Our work on Purim is Bitachon – how to approach this

7 Purim-working on bitachon

We will focus on the bitachon of Klal Yisroel on Purim and analyse what bitachon is.

The gemorah in megillah discusses whether to make Purim in Adar Rishon or Adar Sheini. It concludes that we make it in Adar Sheini to make the geulah of Purim close to the geulah from Mitzrayim. Rashi explains that we want to make the geulah of Purim close to the seventh day of Pesach, which was the final redemption from Mitzrayim. If so, Purim and the seventh day of Pesach must have things in common.

They essentially have three things in common. The first is that in both Mitzrayim and under Haman, Hashem put Klal Yisroel in a predicament where they had no route of escape. When Klal Yisroel were running away from Mitzrayim, they had the Yam Suf in front of them, and there was no option of escape. Similarly, under Homon, there was no option to escape from the decrees.

In addition, in both cases, nature changed for the sake of the rescue of Klal Yisroel. At Kriyas Yam Suf Chazal say (Rashi, Shemos 14,21) that all the waters in the world split. Why was this necessary? The miracle did not happen specifically to save Klal Yisroel. Instead, the miracle was that nature (water) was there to save Klal Yisroel, and this was something that needed to be revealed to the whole world.

Even though Kriyas Yam Suf was a nes niglah, nevertheless, it was still an example of nature itself being there to help Klal Yisroel. (In the makos, Hashem overpowered and interfered with nature; for example, the natural water disappeared and was replaced with blood etc. On the other hand, nature was not being replaced at Kriyas Yam Suf. Instead, nature itself was helping to save Klal Yisroel). Similarly, on Purim, the natural events themselves, without anything else, were helping save Klal Yisroel.

The third common denominator is that the answer to the terrible situation was bitachon. The Nefesh Hachaim in shaar aleph, perek 9-explains the meaning of Hashem‘s saying to Moshe, ‘Why are you crying to Me? Speak to Klal Yisroel, and they should go.’ This means that it was depending on them. If they will have great strength in their Emunah and Bitachon and continue going straight into the Yam Suf, then the Yam will split for them.

Similarly, consider what happened on Purim. Mordechai who himself seemingly caused all the problems for the Jews by not having bowed down to Homon, just because of a chumrah, was the very person whom Klal Yisroel needed to listen to for their salvation. Mordechai told them all that 12 years ago, they had eaten from the seudas Achashveirosh, and this is what caused all their problems in which they found themselves. So how could they listen to Mordechai and believe in what he was saying? Through Emunah and bitachon.

Bitachon

We will now begin to discuss the inyan of bitachon. In the current times, we, as Klal Yisroel, especially in Eretz Yisroel, find ourselves in a corner without any clear routes of escape. This calls for bitachon.

I will begin by telling you what I heard once in a shiur in the Mir. Reb Chaim Shmulevitz zt’l was giving the shiur, and he said that the Rebbe (Reb Yerucham) once called him over and told him that there would come a time when he would need to speak about bitachon. Therefore, he said that he would tell him what bitachon is.

Reb Yerucham began to tell him a story to illustrate what bitachon is. There was a husband who stopped doing anything and started to say Tehillim and nothing else. The family ran out of money. The wife consulted with her husband what they should do and he told her to sell their horse. With that money they managed to live.

However, the money ran out, and the wife again consulted with her husband about what to do. He didn’t make any attempts to bring home any parnassah but continued to just say Tehillim. The wife was very concerned. Her husband told her to sell the wagon, and everything would be okay. She sold the wagon. Once again, though, the money from the wagon started to run out, and they had nothing.

Then, the next day, the wife opened her front door, and suddenly, outside their door stood their horse, laden with goods! The non-Jew, who had bought the horse and wagon, in his pursuit of goods with which to make more and more profits had died. The horse, without any owner, simply made its way home and back to its original owners. With all the new wealth, the husband and wife had no more financial problems. ‘This,’ said Reb Chaim, ‘is what Reb Yerucham told me what bitachon means’!

At the time, this definition seemed oversimplified and childish. Now I realise that, in truth, this is what bitachon is, and it is one of the most intelligent things that can be said.

Hashem will do what is good in His eyes

We will see this from Mishlei perek 3, possuk 5:’Have bitachon in Hashem with all your heart and do not rely on your intellect (binah)’.

Reb Menachem Mendel (who wrote up the peirush haGra on Mishlei) explains the Vilna Gaon on this possuk. Part of what Reb Menachem Mendel says is that the core point of bitachon is to ‘believe in Hashem that He will do what is good in His eyes.’ This means that bitachon means to believe in Hashem that He will do totally according to how He sees what is good (and not what we see as good in our eyes).

With this definition, we cannot take at face value the commonly quoted story (to describe what bitachon is) of Reb Yisroel Salanter, of his trusting in Hashem that He would give him a gold watch, and Hashem gave him a gold watch. This is typically understood to mean that you decide what is good for you and what you want, and then bitachon requires you to believe in the absolute power of Hashem to give you this.

Reb Menachem Mendel teaches that bitachon is about trusting that everything rests on Hashem‘s shoulders—including what is good and what is not. If a gold watch were good in Hashem‘s eyes, then Reb Yisroel would have gotten one. However, if not, then Reb Yisroel would not have gotten one.

A person might say that since Hashem gives us a seichel, we should also use our seichel together with our bitachon in Hashem. This is not so. Instead, the middah of bitachon is such a middah that we do not need to use anything from ourselves. Rather, we need to trust that what is good in Hashem‘s eyes, He will do.

