We continue to talk about the real Bote’ach versus the fake Bote’ach. The Chazon Ish discusses the downside of what he calls counterfeit bitachon. He says it’s better to have no bitachon at all than counterfeit bitachon, because the one that has counterfeit bitachon many have people that follow him in his teachings, and he says, he's going to have students trained in counterfeit bitachon. Eventually it causes a Chillul Hashem because in the end, he does not live up to what he's preaching, and people say, “This is what bitachon produces?!”
He says that you really can't tell if someone has bitachon. The true Baal Bitachon is not announcing his bitachon to everybody. He doesn't tell everyone, “Oh I'm a Bote’ach B’Hashem. With the real guy, you don't even know about it. He's undercover. Now, of course, rabbis have to give bitachon classes, and even some laymen have to give bitachon classes. But otherwise, it’s not something that you announce to the world. The real guy, he says, is always worried, Maybe I haven't reached the levels of bitachon…It's something that he's constantly working on.
So how do you know if you really have it? When the guy opens up the store across the street and it doesn't bother you. And not only doesn't it bother you, but you go and you help him. You give him good advice. You try to make sure he’ll be successful.
We’ve told great stories of people like this in our community, people who went and advised people to buy from this factory, use that insurance, told their competitors the right ones to go to. They understood that there's enough for everybody.
And the Chazon Ish adds this powerful line:
“How much holiness is added to the world, to watch someone do a kindness with his future competition, This causes praise. This causes a Kiddush. People will say, “Wow, look at this! Look how this guy's helping. He doesn't care. He is not worried.” “Fortunate is the man that reaches that level, and fortunate is the generation to have people like that living in it.”
And he says, “Just like there's an advantage of light over darkness, and there's an advantage of truth over falsehood, there’s an advantage of real bitachon over counterfeit bitachon.”
Nothing more has to be said.
We have to look into our hearts and say, Are we real or are we counterfeit?
There's no machine like the one that checks for the counterfeit bills. The only machine to check is when life's challenges come up, and you see how you do.
Have a wonderful day.