It’s not that difficult to find a Bitachon- thought on Parashat Behar, because the opening pesukim of the parasha discuss Shemitta and Yovel, both of which are laws that force us to exercise our Bitachon.
For the entire year of Shemitta, the farmer doesn’t plant, plow or work his field. He has to leave everything as if it’s ownerless; anyone can take anything. He has to rely on Hashem. How does he make it through the year? God promises that
וְנָתְנָ֤ה הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ פִּרְיָ֔הּ וַאֲכַלְתֶּ֖ם לָשֹׂ֑בַע וִֽישַׁבְתֶּ֥ם לָבֶ֖טַח עָלֶֽיהָ
The land will give its fruits, you will eat and be satiated, and sit in security on it.
And if you ask,
מַה־נֹּאכַ֤֖ל בַּשָּׁנָ֣ה הַשְּׁבִיעִ֑ת הֵ֚ן לֹ֣א נִזְרָ֔ע וְלֹ֥א נֶאֱסֹ֖ף אֶת־תְּבוּאָתֵֽנוּ׃
What am I going to eat in the seventh year if I don’t plant and don’t gather?”
God says, not to worry.
וְצִוִּ֤יתִי אֶת־בִּרְכָתִי֙ לָכֶ֔ם בַּשָּׁנָ֖ה הַשִּׁשִּׁ֑ית וְעָשָׂת֙ אֶת־הַתְּבוּאָ֔ה לִשְׁלֹ֖שׁ הַשָּׁנִֽים
I will send My blessings down in the sixth year, and it will make a three-year crop.”
A famous question is asked about the person who doesn’t ask, “How will I eat in the seventh year?”
Will he not get this beracha as well?
It seems strange that it’s only after the man asks, that he gets a beracha for three years of crop, but if he doesn’t ask, then he doesn’t get it?
What’s going on?
Many mefarshim answer this question based on a careful reading of the pasuk-
וְנָתְנָ֤ה הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ פִּרְיָ֔הּ וַאֲכַלְתֶּ֖ם לָשֹׂ֑בַע וִֽישַׁבְתֶּ֥ם
The land will give its fruits, you will eat and be satiated.
What does that mean?
It means that during shemittah, you will need less to survive.
For example, if you usually eat one bowl of cereal for breakfast, now after that one bowl, you’ll feel extremely full, so you’ll cut it down to a half of a bowl, and your appetite will be magically fulfilled.
In the sixth year, this man will do a regular load of work, but he will have enough to last him through the seventh year, because he only ate half of his crop in the sixth year, because he ate and was satiated.
He’ll get away with one year of work, and yield two years of profit.
On the other hand, the fellow who asked, “How will I eat,” doesn’t believe. How could he possibly skip planting in the sixth year, he wonders. And since he doesn’t believe, he does not merit the miracle of satiation.
He will have to work hard, because after yielding two or three times the normal amount of crops, he will have to harvest more, store more, and work much harder. This fellow, who asked that question, has to get a special Beracha that God has to send down, because although he follows Shemittah, he is not really a believer.
A person can technically keep shemittah by hoarding from the first year through the sixth year, saving 1/7 of his food, and putting it in a storage house for later. But this is not what we are discussing. The Elder of Navardok says that this is not what we want out of Shemittah. A person is supposed to throw himself on Hashem and see the miracle.
The Elder of Novardok says that the fellow that asked the question about what he would eat, looks back on how he planted more and reflects that he never would have survived had he not put in that extra work. He feels he needed all that extra profit.
But regarding the fellow across the road, who worked half the amount, nobody knows what is going on in his stomach. People might wonder, Poor guy how is he surviving? He only has one year’s-worth of food. How can he survive for two years? But nobody has any idea. The Elder of Novardok says that the fellow who asked, What am I going to eat, has a self-fulfilling prophecy.
By him not believing, he doesn’t end up with what he could have gotten, through belief.
That’s why we will never know what happens with the one who has bitachon. We will never know who has it, and who doesn’t. We don’t know what is going on in a person’s life, his stomach, or his satiation. That is why it all boils down to belief. Does bitachon really work? You can only find out when you really have Bitachon. And if you don’t have Bitachon, you will be saying, “Hmm, it’s good I wasn’t relying on my Bitachon- it’s not really helpful.
Once you use bitachon, you have that system.
There is a beautiful mashal from the Elder of Novardok, that fits in beautifully.
A simple shoe-cobbler married a girl from a family of diamond dealers. His wife’s brothers offered to take him into the family diamond business, but declined the offer, saying that he already had a business that he knew well, Baruch Hashem. So for many years, he lived more simply than his in-laws.
One day he told his wife that he was happy he did not accept the offer her brothers gave him when they first married. She asked him why. He told her that it was because he had been working in his shoe shop for many years, and no one ever came in asking for a diamond! Imagine if he had gone into the diamond business, he told her. They would have died of starvation!
She called him a fool and told him that it was because he put up a sign that said “Shoes,” and that was why no one came in asking for diamonds.
“You decided your destiny by your outlook.”
The Elder of Novardok says it’s the same with Bitachon. You can say to yourself, “Wow, it’s really good that I did not have bitachon! It’s a good thing that I go to work at six in the morning, and come back at 9 o’clock at night, because if I would have gone to work from 9 to 5, or 10 to 4, I would have starved. It’s a good thing I took the non-bitachon track, because I never would have survived on the bitachon track.”
Sure..
You chose the non-bitachon track. But had you chosen the Bitachon track, it would have worked.
Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.