The Hovot HaLevavot continues to tell us about the important mindsets we need for Bitachon.
Yesterday we spoke about the concept of a siba/ cause, and the understanding that causes are in the hands of G-d. They are merely intermediaries that don’t make a difference. He says further:
וטרדת הנפש להקדים מה שאחר הבורא יתעלה ולאחר מה שהקדים ולהרבות מה שהמעיט ולהמעיט מה שהרבה מקניני העולם מבלי סבב אל קיום מצות עבודתו וקבול תורתו חלישות ההכרה באמתת ידיעתו וסכלות מהבין טובות הנהגתו.
To preoccupy yourself in trying to bring early what G-d decided would come later, or to try to push off what was decreed to come early,
or to try to make more of that which was decreed to be less or to try to diminish what was decreed to be more, without using the ultimate cause and effect which is fulfilling G-d’s Mitzvot, serving Hashem and keeping the Torah, shows a lack of understanding of God’s true knowledge and foolishness in understanding the way G-d runs the world.
A person may think he’s going to make things happen on his own- but this will never happen.
The only way to make things happen is to get to the real cause, which is G-d. That’s the real hishtadlut. The real effort is in prayer, in added learning etc, things in the spiritual realm; that’s where the real fight happens.
The Brisker Rav says this is what happened with Yaakov when he was going to meet Esav. He sent a gift, prepared for war, and he prayed. He had to do his hishtadlut: preparing for war was an extreme measure, gifts were easier and then he prayed.
He finally met up with Esav but beforehand, we hear an interesting and seemingly unrelated story. Yaakov was left alone and encountered an angel. They got into a wrestling match all night. Yaakov’s leg was dislocated, and so in memory of that event, we don’t eat the hind part of the animal that was injured- the Gid HaNasheh, the displaced sinew. What was Yaakov’s lesson from this wrestling match?
The Brisker Rav says it was to show Yaakov that the place you win the war is in the spiritual realm. He fought with an angel, which was a spiritual fight. Only after he took care of the spiritual realm would things play out in the sibbot world.
Imagine that you’ve programmed a chess game on computer, and designed it to outsmart whomever plays it. You watch the game unfold on the screen but the outcome has been preprogrammed. You know the winner.
Similarly, we have to see this in our daily lives as well. When are are programming our day? With our shaharit, our minha, our arbit, our sedaka and hessed etc. That’s when we program our day.
The outcome of the program is only after the fact. If the computer is already programmed, whatever will happen is a forgone conclusion. You’re just watching it play out.
Trying to make changes without getting into the guts of the program is a waste of time. Things don’t change on the field. They change in the planning. The players in the football game are just carrying out the plan they made beforehand.
That’s the main focus.
The Hovot HaLevavot says that to attempt to change things after they’ve been programmed is foolish. Those efforts are in the wrong place.
He quotes a pasuk from Kohelet:
(קהלת ג א) לכל זמן ועת לכל חפץ תחת השמים
There’s a time for every thing that’s going to happen.
Shlomo HaMelech goes on to list 28 things including birth, death, and war and peace; all of it is included in G-d’s decrees. Therefore our focus should be on the source- Which is G-d and His decrees.