Today we will study perek נו, pasuk ד
י֥וֹם אִירָ֑א אֲ֝נִ֗י אֵלֶ֥יךָ אֶבְטָֽח
A day that I fear, to You I rely
First, a point about the grammar:
The pasuk says,
אֲ֝נִ֗י אֵלֶ֥יךָ אֶבְטָֽח
to You, I rely, whereas the normal usage would be on You, I rely.
The Ibn Ezra explains that sometimes these words are interchangeable. Sometimes it says “to,” when it really means “on.” One example of this is when Chana was praying and she said,
“אל הנער הזה התפללתי”
Which literally means, “to this lad, I prayed,” But she did not pray to the lad. What it really means is that she prayed, “on the lad,”or “for the lad.”
So, the simple explanation is that sometimes the word elecha “to you,” can mean alecha- “on you.”
Now that we understand the simple explanation, we can go further…
The Alshech reads the pasuk another way, which adds something new:
י֥וֹם אִירָ֑א אֲ֝נִ֗י אֵלֶ֥יךָ
On a day that I fear, I am to You-
I am focused on Hashem. Even when I have my own fears, I still care Elecha- about You
And once I have that in my tank,
אֶבְטָֽח- I rely on You
I rely on You, because I know that even in my time of trouble, I am still Elecha – I am still with You.
I haven’t forsaken You. I am still dedicated and loyal, even in my times of difficulty.
Of course, we don’t judge people who, when going through a difficulty, slack off a little. Sometimes they lose interest in praying, or in doing Mitzvot or hessed.
But David HaMelech says,
י֥וֹם אִירָ֑א
Even on a day when I am fearing,
אֲ֝נִ֗י אֵלֶ֥יךָ
I am still to You,
And therefore…
אֶבְטָֽח
I rely on You
That is a beautiful explanation on how to read this pasuk, while reading the word Elecha as to You.
There is another explanation for this pasuk, based on a famous story with the Brisker Rav:
In the last year of his life, when he was sick, Rav Shach came to visit him on Erev Rosh Hashanah (He passed away later that year, in Heshvan).
The Brisker Rav was very scared of the pending Yom HaDin/ Day of Judgement.
Rav Shach tried to calm him, asked why he was nervous and pointed out that it’s brought down in the Tur that the Midrash tells us that a person has to wear nice clothing for Rosh Hashanah, take a hair cut, and wash up… because we are relying on Hashem that He will make a miracle for us. If that’s the case, why be so nervous? Why not have Bitachon?
The Brisker Rav answered, based on a phrase in the Rambam: Rosh Hashanah is a day that we run away from God, to God.
In other words, the first feeling we have to feel about Rosh Hashanah is that Hashem will decide what is happening to us this year. So we have to be concerned. But our fears should not be directed at the pandemic, the new Delta variant, etc. That is not what we should be afraid of. We should be afraid of Hashem. He is the One we should fear, because we know that everything else is just God’s messenger.
Once we realize that Hashem decides everything, we almost want to run away, but we realize that there is nowhere to run to. The only place to run is back to Hashem.
As the month of Elul approaches, we have to be cognizant of this. The Hida calls the entire month of Elul Yamim Noraim- The Awesome Days, Days of Fear.
So first, you must be afraid, And then you can have Bitachon. That is the Brisker Rav’s fundamental.
If you’re complacent, and feel like everything is fine, that isn’t Bitachon. Bitachon means you’re really concerned, because there is what to be concerned about. But then, I rely on You.
And that is how we can read this pasuk:
י֥וֹם אִירָ֑א
On a day that I am afraid,
אֲ֝נִ֗י אֵלֶ֥יךָ אֶבְטָֽח
Once I realize the situation, I can have Bitachon
Just like in any crisis. First be afraid. Realize that there is a big court case coming up. Once you are scared of the court case, you can then invoke your Bitachon.
I like to use the following mashal-
No one has bitachon right now that a tree will not fall on their house (unless you happen to be in a very windy, hurricane- threatened area). If you aren’t even concerned that a tree might fall on your house, you can’t call that Bitachon.
The first step is a level of concern.
One last explanation of this pasuk:
David HaMelech says that certain people talk about bitachon and relying on Hashem, and they might even give classes on the topic every day, but when the actual problem comes, they fall apart.
To this, David HaMelech says,
י֥וֹם אִירָ֑א
On the day that I’m afraid,
אֲ֝נִ֗י אֵלֶ֥יךָ אֶבְטָֽח
I trust in You.
It’s not just Bitachon in theory, but rather bitachon in practice, when there is fear and concern, when you need it.
Have a wonderful day.