Transcript

Here in in Perek Gimmel of of Sha'ar Bitachon, Rabbeinu Bachya lists five five things a person has to know, has to feel, has to do to be genuinely bote'ach b'Hashem. So number one is a person has to recognize that the seven qualities that he listed which one would look for in him in whom one places one's bitachon, that all those seven exist in HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Next, a bit of a question here that we're glossing over, that a person should know that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is yode'a umashgiach alav. The third is that to have bitachon in HaKadosh Baruch Hu means to, by definition, to have exclusive bitachon in HaKadosh Baruch Hu as opposed to having bitachon in HaKadosh Baruch Hu u'basar vadam. Again, just simply the, what bitachon means, the basis of bitachon is that everything that happens to a person is nigzar min ha-Shamayim. The very minute a person has bitachon in someone else, so that, that, it's not, it's not that you have 80%, that a person is having 80% bitachon rather than 100% bitachon. He doesn't have bitachon. Bitachon by definition means 100%. Ma'aseh, it's conceptually, it's easy enough to understand. Practically, sometimes it's experienced as, as a big nisayon. Again, for the reason the Chovot HaLevavot says that the way HaKadosh Baruch Hu created the world is, again, even though hakol mi'ito yisbarach, but it happens through natural channels. It happens with all kinds of intermediate causes, none of which are ultimate, none of which are really, none of which are in any way determinative, but it has, it happens with all kinds of intermediate causes, so often people feel very dependent upon their bosses. Someone who has the ability to, to hire, to fire, to promote, to demote, to give a raise, to cut salary, people feel very, very dependent upon their bosses and besides the attitude being an attitude that easily becomes incompatible with bitachon, it leads to other not good things either, it leads to chanufa and, and the like. And it doesn't mean the flip side of that doesn't mean that one's attitude towards one's boss is no different than any other person. In the sense of where one's parnassah comes from, yes, it's no different than any other person. But in the sense of the fact, the Chovot HaLevavot doesn't, he talks about it earlier, the fact that everything comes from the Ribbono Shel Olam and that a person's parnassah comes from the Ribbono Shel Olam, so that doesn't preclude the fact that we're supposed to have hakarat hatov to the intermediate causes as well. So it doesn't mean that a person is not supposed to be mechabed and have hakarat hatov for his, for his boss. It doesn't mean that, but in a sense of dependence, in that sense, so the boss is no one different. And in that sense that it should undercut any nisayon of a person doing something that he doesn't really believe in, doesn't really think is right, saying something which he doesn't really think is true because he's worried about his security. It should manifest itself that way, but there still is the hakarat hatov and whatever goes along with that, that still is in place. Because even though, even though it comes from the Ribbono Shel Olam, but if someone, someone does... And they're doing it with their bechira chofshis, so that was supposed to be, we're supposed to be makir tov. Okay, the fourth of again of the five components to being able to have and manifest genuine bitachon is very interesting, is that a person has to be medakdek bemitzos. Says the Chovos HaLevavos, it's a tarty desasrei for a person to have bitachon and not be medakdek bemitzos. And in that context he quotes the Mishna in Pirkei Avos. Maybe I'll just, I have the Kehot translation today.

ההקדמה הוא שישגיח וישתדל מאוד מאוד לעמול במה שחייבהו השם יתעלה ויתהדר ויתרומם מעבודתו וקיום מצותיו ולהישמר ממה שהזהירו כפי שהוא רוצה שיעשה לו השם במה שבטח עליו כמו שאמרו קדמונינו עליהם השלום עשה רצונו כרצונך כדי שיעשה רצונך כרצונו.

Again, a person should be medakdek bemitzos, meaning a person should do ratzon Hashem

כפי שהוא רוצה שיעשה לו השם במה שבטח עליו כמו שאמרו קדמונינו עליהם השלום עשה רצונו כרצונך.

