We are continuing with the Bet Halevi, who is telling us the fundamental that Hashem has ways that are not our ways. He says Hashem’s ways are hidden when it comes to enemies attacking or the like. He speaks about how this is true even in life or death situations with a sword on your throat.
Now he says the same is true when it comes to one's parnasa. He quotes,
ה׳ מוריש ומעשיר
Hashem is the One who makes people impoverished and Hashem is the One that makes wealthy. Then he adds another pasuk,
השלך על ה׳ יהבך והוא יכלכלך
Throw your load on Hashem and He will sustain you.” And the 3rd pasuk he quotes is, “ה׳ רעי לא אחסר
Hashem is my Shepherd, I shall not lack.”
And then he ends with a statement that is consistent with his approach, where he says, “ויזכר כי ארבעים שנה הלכו אבותינו במדבר לא חסרו דבר
Remember, for 40 years, our forefathers journeyed in the desert, and they did not lack anything.”
One may ask, “What does that have to do with me? I'm not in the desert. How do I apply these miracles of the desert to myself?”
And the answer lies in a piece of the Sifri, cited by the Ramban, where it says, Achre Hashem Elokechem Telechu/Follow Hashem, your God. The Sifri asks, what does Follow Hashem, your God, refer to? It refers to the cloud that Hashem had in front of us in the desert, which led them in every direction they went. This mitzvah, says this Sifri, applies to all generations. Rav Yerucham Levovitz explains in Daat Torah that we also have a cloud that leads us.
The only difference is that they saw the cloud and we don't. But there is a cloud. Follow the cloud is a real concept. The cloud is there.
Rav Wolbe tells of a story that happened 400 years ago at the funeral of Rav Moshe Cordovero, who was a great makubal. The Arizal asked, “Does anybody see anything?” A young boy answered, “Yes, I see something.” The Arizal asked him what he saw and he said, “I see a pillar of fire, and I see a cloud.”
The Arizal said that the pillar of fire and cloud that appeared were what appeared for the Ramak Rav Moshe Cordevero) and led him throughout his life. Great people have a specific cloud that's leading them. But each of us, at whatever level we're at, get direction from Hashem, leading us through life, helping us along the road. Again, we don't see the cloud, but we are being led and we are being directed from above.
What is this cloud of glory and this cloud of fire?
The commentaries explain that the pillar of fire came at night and the cloud was by day, In our religion, we have two Torahs, Torah Sh’Bechtav and Torah Sh’b’al Peh/The Written Law and the Oral Law. The Written Law was there during times of redemption, when we were in Eretz Yisrael. That's the Torah SheBichtav. It’s clear, it’s what you see, it’s the prophecies that came directly from God.
Then there's Torah sh’bal Peh, the Oral Law, which is the fire that lights up the exile, which comes about through our toiling in our Torah. And this is the hiddush: Where is that cloud leading us? That cloud comes from our Torah learning.
The Zohar says that when a person learns, Hashem speaks to him through his learning. This is something that I'm sure many of you have experienced- you're working on a certain topic, or something's on your mind, and you learn something that really speaks to you. That is how God, in a hidden way, still directs us and leads us. Again, we're talking about a person's business. How is he going to make those correct decisions? Hakadosh Baruch leads a person. רַבּ֣וֹת מַחֲשָׁב֣וֹת בְּלֶב־אִ֑ישׁ וַעֲצַ֥ת יְ֝הֹוָ֗ה הִ֣יא תָקֽוּם
He will give you guidance.
It says the name of the Gaon of Vilna that if a person has to make a difficult decision, he should sit down and learn until he gets really deep into the learning and reaches a level where he thinks he's learning lishma,for the sake of learning alone, and then he should make the decision, because then the Torah will guide him. So we are guided today. We have to believe that. Even though it's a time of darkness, it's a time of Galut and exile, God is directing us and God is leading us. We have to rely on Him to do that, and then we will be led. Follow the cloud.
Have a wonderful day.