Two interrelated questions: to what degree should we believe that Hashem is watching over us, Hashgacha Pratis, and how does one balance thinking practically with thinking as one who believes that Hashem controls the world? Kayadua, there is there are two there's there are two schools of thought in terms of Hashgacha Pratis. They they existed in times of of the Rishonim certainly. There's the view of of the Rambam that the degree of Hashgacha Pratis that a person has depends upon his level and degree in terms of Yedi'as Hashem, in terms of his thinking about Hashem, in terms of his acting leshem shamayim, but that the degree of Hashgacha Pratis a person has varies depending upon that crucial factor. A person who goes through life not thinking about Hashem, without any real Yedi'as Hashem, so that person would have no no no Hashgacha Pratis according to the Rambam. And the Rambam isn't the only one who thinks so. Le'umaso, so for instance, the Sefer HaChinuch writes that a person is supposed to know and believe that כל אשר יקרהו מטוב עד רע זו סיבה שטובה עליו מאת השם יתברך.
That whatever befalls a person, whatever happens to a person as an object, is is by Hashem. That there is at least in terms of we're only talking about people now. That there is a a very, very comprehensive Hashgacha Pratis. And again, there are it's not only the obviously the Rambam and the Chinuch who who speak about this this fundamental issue. Rambam doesn't talk about Hashgacha in his Yud Gimmel Ikkarim. He doesn't talk about that. And again, and and here the there is no psak halacha. I don't know that as as you know, the more prevalent and predominant view amongst the Achronim is that of the Sefer HaChinuch, that of the Chovos HaLevavos, not that of of the Rambam udeimei. The follow-up question of of how one balances thinking practically with Hashgacha, so obviously is is somewhat somewhat dependent upon upon this question. But let's I think most most people today again because this is the predominant view amongst the the more recent chakhamim, so maybe we'll we'll reflect upon that question assuming the view of the Sefer HaChinuch udeimei. To a degree even even according to the according to to this view of Hashgacha Pratis, a person has to think practically because there is a chiyuv to make hishtadlus and the definition of hishtadlus is that it's bederech hateva. That's the definition. payable to me, payable to me, is not clear that that qualifies as hishtadlus. The definition of of hishtadlus is that it has to make sense bederech hateva. So so to a degree everyone everyone agrees that that you have to think practically and and that that's no stira to Hakadosh Baruch Hu's again comprehensive hashgacha pratis. What's more, the the seforim explain not only is is thinking practically no stira but even on a certain level thinking that that that that there can be or that there is a connection between one's efforts and the results is is also is also correct. Dehainu, היות דהקדוש ברוך הוא כך גזרה חכמתו that that that we're supposed to make hishtadlus, so itochen that the Ribono Shel Olam's, the the כל מזונותיו של אדם קצובים לו which was decided Rosh Hashanah, m'Rosh Hashanah ad Yom Kippurim, is contingent upon a person making that hishtadlus. היות דכך הוא רצונו that a person is supposed to make hishtadlus, so itochen, ich veis, if I'm in real estate, so that the Ribono Shel Olam has has has has decided that I should have such and such earnings for the year. But since I'm supposed to be making hishtadlus, so if I don't go into the office and I don't make calls and I don't and I don't fulfill that the obligation of hishtadlus, so itochen it's not going to happen. So again, not only does a person have to think practically to be יוצא את חיוב השתדלות, but heyos that there is a chiyuv hishtadlus, so being derelict in that chiyuv, it's not just well I was mevatel that chiyuv, so ich veis, it's like I rachmana litzlan a person neglected some other chiyuv. No, it's more than that also. Itochen that that Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, look, I'm going to give it to you and all you have to do is go into the office and make 10 calls and I'll see to it that that that you succeed and and that you're going to and that you're going to earn. So if a person doesn't go into the office and make the 10 calls, so itochen he's not going to get what what is there waiting for him min hashamayim. So on that level a person has to both think and and act practically. And again, it's not only in parnassa, it's in terms of any hishtadlus a person is doing, any hishtadlus a person is doing. Where where things get more nuanced, I think they quote, I think this formulation I think comes from the Chazon Ish. The Chazon Ish says he's not marbe behishtadlus, he's yotzei hishtadlus. So what does that mean? It means that sometimes that there can be a spectrum bederech hateva of the amount of hishtadlus a person makes or or seemingly should be making in in this line of work. It's a person who's who's in business. How many hours a day