We have been discussing the higher level of Bitachon, where a person realizes that every small detail that he does is really controlled by Hashem, even the so-called “easy” things. This is the level of the great Sadikim.
In the Sefer Kol Ram/ The Loud Voice, ( a commentary on Chumash written by one of Rav Moshe Feinstein’s students and so named because it stands for the Loud Voice of Rav Moshe), Rav Moshe asks a question about the beginning of Parashat Beshalach, where it’s mentioned that Moshe Rabbenu took out the bones of Yosef
כי השביע השביע
Because Yosef made the Jewish people swear that hat they would take his bones out. Why did they have to promise?
He also asks why it was Moshe Rabbenu that took out the bones, on which the Gemara comments that it was a merit for Yosef that Moshe took them out. What’s the connection between the two?
Rav Moshe explains that this shows something about great Sadikim, who are Baalei Bitachon, and specifically about Yosef, who we know was the Baal Bitachon. Yosef was constantly mentioning G-d’s name in the house of Potiphar, his boss The name of Hashem is always on his tongue.
And when he was in jail, Hashem’s name was on his tongue. When he was introduced to Pharoah, Pharoah said, “I heard you’re the one that interprets dreams,” and Yosef relied No- בלעדי
“I don’t do anything. G-d will answer.” Yosef HaSadik understood, every step of the way, that he wasn’t doing anything. It was G-d doing it all. Rav Moshe explains that when regular people do a lot of favors for someone, they take it for granted that the person will help them out when needed,
Yosef HaSadik on the other hand, told his brothers, למחיה שלחני
G-d sent me here in order to bring you sustenance.
So we see that he didn’t think anybody owed him anything. He didn’t think he had done anything special.
His high level of Bitachon brought with it, humility. He didn’t think he had things coming to him. He didn’t think anyone would really care about his bones. Despite the fact that he took care of everyone, and provided them all with sustenance, he didn’t believe that they owed him anything-not even common decency. He felt that no one owed him anything because he didn’t do anything. That is why Moshe Rabbenu was the one who took Yosef’s bones. Because Moshe had the same mindset. He was ענו מכל אדם - the most humble of men. He understood that it was all Hashem. He didn’t do anything.
This is the level of Sadikim. They understand that ultimately they might choose to do certain things, and they might have fear of G-d, or be humble, but all the things that happen are controlled by G-d.
There are two stories about Gedolim that bring out this point.
Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach was one of the Gedolei Hador. When he passed away, there were about 200,000- 300,000 people at his funeral in Yerushalayim He was a huge Talmid Hacham, a Sadik, a Baal Middot and a great person.
He was the rabbi who, at his wife’s funeral, where it’s customary to ask for the spouse’s forgiveness before her final journey, said he had nothing to ask forgiveness for, because they never argued. What a tremendous Baal Middot!
At his funeral, I heard the following eulogy given by his brother or son: When he was being hospitalized at Shaare Tzedek for what turned out to be the last time, his students and family were very concerned, and so crowds of hundreds of people gathered at the hospital out of concern for the Rabbi. He was an elderly man, and the family was concerned that if he saw how many people had come, he’d get scared. To prevent this, they decided that only one grandchild, the one who came with him the ambulance, would wheel him in, and everyone else would stay behind, out of sight, so as not to alarm him from the concern fit the masses of people. As he was getting wheeled in, the rabbi turned to his grandson and asked,
“Please don’t leave me behind. I’m a little nervous.” He thought they would put him in the bed and leave? This was the Gadol Hador; Everyone loved him! Would anyone ever leave him alone? There were hundreds of people there saying Tehilim for him. And yet he was humble enough to feel that he had to make this request, humble enough to feel that no one owed him anything.
Another story is about the Chafetz Chaim. He was once overheard talking to Hashem, as he would in times of solitude, saying, “Hashem, I owe You.”
Now, the Chafetz Chaim wrote so many books- the Chafetz Chaim, the Mishnah Berurah, Shemirat HaLashon- and many more, maybe twenty! And yet, he still felt he owed Hashem. He could have said, “Look what I did for You, G-d. You owe me.” Instead, he said, “Hashem, I owe You so much. You gave me the ability to write this book and that one and the other ...
That’s great people. They realize how Hashem is really doing everything.
This is the level of bitachon that we have been talking about.