Without further ado we will start our review of the seven prerequisites for reliance:
הראשון :שהבורא יתברך מרחם על האדם יותר מכל מרחם
Number One: G-d has mercy on man more than any other merciful being,
This is our first prerequisite:
G-d loves you, has mercy on you and has compassion on you.
And now for the Hiddush:
(For the rule is, אין בית מדרש ולא חדוש)/There is no such thing as learning a topic without an addition)
וכל רחמים וחמלה שיהיו מזולתו עליו כלם הם מרחמי האל וחמלתו
And any mercy and compassion that someone is shown from anyone is really coming from G-d's mercy and compassion,
That means: We think our father, mother, wife, children love us. We think our students, our teachers love us. Yes. But it’s all coming from Hashem. Think of whomever loves you and would help you if you were in trouble. Who would come to your party if you had one? All of that love that people have for you is G-d’s love. He’s projecting it onto them; He’s sending His love through these intermediaries. So when you get a hug from someone it’s actually a hug from G-d!
All the mercy we receive is from G-d. He doles it out and gives it to people to give us.
The Hovot HaLevavot brings a Pasuk to point it out:
כמו שאמר הכתוב (דברים יג יח) ונתן לך רחמים
G-d gives you mercy.
So our mercy is G-d’s mercy.
This is a rule. The Gaon M’Vilna quotes a pasuk that says that in times of difficulty.....
הוא יתן בלב אויבך להקל עולך
He puts in the heart of your oppressors, to lighten the load.
We sometimes hear stories of Nazis helping Jews. How is it that Nazis helped the Jews? They had feelings of mercy?
My mother in law’s family (the Monk family, I believe) escaped Nazi Germany. They had to walk through a forest in order to cross the border to get to Switzerland, and they had a baby with them.
When people had babies with them, Lo Alenu, they had to make a very difficult decision. Some people who crossed through the forest had to smother their crying babies, Lo Alenu, in order to save the rest of the family from being killed, for if the baby were to be heard, they’d be discovered.
Others who let the babies cry were all caught and killed. So there they were in the forest with their crying baby. They couldn’t calm the baby down. They decided to let the baby cry. Sure enough, they saw a flashlight pointed their way. They thought that was the end for them. It was Swiss farmer. He saw the baby and told them he’d had child once, who passed away. Their baby struck a chord within him and rather than turn them in, the Swiss farmer had mercy on them and helped them cross the border. Was it the Swiss farmer’s mercy?
Of course, we thank the man and have hakarat hatov toward him, but we must recognize that it was actually Hashem’s mercy coming though a human being.
And the same is true in all those touching stories, like Sugihara, the man that saved the Mir- it was G-d’s mercy coming through people.
In our weekday prayers of Aseret Yeme Teshuva we say מי כמוך אב הרחמן Who is like You, merciful Father. On Shabbat, at certain pints we switch to מי כמוך אב הרחמים Who is like You Father of all mercy.
For G-d is the source all the mercy in the world.
So the next time you get a hug, remember it’s G-d hugging you, and therefore you can rely on Him.