פרשת וישב
In this week’s Parsha, through a fascinating series of events, Yosef Hatzadik is placed in prison together with the royal baker and the wine maker. Yosef asks the wine maker not to forget him when he goes to Pharaoh, and we find that Yosef was punished for this request. Rashi brings down at the end of the Parsha that Yosef had to spend an extra two years in prison and Rashi brings down the verse, “Lucky is the person who trusts in Hashem…”
The obvious difficulty with Rashi is that certainly a person is permitted to do a certain amount of natural Hishtadlus during the course of their normal lives! Why would Yosef be punished for simply asking the wine maker to remember him? There are many possibilities to solve this difficulty. Some say that Yosef was indeed on the level where any Hishtadlus would be denying God to a certain extent. Others claim that although Hishtadlus is permitted, Yosef did too much.
R’ Chaim explains that there is a hint to the latter answer that we gave in the verse itself. The verse records that Yosef mentions to the wine maker, “Remember me and don’t forget me (to mention me to Pharaoh)”. This redundancy indicates Yosef’s slightly excessive form of Histhtadlus which resulted in his punishment, for when a person does too much Hishtadlus he is demonstrating his lack of Bitachon. Alternatively, the Chazon Ish suggest that it was inappropriate for Yosef to go to the wine maker, because the wine maker was a Non-Jew who showed himself later as an adversary of Yosef (by the way he spoke about him to Pharaoh), and rely on such an unlikely person to help him. That is why he was punished, as attempting to do Hishtadlus which is unlikely to succeed demonstrates a lack of Bitachon.
Many people imagine that trusting in God and having Bitachon is reserved for the righteous people of the generation. However, we find in Chazal that this is not true. Each and every Jew has an obligation to trust in God. The Rabenu Bachya in Shaar Bitachon explains that trusting in God is a prerequisite for any Jew who wishes to serve God properly. This why the Torah was given to the Jews at Sinai only after they had received the Manna for a certain period of time and became accustomed to relying on God for basic necessities such as their daily bread. By extension, each and every Jew who wishes to acquire the Torah needs to have the attribute of Bitachon just as the Jews who received the Torah did.
The Rosh in Sefer Orchos Chaim brings down that it is not enough to trust in God in one’s mind, but rather a Jew must acclimate himself to trust in God in his heart. The Rosh goes on to explain how to do this. He says that to feel Bitachon in one’s heart means that every Jew should be able to go through life feeling no worries and completely relaxed even in the face of adversity for they have a father in heaven who is all capable and in addition to that, fosters an unimaginable love for them. This level is certainly not easy to reach and requires much proactive effort, but each and every Jew is required to reach it as we explained the Rabenu Bachaya.
The Vilna Gaon, in his explanation of the blessing in Shmone Esrei “משען ומבטח לצדיקים”– God is a Tzadik’s support and object of trust, brings down that God, in order to gain Man’s trust, does many kindnesses for him. I would like to explain this cryptic Gaon that if a person wishes to build their trust in God, he must contemplate the kindness that God has preformed for him throughout the years and continues to perform for him daily and this will generate in him a strong bond of trust to God.
Additionally, if a person recognizes the value that Bitachon would offer him and the strength that it would give him, he would be exceedingly motivated to work on building his trust in God. The Chofetz Chaim explains a very interesting concept that when a person trusts strongly in anything, he gives that entity the impetus to fulfill the aspect that he believes to be true in his trustee. He brings a verse which alludes to this regarding Lot who was certainly not the holiest of people, yet he felt compelled to risk his personal safety in order to help these guests who trusted in him – because they trusted in him. The Chofetz Chaim concludes that this episode in Chumash should teach us to draw a Kal Vechomer. If Lot was able to act so altruistically just because his guests believed in him, how much more so will God satisfy our needs in whatever capacity we believe in Him.
There is a Gemorah in Taanis דף ח’ which brings a story to illustrate this concept beautifully. The Gemorah relates an incident of a man who vowed to a young woman that he would marry her. She asked him who would guarantee her that he would indeed make good on his vow? He pointed to a nearby hole in the ground and to a rat and said that they would serve as guarantors for him that he would fulfill his vow. Shortly afterward, he went and married another woman and had two children with her. One of these children subsequently fell into a pit and died and the second son was bit by a rat and perished.
R’ Chaim Shmualevitz explains this Gemorah similar to the Chofetz Chaim. Specifically because she believed the pit and the rat to be this man’s guarantees to her, she essentially gave these entities the power to affect her fiancé in this way. Similarly when we believe in God and his ability to help us through any situation, we empower God – so to speak – with the ability to bestow upon us the Berachos that he desires to grant us just as we believed He could.
In truth, I found this concept expressed in the Ramban. The Ramban brings the passuk in תהילים ל”ז which says that “We trust in God and we do good”. By placing the phrase “we trust in God” preceding the phrase, “We do good”, the Ramban claims that Dovid Hamelech is telling us that even before we have done any good deeds, we can rely on God to help us merely based on our trust in Him.
I would just like to conclude with a fascinating story that happened to my father-in-law. He knew of a Tzadik in Kollel who was a big Talmid Chocom and rarely looked up from his seforim. When it came time for one of this scholar’s children to be married off, and he had no financial ability to realize this expense, many of his piers approached him and mentioned that it might be a good idea to attempt to procure some money so that his child could be wed properly. He accepted their advice and decided to approach the Kollel’s fundraiser to ask him for one of their benefactors so that he could write a letter describing his circumstances. Obviously the fundraiser did not provide this scholar with his “highest roller” but he nonetheless provided him with an address. This Talmid Chochom went ahead and sent a single letter to the address given to him reasoning that one letter would be his form of Hishtadlus and God would take it from there. To everyone’s surprise, this Tzadik received a check in the mail approximately a week later written for the full amount needed to cover all the expenses of the wedding. Needless to say, no one was more surprised then the Fundraiser of the Yeshiva. A short while later when this Fundraiser was abroad again he visited this person’s house and tactfully queried him how it was that in the past, whenever the Yeshiva had approached him he had given paltry sums and was now able to provide a complete stranger with a 5 digit sum! The man answered that he had only one daughter who only a short while ago had been on her death bed. He reasoned that money was worthless to him if he were to lose his most precious treasure. He made a vow to God that were her life to be spared, he would donate half of his entire savings to the first cause that came his way, and so it was.
May we all be Zoche to develop and perfect this crucial attribute of Bitachon!