We're going to be quoting from the sefer Emunah and Bitachon, by the Chazon Ish. In chapter two, he says It's easy for a person to fool himself into thinking he has Bitachon when he really doesn't. Rav Wolbe writes the same thing. There's no area that people have less awareness than in the area of bitachon.
He says it's easy to have bitachon when that's not really the job. But it’s hard to have bitachon when it's really needed. It's easy to sing the songs of bitachon on your tongue when it's Halacha V’Lo L’Ma’aseh: when it’s not practical, for example, if you're learning the topic of slaughtering in the Bet HaMikdash, that's called Lo L’Ma’aseh. It's not practical.
You can talk about bitachon and have bitachon discussions when it's not practical, when life is going good and you're just using bitachon as a way to imagine the wonderful, beautiful things that are happening, but you’re fooling yourself into thinking you have bitachon when really, it's not a bitachon challenge.
How do we know if you’re real or not; whether you’re just chirping the chirp of bitachon or it’s really in your heart?
When you get into a challenging situation and you need to use your bitachon, do you really work through life? H gives the example of a man who has been talking bitachon his whole life, who talks down on people that chase after parnasa. He happens to be a successful man. His business has a lot of customers, and he doesn't have to work that hard.
So of course he loves bitachon- because bitachon is smiling on him. But, he says, suddenly we are surprised when this so-called Bote’ach sees that someone else is opening a store across the street from him, selling the same product. Now he starts whispering ideas about how to crush the competition, and how to stop him from opening.
Now he's very upset. At first, he doesn't show it, but eventually he loses his busha/shame, and he is out there saying, “How am I going to get this guy?” He turns it into a L’Shem Shamayim fight and he explains why it’s the right thing to do. He koshers all kinds of negative activities.
And it all happened because he never really had bitachon. He fooled himself into thinking he had it, but it wasn't real.
You can tell whether it's real when you come into a challenge in life and see how you react then. Sometimes it’s sobering to see that you can talk bitachon, you can tell people bitachon, but when the situation arises, suddenly you melt. It’s important to know that we can fool ourselves in bitachon.
Tomorrow we will discuss why the Chazon Ish is sharing this with us, and so to say, talking down on this seeming Baal Bote’ach, and exposing the fake.
To be continued..