Today we start a new pasuk, Yeshaya chapter 30, Pasuk טו
כִּי כֹה־אָמַר אֲדֹ-נָי ה ׳קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל
This is what Hashem, Elokim says,
The Holy One of the Jewish people,
Yeshaya the Navi is giving us a message from God, about how we will be redeemed,
בְּשׁוּבָה וָנַחַת תִּוָּשֵׁעוּן בְּהַשְׁקֵט וּבְבִטְחָה תִּהְיֶה גְּבוּרַתְכֶם וְלֹא אֲבִיתֶם
With a level of peace and stillness will you be saved, in quiet and in reliance will be your might but you did not consent.
Hashem says, “You could have won; You could have been saved. It was up to you but you didn’t want. What you need to do is have Bitachon- stillness and peacefulness, quiet and confidence.
Rashi explains that Egypt was their ally, and they needed help from them, but they’d have to spend a lot of money. So Hashem is saying, Why go through all that? You could have been saved without money without trouble, just listen to Me and be reliant on Me.
The Radak adds that B’Shuva means, “You could have stayed in your city and won the war.“
The Malbim explains a little more about the terminology: the pasuk says,
1- תִּוָּשֵׁעוּן
You would have been saved
2- גְּבוּרַתְכֶם
Would have been your might
He explains that when it comes to war, there are two levels. The first,
תִּוָּשֵׁעוּן
we want to be saved. We would be happy if the enemy just disappeared. The second is that we want to win and wipe out the enemy, which is גְּבוּרַתְכֶם/might.
The first without the second is good, but we would like to squash the enemy if possible.
He says it’s two levels of bitachon. The first is called בְּשׁוּבָה וָנַחַת-Shuva and Nachat- being calm and relaxed, because you are relying on Hashem. This is a lower level, because it hasn’t yet reached the heart or instinct. You may still be little nervous in your gut, although you are still relying on Hashem.
That is enough to save you.
But to wipe out the enemy, you need a higher level of bitachon, which is בְּהַשְׁקֵט וּבְבִטְחָה quiet and confidence.
But Klal Yisrael wasn’t interested in either of these.
The Midrash in Vayikrah Raba
( perek ג) says that the Jewish people will be saved in the merit Shabbat, based on this pasuk בְּשׁוּבָה וָנַחַת תִּוָּשֵׁעוּן
By being peaceful and still you’ll be saved.
So keeping Shabbat is a way of being saved. But even here, there are two levels.
One level is בְּשׁוּבָה וָנַחַת peaceful and still, and the higher level is בְּהַשְׁקֵט וּבְבִטְחָה quiet and confident.
We can use Shabbat as an opportunity to a strengthen our Emuna and Bitachon, and that’s what it means that Shabbat brings the Geula.
It says that even if someone is an idol worshipper, he is atoned through Shabbat, because Shabbat has within it that bitachon factor.
Furthermore, the Chida says that בְּהַשְׁקֵט וּבְבִטְחָה means that a person should not get angry all week long, but especially on Shabbat a person is not supposed to be angry. That is why the term Nachat is used- it means calm and relaxed.
Because anger is the opposite of bitachon.
The Zohar says that, “Do not burn a fire in your boundaries on Shabbat,” refers to the fire of anger.
So the Chida is telling us that this pasuk refers to Shabbat - shuva/ stillness refers to Shabbat, and the added word nachat is the fact that we don’t get angry.
Even higher than that is the higher level of בְּהַשְׁקֵט וּבְבִטְחָה quiet and confidence. It’s all up to us. Hashem said, וְלֹא אֲבִיתֶם you didn’t want. You didn’t consent. It was up to you to want to have the bitachon.
Our goal has to be to want to have Bitachon. We want to be calm and relaxed and realize that Hashem is controlling our lives.
Have a wonderful day, and B’ezrat Hashem, we will use this message for Shabbat.