Today we will discuss Tehilim Perek כב
לַ֭מְנַצֵּחַ עַל־אַיֶּ֥לֶת הַשַּׁ֗חַר...
This chapter was said by Queen Esther as she entered the palace of Ahashverosh, praying on behalf of the Jewish people. Esther was trying to strengthen herself, and there are many pesukim in this perek that indicate as such. She quotes many concepts of Bitachon to herself.
We will discuss two of these pesukim over the next day or so.
Esther says (ה,ו )
בְּךָ בָּטְחוּ אֲבֹתֵינוּ בָּטְחוּ וַתְּפַלְּטֵמוֹ
In You, our forefathers relied, they relied and You saved them
אֵלֶ֣יךָ זָעֲק֣וּ וְנִמְלָ֑טוּ בְּךָ֖ בָטְח֣וּ וְלֹא־בֽוֹשׁוּ
They cried out to You and they were saved. They relied on You and they were not embarrassed.
There are a lot of terms of Bitachon used here
They relied on You...
They relied and they were saved...
They cried out to You and they were saved...
They relied and they weren’t embarrassed....
What is all the repetition about?
The Ibn Ezra says that the first Bitachon that our forefathers had
)בְּךָ בָּטְחוּ אֲבֹתֵינוּ(
was what he calls
צרה בטחון בלא
Bitachon when there is no problem. We always have to rely on
Hashem, even when things look just fine.
Then he points out another type of Bitachon-בָּטְחוּ וַתְּפַלְּטֵמוֹ
They relied when the problem was there, and they were saved.
The Maharal adds a nuance to this. He says that this bitachon of relying when there was a problem, and being saved, means that the problem was imminent, they saw it coming, and they relied and were saved.
So there are different types of bitachon.
-One is when you have a regular day, wake up in the morning and rely on Hashem.
(There is a Yerushalmi that says when a person wakes up and says Modeh Ani when they see the sun rise, they should also think and hope to see the sun set that day as well)
That is basic bitachon. There are no problems; you just want to make it through the day.
-The second type is when it looks like there might be a problem, so you rely on Hashem and Baruch Hashem, He saves you- you don’t see the problem.
-Then he says there is the situation where you don’t see the problem coming and it just creeps up on you. He calls it a צרה פתאום - a sudden problem. In that case,
אֵלֶ֣יךָ זָעֲק֣וּ וְנִמְלָ֑טוּ
They cried out to You, and they were saved.
They didn’t have a chance to pre-empt it.
-Lastly, he says, בְּךָ֖ בָטְח֣וּ וְלֹא־בֽוֹשׁוּ
It’s a type of Bitachon where there is no real problem, but there’s a situation that might bring out embarrassment, and you just don’t want to be embarrassed.
For example, if a rabbi is called up to speak at a bar mitzvah and he isn’t really prepared. He says, Hashem don’t embarrass me, don’t make me look like a fool.
These are the different types of Bitachon, that Queen Esther was referring to, as explained by the Ibn Ezra and the Maharal.
The Radak asks why the word “relied” appears twice in the pasuk:
בְּךָ בָּטְחוּ אֲבֹתֵינוּ בָּטְחוּ וַתְּפַלְּטֵמוֹ
In You, our forefathers relied, they relied and You saved them.
He answers that it is in order to stress that they relied only on Hashem and nobody else.
But the Malbim has a very interesting explanation- He says that the second
“ בָּטְחוּ -they relied” is not indicative of another Bitachon (as we have just explained), but rather, it’s the result of their first Bitachon.
בְּךָ בָּטְחוּ אֲבֹתֵינוּ
Our forefathers relied on You
And the accomplishment of that bitachon resulted in...
בָּטְחוּ
they relied
The Bitachon causes one to be relaxed.
They relied on Hashem, and they got Bitachon.
A person gets a feeling of serenity that comes about from his Bitachon.
And in the end, it worked.
וַתְּפַלְּטֵמוֹ
They were saved.
But the first accomplishment of Bitachon is that it’s calming. We can’t go through life in constant distress.
We need Bitachon to be calm.
We can think about these concepts everyday, in all situations, as life changes and challenges come up. Who would ever think that people would be concerned about walking in Brooklyn in broad daylight? But now it is a concern, after a few incidences took place in seemingly safe neighborhoods. We have to wake up in the morning and say, “Hashem I am relying on you. I want to get through my day.”
And if, Has v’Shalom, some situation pounces upon us, we rely on Hashem then as well.
We want to rely on Hashem for the general calmness and serenity that comes with it.
בְּךָ בָּטְחוּ אֲבֹתֵינוּ בָּטְחוּ
Our forefathers relied, and they were calm. They achieved that accomplishment.
One of the greatest indicators of whether your bitachon is working or not is seeing if it has it brought you calmness. That is what Esther was saying as she discussed the Bitachon of the past.
Have a wonderful day.