One of the fundamentals of the Sefer Bet Halevi is based on the pasuk in Mishleh (29,25) that we will be studying today
חֶרְדַּת אָדָם יִתֵּן מוֹקֵשׁ וּבוֹטֵחַ בַּה׳ יְשֻׂגָּב:
The trembling of man will create a trap, and one who relies on God will be protected.
And in the opening words to his essay, the Bet Halevi says that one who lacks Bitachon, that itself will cause him to fall, and he quotes our pasuk, that because the person trembles and is afraid of something and doesn't rely on Hashem, that in itself causes a trap to be created, that wasn't there before.
The problem didn't even exist. What created the problem was the fear. But when one relies on God, he'll be saved, even from an existing problem. His source is Rabbenu Bachye on Devarim (chapter 11), where he says that fear of a human being is a lowliness of a person's soul, and a great lacking in his fear of God, because he's afraid of people. This causes a stumbling block to come around (that wasn't supposed to come around). And he quotes our pasuk as well.
How does this work? The Bet Halevi says that the fear of Hashem is a level of sin. Why were you afraid of Hashem?
But one can ask- What do you mean? How could it be that it’s a sin to be afraid?
So Rabbenu Bachye , in chapter 20 on Devarim, quotes a pasuk in Yeshaya:
מי את ותיראי מאנוש ימות וגו',
You're afraid of a human being that's going die, And you forgot Hashem that created you?
Which means that when one is afraid of a human being, he has really forgotten about God. He forgot that God is right there standing next to him, watching and protecting him. The mashal I like to use is to imagine you're walking down Ocean Parkway at night. I had this feeling during Covid. I was taking a walk down Ocean Parkway, and suddenly I saw a mile long protest of defund the police protestors on motorcycles and bikes, coming down Ocean Parkway (of course, with the police car ahead of them, protecting them as they protested against the police). Suddenly I found myself surrounded by these people- I don't know what the right word for them- but is was not the most safe environment. So you might get a little scared. Oh no, what's gonna happen? Am I going to be one of those statistics, that guy that got beaten up in the middle of a riot/rally? But then you think to yourself, One minute. I'm being protected. I'm in a tank, I’m in an armored tank coming down Ocean Parkway, with a huge ballistic missile coming out of the front. I'm not worried about them.
So why did I get scared? I forgot I was in an armored tank. I forgot Hashem was protecting me.
People may say, “Oh no, what's going to be with me? I'm always scared.” But the Steipler says, we're not talking about the natural anxiety that sets in. We're human beings. The Torah wasn't given to angels. But once that original fear or anxiety sets in, it's our job to work on ourselves, to work through it and say, Hold on.
Hashem is here to protect me, and change our anxious state to a state of Bitachon. And if we don't do that, that's where we start to get into trouble.
This is not the hiddush of the Bet Halevi. Rabbenu Yona in Mishleh perek ג says,
החרדה שיחרד מן האדם היא חטא נפשו ונותן מוקש
The trembling you tremble from a man, It is a sin and creates a stumbling block,
ומגברת האויב ומקרבת הצרה עליו
and strengthens the enemy and brings the the problem closer.
Unbelievable words.
The Shem Meshemuel applies this even to the high holiday season, when, of course, we're supposed to be afraid. But as we all know, we go into Rosh Hashana showered, groomed and well dressed, because we're relying on Hashem. With all of our trembling, we know we can rely on Hashem. Everything will be good. And he quotes:
ה' שופטנו הוא מלכנו הוא יושיענו
God is our judge.
He's our king. He will save us.
Even on Rosh Hashana, even on the Yamim Nora’im, the scariest, most awesome of days, we have to inject bitachon, because we can never leave on a note of fear. The Sefer Shomer Emunim in his Maamar on Bitachon (chapter 2) says, We have to be concerned with this. When a person goes to the doctor and suddenly they start telling them things that could be…. beware of those fears that can set in. You have to strengthen yourself.
A lady I know very well had a very trying situation, and it happened to be during Corona time. She had her mask on when the doctors were telling her horrible possibilities. She said that thankfully, she had her mask on, and she was able to just keep whispering under her mask, “En Od Milevado, En Od Milevado,
There's no one else but Hashem,”
She wasn't listening to what the doctors were saying. She didn’t want hear what they had to say, because she was afraid that they’d get her down. And then things can, has v’shalom, get worse.
This is an extremely important principle that we have to work on and focus on.
Have a wonderful day.