The Bet Halevi now says what many consider a bombshell hiddush:
והבוטח בה׳ מרויח בשתים,בעולם הזה
בודאי ישיג מה שחסר לו מהצרטרכותו
he
“One who relies on Hashem benefits in two ways, number one, in this world, he will definitely, certainly obtain whatever needs he is lacking.” That is a heavy line.
His proof is from a Gemara that says, “He’s not afraid of any bad news,” referring to Hillel, who was once walking on the road when he heard cries of anguish coming from one of the houses. Hillel said, ‘I'm certain that these cries are not from my home.’ The Meiri explains that the Gemara is saying that because Hillel had absolute Bitachon that the cries were not from his household, the cries could not be from his house, and he was therefore able to declare with certainty that they were not.
That is truly fascinating, but it’s a something of a point of contention, not because everyone does not agree that the concept is true, that if someone has full Bitachon will get what he wants. But the question really is, should we publicize or push this approach? Rav Moshe Feinstein, writes in his sefer Kol Ram, that he was not happy with the following story being told over. I heard this story from one of the grandchildren of the Bet Halevi, who heard it from the Brisker Rav, who heard it from his father, who heard it from the Bet Halevi: The Rashash, one of the rabbis in the back of the Gemara named Rav Shmuel Strashun was once in the Bet Midrash of the Gaon of Vilna, arguing with Rav Yisrael Salanter on this very point- whether a person can rely on getting something and get it. Rav Yisrael Salanter said that you could, and the Rashash said that you can’t. Then Rav Yisrael Salanter said he would have absolute Bitachon that he’s going to receive a gold watch.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door. A Jewish soldier who was about to go into battle came to Rabbi Salanter because he needed someone trustworthy to guard over his watch.
Rav Salanter said he felt terrible, but he didn’t want to take responsibility. So the man said, “In that case, it's a gift. There is one better than you.” And he gave Rav Salanter the watch as a gift. So, there you have it.
What could be wrong with publicizing this story? There are two problems. Problem number one is that not all people have that level of bitachon, and you can't fake it. In fact, Rav Yisrael Salanter had a student who heard the watch story and said, “So if I buy a lottery ticket and I have Bitachon I'll win?”
Rav Salanter said, “Absolutely.”
So the man bought the lottery ticket, which we’ll say had prize of $100,000, and said, “I'm sure I'm going to win. I'm guaranteed I'm going to win.”
Then, the day before the drawing, Rav Yisrael offered him $10,000 for the ticket, and the the man agreed to sell it.
Rav Yisrael replied, “You've been fooling yourself all the time, because if you really believed you had a $100,000 ticket, you would not sell it to me for $10,000.”
So that's problem number one- that people can fool themselves. It's very hard to really be on that level. Problem number two is that people are going to think that they have real bitachon, but they're not going get what they want because they're not really holding on that level, and they're going to give Bitachon a bad rap. It's going to look like Bitachon doesn't work. People will say, “Hey, look, this guy had Bitachon and he didn't get it.” Well, it only looked like he had Bitachon, but he didn't have bitachon. You just thought he had bitachon.
And one of the famous questions that people ask in these discussions is, “What do you mean? If that's the case, then nothing should ever bad happen to a Sadik. If he has bitachon, why is he poor? How come Rav Elchonon Wasserman was killed in World War II? Didn't he have Bitachon?” The answer brought down by the Leshem, Rav Elyashiv’s grandfather, who was a great mekubal, is that, of course, you can't beat the system. If Hashem wants thing to happen, it's going to happen.
So He will put doubt in the heart of somebody and He'll cool off his bitachon so that what Hashem wants to happen will happen. And of course, if it's not supposed to happen, it's not going to happen.
But as long as Hashem doesn’t, so to say, interfere, Bitachon is guaranteed. That is the Bet Halevi’s approach.
We must point out that there is a famous Chazon Ish that seems to say otherwise, although if you read it carefully, it's not so clear that he does say otherwise. And even if you do say that he says otherwise Rav Yisrael Elya Weintraub, a great Sadik from Bnei Brak, who was a student of the students of the Chazon Ish, explained that what the Chazon Ish is saying is that the minimal requirement of Bitachon is to believe that whatever happens is what's supposed to happen, so you're not afraid because you know what will happen is what's supposed to happen. But that’s the lowest level. That doesn't negate that there are definitely higher levels of bitachon. There's a concept called an En Od Milevado/There's nothing else but Him. When the person is totally connected to that, nothing evil can happen to him. But not everyone's holding there.
So, again, the Bet Halevi does bring down this approach, and we cannot hide it in a class given on the Bet Halevi- one who relies on Hashem,
בודאי ישיג מה שחסר לו מהצרטרכותו
will definitely, without a doubt, get what he needs.
Have a wonderful day.