does he have to really be thinking and and immersed in it? Does he really have to be rosho verubo 10 12 hours a day or maybe maybe it's considered hishtadlus. So they say from the Chazon Ish that that that he was yotzei hishtadlus he wasn't, didn't consider there was no כל המרבה הרי זה משובח. Lichora, this has to be linked to a person's how much a person really feels the bitachon, how much a person really really feels the bitachon. And also what the person's gonna do to say I'll be yotzei hishtadlus I can get an extra round of golf in. It's not the same as saying that I'll be yotzei hishtadlus so I can spend more time in the beis medrash or more time involved in tzorchei tzibur vechulu. It's also very much linked to what a person is going to do with the time and the opportunity that would be freed up. But it yitachen that there is, again, there's a certain objective threshold that it has to make sense, it has to be in the spectrum of what what makes sense bederech hateva, because if it doesn't make sense bederech hateva, so then it's not it's not hishtadlus. Within that spectrum, so then yitachen that the degree that a person has to just, whether it's enough just to, I think maybe Rav Dessler talks about this also, the degree to which a person can just be yotzei hishtadlus and the degree to which he has to really, really sweat over it, yitachen that that's going to be correlated with A, how much of a ba'al bitachon he, how much of a ba'al bitachon he really is, and B, what he would do with if the Ribbono shel Olam will send him that bracha that even with just being yotzei hishtadlus, he'll have what he needs. What's he gonna do with with that time? That there can be halacha lema'aseh differences depending upon who the person is and that part of that consideration is the middas habitachon, so that the Kesav Sofer has that idea in with regard to the Gemara in the second perek in Beitzah, that Shammai, he saw beheima na'eh, he'd put it away for Shabbos, and Hillel מדה אחרת היתה בו, he would שכל מעשיו היו לשם שמים, he would eat it and say, not to worry, the Ribbono shel Olam will send me an even nicer cut of meat lichvod Shabbos. So Rashi in parshas Yisro quotes Shammai on זכור את יום השבת לקדשו, he says you should be mazmen leShabbos. So the Ramban says that Rashi is right that זכור את יום השבת לקדשו means all week long, not only on Shabbos, but he shouldn't have given the example of Shammai because Hillel disputes that. He should have given the example of referring to the weekdays instead of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, as echad baShabbos, sheni baShabbos, shlishi baShabbos. So I think that the Pardes Yosef quotes that the Kesav Sofer answers for Rashi that the lashon haGemara is not that Shammai says this, Hillel says this, Shammai used to do this and Hillel מדה אחרת היתה בו. So which is the correct behavior depends upon depends upon the person, what his middos are, and sometimes there is, again, that sort of subjectivity in terms of what's right and and what's appropriate, and and certainly that gets factored into the question of how much hishtadlus a person is supposed to make. You know, in terms of whether a person is looking to make less of a hishtadlus leshem shamayim as as per the Chazon Ish, or whether it's, so you know in a different context, so they say from the Kotzker that many people ad hayom hazeh, chasidim ve'anshei ma'aseh, so when they eat on Shabbos, so before eating they say lichvod Shabbos kodesh. And and it's a and it's a very beautiful hanhaga. The Kotzker, the Kotzker's reaction to that... kedarko in terms of middas ha'emes is that before he would eat something, he'd say instead of lichvod Shabbos kodesh, he'd say lichvod main boich. boich is stomach, as in a boich svarah. The Kotzker didn't think, didn't think that he was holding and holding on such a madreiga that he could say that he was doing leshem shamayim. So whatever one's hanhaga should be on Shabbos, should one say lichvod Shabbos kodesh, should one not say it, whatever one's hanhaga is on Shabbos, but in terms of this issue here, so it's devarim hamesurim lalev, devarim hamesurim lalev to what degree a person can say, well, I'm going to try to be like the Chazon Ish and just be yotzei hishtadlus. So that's it's the correct thing to do, it's the right thing to do, provided that a person really is a big, a big baal bitachon. Authentic Jewish humor always has a very genuine and refined point. So the joke is told about a woman whose husband is sick. So the husband is diagnosed, rachmana litzlan, and the doctor says, okay, this is the course of treatment we're going to try. So they try the course of treatment and it doesn't succeed. So the doctor says, okay, so when that course of treatment doesn't succeed, so then the convention is to try this. Okay, and that doesn't work either. Then there's a third course of treatment he tries, and her husband keeps getting sicker and sicker. And she sees already that the doctor, you know, as they go from one to two and two to three, his level of