Welcome to our Daily Bitachon series. We are at the end of Sha'ar HaBechina [The Gate of Reflection], where the author tells us a beautiful mashal [parable] to show the greatness of Hashem. He compares us to a child who was raised in a jail cell and has no concept of the king who runs an entire empire; the child thinks the whole world is just that jail cell. And that is us in this world. We only have a small glimpse of what the real picture is and what God can truly do, living here on this small little planet.
The Chovos HaLevavos tells us to develop this mashal. And we will do just that, based on the Chafetz Chaim in his sefer Shemiras HaLashon (Volume 1, in the section called Sha'ar HaTvuna, Chapter 10). He gives the following mashal to explain how we can rely on Hashem even when we are living in an era where we don't clearly see Hashem's control—where it looks like the world is running wild. It's fascinating how he uses this mashal to build our Bitachon [trust], because ultimately, as we've said, our understanding of the world is what leads us to serve Him, which ultimately brings us to Bitachon.
And here we go:
There was a king who had total global control. He was a superpower, and he ruled his kingdom beautifully. He had more than enough food and sustenance to provide for his entire kingdom, for all of his generals, and for everyone under his rule in a highly respectable way. Yet, as can happen on a small, isolated island with a tiny group of people, a few servants decided to stage a minor rebellion out of pure arrogance.
The king heard about it. Okay, his men would handle it, no problem. Right after the news reached the king, he went for a walk in his vineyard, not feeling threatened by this rebellion at all. While walking, he heard a beautiful bird chirping. It looked nice, it sounded beautiful, and he told one of his servants, "I'd like to have that bird in my palace so we can listen to its beautiful singing." And so they did; they put the bird in a cage and brought it to the king's palace, where it sang in a beautiful, sweet tone.
One foolish man saw the bird and said, "You poor bird, I feel so bad for you. You know, you're going into the king's palace because you have a beautiful voice, but you're really going to suffer there because you won't have any food."
The bird asked, "Why not?"
The man replied, "Because I heard that there are people rebelling against the king!"
Another, smarter servant overheard this and said, "What a fool! Our king rules the entire world. He has endless treasure houses. Taking care of this bird is a joke to him. And he loves the chirping of this bird! Do you really think he can't manage to find a few morsels of grain every day to sustain this bird just because there are a few rebels in some far-off little town?"
That is the mashal.
For the nimshal [the lesson], the Chafetz Chaim says that this analogy doesn't even compare one-in-a-million to what is really going on. God created this physical world, but He also created the upper worlds. The spiritual realm consists of many worlds. There are four basic spiritual worlds: our world is called Olam HaAsiya [the World of Action], and above it are the worlds of Yetzira, Beriah, and Atzilut. We aren't kabbalists to go into exactly what all these levels mean. But the point he is making is that when we see a "rebellion" happening down here in this tiny physical world, we are viewing everything through limited, physical eyes. We don't see what is truly going on; we have no idea of the full scope of the universe.
And we are like that little bird—that tiny, teeny bird—worrying, "How is the king going to take care of me?" Who is the bird? The bird is us, the Jewish people, whose voices God loves to hear. As the verse says, "Yonati bechagvei hasela"—"My dove in the clefts of the rock." He wants to take care of us! Yet, we worry because we see rebellions going on, because there is Hamas, because there is Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and Hezbollah. We worry because we see a few rebels. Do you know what our King can do? The Chafetz Chaim says we should be more shocked at our own anxious attitude than at the attitude of that foolish servant telling the bird that the king can't feed him.
That is huge. He says that all we need to do, every single day, is think about this. When we think about this, it will strengthen our Bitachon.
And again, this is exactly what Sha'ar HaBechina is all about—seeing God's power and understanding how He is completely unlimited, and using that clarity to reach Bitachon. I will not stop stressing this point: You cannot jump to Sha'ar HaBitachon without going through Sha'ar HaBechina. You must first appreciate who God is, and then you can rely on Him.
And even then, you can't just jump straight to relying on Him; you have to first commit yourself to serving Him. Your first reaction to God's greatness isn't supposed to be, "Wow, look how strong God is, look what I can get from Him!" No. It should be, "Look how strong God is—what do I have to do to reciprocate?"
And how do we reciprocate? How will we find the tools and abilities to do so? That is where Bitachon comes in: rely on Him, and He will take care of you. The absolute fundamental of Bitachon is that Hashem takes care of His servants. You need to be a servant first. This is the path of Sha'ar HaBechina.
That is what the author is telling us. We have a clear track. When you get to the end of this gate, you have to realize what the next step is, but never forget the foundation. As we say, you constantly have to go over this foundation again and again, every single day.
He notes that this is the deeper meaning of the verse in Yeshayahu (26:4): "Ki b'Y-H Hashem tzur olamim." Chazal [the Sages] tell us that God created the worlds with two letters of His Name: a Yud, which created Olam HaBa [the World to Come], and a Heh, which created Olam HaZeh [this world].
What does this verse say? Once we know that Hashem created both worlds and that He is a tzur—a rock, meaning He is completely reliable, the rock in whom we find refuge (tzur achasayu bo)—the verse commands us:
"Bitchu v'Hashem adei ad"—"Trust in Hashem forever and ever."
What does "always and forever" mean? The Chafetz Chaim explains that "always" means even in our times, when it looks like a massive rebellion is going on. Rely on Him always! Why? Because you know how powerful He is: "Ki b'Y-H Hashem tzur olamim"—because God is the Rock of worlds, plural.
Let's repeat this verse one more time: Bitchu v'Hashem adei ad. Rely on Hashem forever and ever. Why? Because Hashem is the Rock of the worlds. He is the Rock, meaning He is reliable—the ultimate Rock of Gibraltar. He is reliable, and He is the Creator of all the worlds. Regardless of what it looks like is happening downstairs, it is only a drop in the bucket.
And from this, to quote the Chafetz Chaim: "Nuchel lehavin et godel habitachon she-yesh l'adam livtoach b'Hakadosh Baruch Hu"—"Through this, we can understand the immense scale of trust that a person must place in the Holy One, blessed be He."