למכור. So he was in the middle of his kvias ittim. Again, whatever his kvias ittim was, however long it was, so he was in his middle of kvias ittim. He was a businessman, he used to sell merchandise. So there was someone passing by who wanted to make a very, very large purchase but davka at that moment and hava amar and he reacted, his response was לית אנא מבטל ענתי מדוהמי למיתי מיתי. I'm not going to again interfere, I'm not going to disrupt my kvias ittim. אין אני מבטל השעה שקבעתי ללמוד התורה בשביל הרווחת ממון. אם ראוי שיבוא לי רווח,
if Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants that that profit should come my way, יבוא הוא מעצמו מהקדוש ברוך הוא אף לאחר שאגמור קביעת לימודי.
So if I'm really supposed to, if it's bashert that I should reap that profit, it's gonna come my way without my disrupting my kevi'as ittim. So here you have a very, very concrete again nafka mina l'halacha, practical expression of of the emuna and and bitachon that not to let anything disrupt one's one's kevi'as ittim. Obviously the kevi'as ittim has to be chosen realistically to to begin with. But once a person does that, so then a person sticks to it and then a person says if the profit is supposed to come my way, so that's practically, concretely bitachon. The same way bitachon tells us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, bitachon according to the Chovos HaLevavos perhaps should be translated, described as a sense of serenity, a sense of menuchas hanefesh and trust that a person has because of his conviction that Hakadosh Baruch Hu who is perfectly good is governing everything, is controlling everything, is running everything. So it suggests an attitude towards how we react to events. Think the story is told that at the very, very the very last days, maybe even the very last day of his life, when Rav Aharon Kotler was was his petirah was imminent, so his Rebbetzin wanted to encourage him. That's how the story goes. And and she said to him, "Aaron, דער דאָקטאָר זאָגט אַז מאָרגן וועט זיין בעסער." She said so she said to him, "Aaron, the doctor says tomorrow's gonna be better." And he answered her, "וואָס איז דאַרף זיין," and "וואָס דאַרף זיין איז גוט." That what is is supposed to be, meaning it's not accidental and what's supposed to be is good. It's not gonna be better, right now is good, right now is good. A sense of bitachon, a mindset of bitachon that Hakadosh Baruch Hu who is tov u'meitiv that he is in charge, he is mashgiach, and and what he does is ach tov v'chesed. But this same sense of bitachon is not only how we relate to and how we review me'ora'os ha'olam, events that happen in the world that that affect us personally or affect us collectively, but the same sense of bitachon is also how we relate to Torah. The same the same firm conviction that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is good and everything he does is good and true, so that also determines an attitude towards Torah. When we when we relate to mitzvos haTorah, so it's not only that this is something which we're obligated to do, which it is, but it's something which is true, it's something which is good, it's something which is right. It's the same yesod of bitachon in that context as well. The same way what what happens in in the events of the world so Hakadosh Baruch Hu is in control and that again dictates this attitude, this mindset that וואָס דאַרף זיין איז גוט, that what's happening is is good because it's coming from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so the same על אחת כמה וכמה is certainly true in terms of Torah as well. Whether it's a mishpat that we have an intuitive appreciation for or maybe it's something that we experience as a chok, but the same sense of bitachon is that that it's that it's good, that it's true. Now bitachon notwithstanding... We certainly do experience things differently. Chazal speak of besuros tovos but they also speak of besuros raos. Despite the firm belief and conviction that ultimately everything is good, it's also true, it's equally true that on the human level, so we can't always see it. The firm belief and emunah notwithstanding, we can't always see it. And that's why there are different brachos. There's a bracha of Hatov Vehameitiv on besuros tovos and there's a bracha of Dayan Ha'emes, Rachmana Litzlan, on besuros raos. So the sense of bitochon doesn't erase the human vantage point or the human experience. On the human level, yeah, some of חסד הקדוש ברוך הוא we're able to recognize and experience as such and some of it is hidden and we're not able to experience it as such. And it's our emunah that tells us that it's letov, but the halacha recognizes that we can't see it as such and that's why the bracha that we say is a different matbeia habracha. Similarly, when it comes to tefillah, so there is a chiyuv to daven and to daven with specificity, to be mefareish what we need, what we're missing, what we long for and not just to say well, Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows better than we do what we need. So that's true, that's a hundred percent true and that's why we add שימלא משאלות לבנו לטובה because if we ask for something inappropriate then we don't want Hakadosh Baruch Hu to answer. But the chiyuv tefillah nonetheless is again to ask from our vantage point for what seems to be right, for what seems to be good. So that's why we do daven for health, we do daven for arichas yamim v'shanim and we don't simply say well Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows what's best for me whether I should have good health or otherwise. But the chiyuv tefillah is to daven from the human vantage point. If you take a look in the Rambam at the beginning of Hilchos Tefillah, so the Rambam has an interesting phrase. When the Rambam describes the structure of tefillah, he says we begin with shevach and then we proceed to bakasha and the Rambam says that part of that part of tefillah of the bakasha is that a person asks for the צרכים שהוא צריך להן. That's the, if someone has a Rambam maybe I'll try to read you the exact lashon. וחיוב מצוה זו כך הוא שיהא אדם מתחנן ומתפלל בכל יום מגיד שבחו של הקדוש ברוך הוא.