So here lechora, I mean ayin elov rabosai, lechora the mashmaos here is delo k'Chazon Ish. The Chazon Ish has his, says very forcefully and also very cogently on one level that people, he says the world makes a mistake about bitachon. They think that based on bitachon, so a person can say and believe yehiya tov, and that yehiya tov means the way we define tov. And that a person has bitachon, so that means that you're sure that a choleh is going to be misrapei, that everything that we're... He says it's not true. He says bitachon means yehiya tov because what will happen won't be an accident, won't be happenstance, it will be what Hashem does, and כל מאי דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד. But that may or may not correspond to what it is that we're asking for, what it is that we perceive as the tov. And he says that very, very forcefully. So when the Chovos HaLevavos here adds those words, כפי שהוא רוצה שיעשה לו השם במה שבטח עליו, now that's to have bitachon, I want A, B, or C. Maybe I want A, B, and C. So says the Chovos HaLevavos, if a person wants שיעשה לו השם במה שבטח עליו, that that bitachon should be well-placed and the correct and deserving bitachon, so the same way my bitachon is that Hashem should do what I want bama shebotachti alov, so then I have to do what He wants. I have to do what He wants, I have to be nizhar bemitzos. Why is the Chovos HaLevavos, why are we medayek in the Chovos HaLevavos more than in the Mishna? After all, it's a Mishna: עשה רצונו כרצונך כדי שיעשה רצונך כרצונו. Because in the Mishna you could have said, if you take a look for instance in the Rabbeinu Yona on that Mishna, so again you can easily read that the Mishna is also saying delo k'Chazon Ish. You can easily read that the Mishna is also saying that if you want the Ribbono Shel Olam to sign a blank check for you that you should be able to fill in what's on top of it, so then first you have to be mevatel your ratzon to His ratzon, then He'll kavyachol be mevatel His ratzon to your ratzon, or be oseh retzoncha kiretzono. You could read the Mishna that way also, though not everyone does. The Rabbeinu Yona for instance says... Again, asei retzono kiretzoncha means that you should try to, again, your ratzon should be to do ratzon Hashem kedei that you'll have parnasa, he says. Kedei that you'll have what you need to to get along in life. That's not the way you could easily have read the mishna so that you'll have whatever you want. And nafka mina being, let's say the person who wants a million dollars. He doesn't want just what he needs to get along in life. He wants a million dollars. So the mishna is talking about that also? That עשה רצונו כרצונך כדי שיעשה רצונך כרצונו? Well no, Rabbeinu Yonah very conspicuously says no, כדי שיעשה רצונך כרצונו to he'll give you what you need. He'll give you what you need to be able to function and and get along well in life. But when the Chovos HaLevavos adds bameh shebotach alav, that seems to be more open-ended. And I don't know, they quote Rav Yisroel Salanter said differently also. That sometimes also the bitachon can mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu will as it were bend to accommodate what the boteach wants. Then the Chovos HaLevavos has here a very, very yesodostike discussion of if everything, all the everything again, other than a person's avodas Hashem, everything is bidei shamayim. How much a person is going to earn over the course of a year, etc. So what's the reason for hishtadlus? Why is there hishtadlus? So he gives two answers, maybe we'll just two explanations, we'll just mention them and bli neder next time be maarich a little bit im yirtzeh Hashem. He says first of all it's a nisayon. It's a nisayon to a person to recognize, again, even though there is a facade that the intermediate causes seem to be going, there's a facade that if you don't pay taxes, you have an extra $20 in your pocket. There is such a facade. So by Hakadosh Baruch Hu telling us to be mishtadel again beamtzaim with again these intermediate causes, so then it's a nisayon that we shouldn't cut corners, we shouldn't cheat, rachmana litzlan, we shouldn't do anything anything which is assur. So the chiyuv hishtadlus is intended as as a nisayon. The mishna has in Bameh Madlikin, the mishna has in Bameh Madlikin that כחס על הנר כחס על השמן כחס על הפתילה. So then according to Rabbi Yehuda, the tanna kamma, so he's going to hitchayev in all those cases because מלאכה שאינה צריכה לגופה חייב. So I think in the Kehati Mishnayos he quotes from the Gra. What does it say kechas hashemen, kechas? It should have said chas hashemen that the reason he's putting out the ner is because he wants to save the oil, he wants to save the psila. What do you mean kechas? So the Gra says it's kechas. A person can't, can't benefit from chillul Shabbos. He thinks it's kechas. He's acting as though by being mechalel Shabbos he's going to be marviach a shtikel shemen and he's going to be marviach a psila. It's not true. It's not true, he'll be there will be a hefsed keneged zeh. It's כחס על השמן כחס על הפתילה. So the Chovos HaLevavos is saying the same thing and saying it's a nisayon. It's a nisayon that a person shouldn't cheat on his taxes and shouldn't do anything else which is assur. And the second reason he gives for why we have to make hishtadlus if

כל מזונותיו של אדם קצובים לו מראש השנה ועד יום הכיפורים

is that batala is very unhealthy for a person. That batala, a person has too much time on his hands, so people get into trouble. People are too comfortable with too much time on their hands, so people get into trouble.

יפה תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ שיגיעת שניהם משכחת עון.

And that's why Hakadosh Baruch Hu was mechayev us to have to make to have to make hishtadlus. Okay, there's what to elaborate here, bli neder next time.