The way to achieve bitachon-To use our heart to live in the penimius world

The Vilna Gaon concludes his explanation of this possuk with something that is vital in order to be able to reach the level of bitachon that Hashem does what is good in His eyes. He says that a person needs to mehapech (turn over) his whole heart to be to Hashem. Once he does this, then Hashem will bless him with everything.

These cryptic words of the Gra seem to mean that a person needs to change his inner core (that which is inside him in his heart) towards Hashem. It is not enough to change what is external to you to be to Hashem. In other words, a person needs to go away from living in the tangible, external world and to live in a new world, the world of penimius, whereby he sees the whole world as an expression of penimius.

It is only possible to have bitachon that Hashem will do what is good in His eyes once a person starts seeing the world as a world of penimius.

Practical examples of using your heart to see the penimius world

Let us now illustrate the difference between living in a tangible world and a penimius world. It can be difficult to get your daughters accepted into seminary. For one of my daughters, it was very hard, and I struggled to get her accepted. If I had lived in the external world, I would have said that I have bitachon that Hashem will help my daughter be accepted by the seminary. But this is incorrect because the truth of bitachon is that Hashem will do what is good in His eyes.

The correct way to approach such a situation from the penimius is to ask yourself why you want your daughter to be accepted to the seminary. In other words, let your heart (your penimius) tell you why you want acceptance from the seminary. Everything that happens concerning the seminary should then be an expression of that penimius.  Do you want a good name from having your daughter being accepted? This would be superficial. Or maybe you want her to be accepted for deeper reasons, such as wanting your daughter to learn good middos or wanting her to become a good person.

When one of my daughters was in seminary, one of her friends said she would soon go away for her holiday and return home as a chiloniah. My daughter and her friends helped this girl, and she remained frum. This is what a person really wants from his daughter’s acceptance to seminary! This is a deeper, more penimius reason for wanting her accepted by a good seminary.

A different daughter of mine was in seminary, and she had a friend who had a non-kosher phone. This girl left her non-kosher phone on during the shiur, and it rang. As a result, she was told that at the end of the day, she needed to hand her phone in. But the problem was that it was a non-kosher phone!

My daughter gave her her kosher phone to hand in instead. What my daughter did may have been against the institution, but this is what it means to be a good person. This is what I want from a girl who goes through her Jewish education. She should come out as a good person.

So, first, we need to ask ourselves what we want from our child’s education. Then we say Hashem will do what is good in His eyes—what is best for the child. With such an approach, we are calm because we have left the outer layer and went into a deeper layer. Once we do this, it becomes a sugya that is connected to Hashem, and we can believe that Hashem will do what is good in His eyes.

A couple recently came to me who are struggling to have children. They are going through the steps of having IVF treatment. They are finding the whole situation very hard.

If they focus on the external world with all the medicine and treatment, which is an important world, they will not be able to say, ‘That which is good in the eyes of Hashem He will do.’ This is because in the external world of medicine, there is only one good thing that can happen, and that is that the medicine should work.

The penimius world on the other hand says, like the tefillas haShlah says, that the reason for having children is to increase kovod shomayim.

In situations such as infertility or any such situation, brocho can come from Hashem in a totally unexpected way. Hashem may send a person brocho that will not just be on one specific thing. Instead, the brocho will be for his entire world (of penimius). But, a person naturally lives in a superficial and predictable external world. This world runs according to the laws of nature; therefore, a person works out exactly what is good for them and what they need. Until such a person leaves this world and enters the world of penimius they will never be able to believe that Hashem will do what is good in His eyes.

All the bitachon stories we read revolve around the person needing something in the superficial world. For example, he was in great debt and then won the Lotto. This is not where real bitachon happens. Real bitachon happens in the penimius layer of the world, which is with our hearts (we connect with the penimius world through our hearts).

Bitachon doesn’t mean to give up

Bitachon is an avodah

According to our definition of bitachon, a person might think that we just need to abandon ourselves to Hashem. He is stronger than us and will do whatever is good in His eyes, regardless of our wishes. If so, does bitachon just mean giving up? Absolutely not! It just means that we need to do work within our hearts, where we relate to the penimius world.

Bitachon of Purim

On Purim Klal Yisroel was in a terrible situation. According to nature, there was no hope. Whenever Jews find themselves in this situation, they turn to bitachon. But what was the bitachon? Mordechai told them about the events that had caused their situation. But this didn’t fit their understanding of the superficial politics and history surrounding the current events. Klal Yisroel first needed to look in a more penimius way at what was happening. Only then were they able to achieve bitachon.

I believe that Reb Yerucham meant that bitachon is not about Hashem giving us specifically what we are working towards. On the contrary, we can do nothing, and Hashem will do what is good in His eyes. When living on the penimius level we see the world in a totally different way.

In another incident, Reb Yerucham received a letter without a stamp from a Novardhikah. Reb Yerucham needed to pay for the postage, which he did, but he refused to reply to the letter. His reasoning was so that the Novardhikah wouldn’t think this type of bitachon achieved anything. This was bitachon for a superficial goal- for the letter to somehow reach its destination without payment and bitachon doesn’t work on this layer of the world.

Bitachon works on the penimius layer of the world. Our avodah is to enter into this deeper world. Here we do not just receive the specific solutions to the specific problems that we face (this is how the external world works). Rather, we receive the brocho from Hashem. This brocho can be for our entire world.

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Written by Rabbi Rapport