confidence is dropping very, very dramatically. So finally she says to him, tell me doctor, is it time to pray yet? So lemaaseh in real life, so sometimes we daven when, oh, so now I'm not in control, so now I have to daven. But the rest of the time I sort of feel in control. Okay, I still daven three times a day, but you know, sort of calmly and you know... So doctor, is it time to pray yet? So that's what the Kotzker said, so you know, it's devarim hamesurim lalev to what extent a person really has bitachon and to what extent we would like to have bitachon and but do we really have, do we really have bitachon? devarim hamesurim lalev and in terms of acting on it, halacha lemaaseh, so a person just has to be very, very honest with himself where he's holding. Another one of the questions here is which we touched upon a little bit last week in terms of Moshiach and the follow-up question is how do we come to believe in the coming of Moshiach? So I assume that what's intended in the question, again, to believe in the coming of Moshiach is, I guess, relatively speaking, easy. As the Rambam writes in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, if a person doesn't believe in Moshiach, he says Tanach is full of it, it's not only nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu. He says Tanach is just abounding with references and of Moshiach. So we believe Toras emes, so we believe that the Moshiach is going to come. We believe Moshiach is going to come. What's a very big challenge is that the Rambam writes in Hilchos Melachim... When he talks about the belief in Mashiach all the way at the end of the Yad, כל מי שאינו מאמין בו ומי שאינו מחכה לביאתו לא בשאר נביאים בלבד הוא כופר אלא בתורה ובמשה רבנו.
So the Rambam doesn't only talk about being ma'amin bo, it talks about being mechakeh l'viaso. That's where the challenge is, again, relatively speaking to be ma'amin bo, a person can with sincerity say אני מאמין באמונה שלמה בביאת המשיח ואף על פי שיתמהמה.
I think a person can say that. Question is mechakeh l'viaso, mechakeh l'viaso. Mechakeh l'viaso is not so pashut, not so pashut. If you think about it, what we wait for is if there's something that we feel that we're missing, something, let's say a person has a fever, rachmana litzlan. So he takes two Tylenol, so he's waiting for the Tylenol to kick in because he's burning up with a fever, he's waiting for the Tylenol to kick in. Or lav davka that there's something wrong which has to be set straight, but a person can imagine that, oh, I hear that in this vacation resort where we're going to be going next week, is such a beautiful place and so many great activities. So maybe it's not that he's sick, rachmana litzlan, and looking to have that set straight, but maybe he can imagine an upgrade that he very much relates to and because of that he's very much looking forward. But as long as our needs and aspirations are defined in terms of the metzius as we know it, so then it's takeh very hard to really be genuinely waiting for bias hamashiach. Okay, so we're not always content, we're not always content, we want to get into this school, we want to get this job, we want to get this raise, even in devarim ruchniyim, even in devarim ruchniyim, I want to chazer more, I want to remember better. But all those goals, and again, obviously the latter goals are more ultimate goals than the former ones, but all those goals don't require a person to think beyond the world as it exists now. I don't need Mashiach for any of that. I don't need Mashiach for any of that. Need to do more chazara, I don't know, maybe eat more fish oil or something to help my memory also, but do more chazara, but it's in the world as we know it now. To be mechakeh l'viaso, there has to be something that a person longs for which is linked to the Melech Hamashiach. Question is can a person be mechakeh l'viaso sort of indirectly? And that's what yemos hamashiach represents is ה' אחד ושמו אחד, ומלאה הארץ דעה את ה' כמים לים מכסים,
v'hisgadalti v'hiskadashti. That's what yemos hamashiach is, l'maiseh. There will also be, there's also going to be techiyas hamaisim. So let's say a person is waiting for Mashiach because he wants to be reunited with someone who has already niftar, rachmana litzlan. So does that satisfy the requirement? I don't know, I think the Mashmaus in the Chofetz Chaim is that that isn't what what it means. That the Machakeh L'biaso has to mean for not sort of the corollary, the the benefits that will accrue to us, but for what Yemos Hamashiach is. And the Emes is of the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim on a certain level that this is the one that that really requires the the most work, the most work. So so how how does a person Takeh go about again in a way that even Kotzker Rebbe will will acknowledge that that to a degree he's Machakeh L'biaso. I'm not talking about being Machakeh L'biaso on the Madreiga of the Chofetz Chaim. That's that's at least initially set our sights significantly lower than that. But to be Machakeh L'biaso genuinely on on a level that we can relate to. So Le'chora what it means is Kvod Shamayim has to be something that isn't just a phrase, but it has to be something that really means something to us and that because of that, we're at least somewhat sensitive to the tremendous void and vacuum that exists in a state of Churban. When when there's a mosque on on Har Habayis, when when there's so much atheism and and secularism in in the world, that it has to mean, it has to mean something to us. It has to bother us on some level. So that we're waiting for the Tylenol to kick in to dispel the fever. It has to mean something. Okay, so so how do we go about that? לעולם יעסוק אדם תורה מצוות שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