A person should recount the praise of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. ואחר כך שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להן. So tzorachov means a person asks for his needs. So the right, the phrase translates literally אחר כך שואל צרכיו. A person asks for his needs shehu tzorich lahen, that he needs. So what, why those extra words? So lichora what the Rambam is conveying is that the chiyuv tefillah is not just that a person should sort of recognize intellectually, but a person has to feel the need. Sho'el tzorachov, there are all kinds of things that a person needs, but he may not feel the need. And the whole chiyuv tefillah, the experience of tefillah is that a person turns to Hakadosh Baruch Hu not just because intellectually he realizes that he needs to do that, but sho'el tzorachov, a person asks for his needs shehu tzorich lahen, that he feels the need for and that's what the Rambam is underscoring. And that's why the chiyuv bitochon notwithstanding... notwithstanding, and of course the reality, again, as the Chovos Halevavos in the context of bitachon, right, the reality that obviously Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows infinitely better than we ever can what's best for us, but אף על פי כן when it comes to when it comes to tefillah, so there we are supposed to take the initiative, as it were, because the chiyuv tefillah, again, is to experience and to feel that neediness, that dependence, that vulnerability. And that's why, again, bitachon notwithstanding, so we are specific in asking Hakadosh Baruch Hu for what we feel that we need, again, always, always with that caveat that ימלא ה' משאלות לבנו לטובה. In terms of hishtadlus, maybe just one more comment: in terms of hishtadlus, so hishtadlus, how much hishtadlus does a person have to put in? So again, it has to make sense bederech hateva. Hakadosh Baruch Hu sends us bracha through natural channels, that's the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu chooses to run the world. So the hishtadlus has to provide a natural channel, it has to make sense. That notwithstanding, there is a certain range and they say from the Chazon Ish that the Chazon Ish used to be very, very machmir when it came to hishtadlus in areas of health. In areas of health, so then he was very, very aggressively proactive. And in other areas, so his hishtadlus was much more moderate. And lich'ora, the pshat that suggests itself is that when it comes to health, which is intrinsically a mitzvah of ushmartem me'od lenafshoseichem, so the how much effort a person puts in, he's not going to measure necessarily just by the way he calibrates hishtadlus in other contexts, because this is a mitzvah, it's a mitzvah that a person should safeguard one's health, so a person doesn't take shortcuts, a person doesn't look to minimize his effort when it comes to doing a mitzvah. Hishtadlus in other contexts, I think the phrase that they quote from the Chazon Ish is a person has to be yotzei his hishtadlus. In other contexts, it's not intrinsically a mitzvah, again, a person is supposed to make hishtadlus. So the Chazon Ish used to distinguish between the degree of hishtadlus that he would invest in matters of health as opposed to in other mundane areas. And finally, in speaking of bitachon and when a person can forgo further hishtadlus and say ad kan is the limit of hishtadlus and now it's a question of bitachon, there is some subjectivity involved in the following sense: if a person knows that his bitachon ba'Hashem there's room for him to improve, there's room for him to improve, and what's more, in the time that he'll save that won't be invested in hishtadlus, he can't necessarily say with the utmost confidence that every minute of that time is going to be devoted to Torah u'mitzvos. So the question of how he balances his hishtadlus and bitachon is not necessarily going to be the same as someone who genuinely knows that with every fiber of his being that he's a ba'al bitachon and that every minute that he can find is sacred for talmud Torah for issaskus be'mitzvos, so within the range and within the spectrum of how to balance bitachon and hishtadlus, there are going to be differences from one person to another.