The more a person is involved in Torah Mitzvos, the more the closer he comes to Lishma. When a person's on a level of Lishma, so the Rambam associates Lishma with Ahavas Hashem. And especially the Netziv says especially Talmud Torah is has a Koach to implant within a person a again based on Chazal of V'ahavta, the Smichus of the Psukim V'ahavta and V'hayu Hadvarim Ha'eleh that that Talmud Torah can engender within a person a again obviously to varying degrees but a genuine sense of Ahavas Hashem. A person has Ahavas Hashem, so then he can be genuinely concerned about Kvod Shamayim. So clearly that that's one there's just added impetus to to trying to to learn and and to maximize opportunities for learning. Maximize the opportunities and in the sense of capitalizing on those opportunities that we do have. Second of all, Hakadosh Baruch Hu also created the the the world in such a way that if a person... A sense of concern and connection. If a person, application thereof, if a person even if he can't take a polygraph test and say that he feels the kvod shamayim, the concern for kvod shamayim, even if he's not there yet, if a person does things that he knows will enhance kvod shamayim and is very conscious about doing that and is very conscious about being moser nefesh for that, so acting in a way that genuinely again is geared towards fostering kvod shamayim, avoiding things which rachmana litzlan detract from kvod shamayim, so that awakens within a person the feeling, the concern for kvod shamayim. And that's another approach, that's a very available to us that we should have again enough of a concern for kvod shamayim that we can not only believe but we can be mechake l'vi'aso. The way the Rambam says it in Perek Chelek is so there it's also remarkable. He says as part of presenting the ikar emunah he says that a person should be mispallel l'vi'aso. It's the same yesod, it's the same yesod. What a person really wants, what he really needs, if a person really needs a job rachmana litzlan, so if you believe, you daven. There's no such thing as if a person really needs something and believes in koach hatefillah, so then he davens. So that's why the Rambam says that again reflecting the same idea as the mechake l'vi'aso here in Hilchos Melachim, the Rambam mentions not only the emunah but to be mispallel l'vi'aso. That's why on the calendar, the again it's an avodah all year long, it's not an avodah that can be relegated to a particular season of the year. But this perspective and again ultimately where the Rambam gets it is from the gemara in Shabbos of tzipisa liyeshuah, right, when in the questions that a person is asked בשעה שמכניסין אותו לדין it doesn't ask whether or not he just believed. It asks tzipisa. Tzipisa means to long for something, it means not just to believe that it will happen but to have a longing for it. It's for this reason that you know in the summertime the aveilus of the three weeks, of the nine days, of Tisha B'Av is just such a central avodah. Again, it can't be relegated to three weeks a year, certainly not to one day a year. It's too big and too central an avodah. But it gives one a perspective because if Tisha B'Av leaves us cold, so then it's very hard to be mechake l'vi'aso if I find myself detached from what Tisha B'Av is about. It's going to be very difficult alongside that for a genuine mechake l'vi'aso to coexist. So those days are very, yemei avodah. They're very, very big days of avodah. In sifrei chasidus it says, my brother likes to point out that the Maharsha already says it, that there's a symmetry, that there's 22 days from Rosh Hashanah to Shemini Atzeres and you have the same... Same 22-day period from Shiva Asar B'Tammuz culminating in Tisha B'Av. So that obviously that symmetry even before or without beginning to appreciate the what the depth of that is, but that very symmetry, to suggest that there's a symmetry between between those two 22-day periods, the one of which we understand Aseres Yemei Teshuva included within it speaks volumes, and part of what it means, doesn't mean only this, but part of what it means again is the centrality of being misavel al hachurban because being misavel al hachurban is the other side of the same coin of being mechakeh l'viyaso, which is what the Rambam says is is part of the yesod ha'emuna.