We continue with a pasuk in Mishleh, chapter 3 pasuk
בטח אל ה׳ בכל לבך
Rely on Hashem with all your heart.
ואל בינתך אל תשען
And on your wisdom, do not lean.
The word Tisha’en is comes from the same word as Mishenet, which is a cane. We say,
Mish’an L’vtach B’Sadikim. God is a Mish’an. A Mish’an is something you lean on.. A mishenet.
So a mishenet is less than a something that's batuach- you rely on a Batuach, but you only leaning on a mishenet- we can think of it as training wheels or scaffolding. Mish’an is a little extra protection.
So the Gaon of Vilna says Bitach El Hashem bechol Lebecha
Rely in Hashem with all your heart means that your bitachon is so completely only on God that your wisdom is not even a cane. It's not even a Mish’an.
I'm totally relying on God.
And he explains with a Gemara in Megillah 18A, that says that the rabbis did not know what the wordיהבך yahavcha meant. The pasuk says, Throw on God your yahavcha, but what does that mean? Then the rabbi said he was once walking with an Arab and the rabbi was carrying a load. And the Arab said “Take your yahav and throw it on my camel.” From that, they figured out what the word meant.
The Gaon of Vilna says that it's strange that we'd learn a lesson in Hebrew etymology from an Arab. He explains that the rabbis had a doubt in bitachon. They were not sure- does a person have to rely on his intellect, and then after he does the best with his intellect, he relies on Hashem that He’ll finish it off?
Or maybe I shouldn't rely on my intellect at all. Of course, I have to use my brain to make a decision, but I'm not relying on it. It's not even a Mishenet, I'm just going through the motions.
So they didn't know, should I keep on doing every little thing that I can do? And they were bothered by the word yahavcha. It should say Throw on God kol Tzorkecha/ all your needs
What's this strange word of throw on God, Yahavcha?
He explains that yahav means to give. So they were going with this Arab and the rabbi needed someone to carry his load.
And the Arab said, “You give me your load.” He wasn't even asked. And he says, We see from there even something you have to pay for, and even something you have to give for, if God wants to take care of you, God will actually request it. The request will come to you. You won’t even have to do anything.
It's like when a person is looking for something, and suddenly the thing comes to him. He says, “Wow, it came right to me. I didn't even have to look for it.” Rav Yerucham Levovitz, in his Sefer Da’at Torah in Bereshit (chapter 24, pasuk 27), discusses that when Eliezer is describing how God took care of him, he says,
אנכי בדרך נחני ה׳
God took me by the hand on the road,” and he tells the following story: It was after World War I. He was in Lithuania and he had to get to Poland, and due to the state of war between the two countries, he had to go through Germany, through a town called Danzig. But he was in a town called Unztenberg and he didn't know how to get to Danzig.
(It seems he was going across the border in an unusual way). Then a Jewish man approached him and asked, “Are you going to Danzig?” Rav Yerucham was astounded. “How did this man know I needed to go to Danzig? I didn't even know who this man was. And when he heard my request, that I was going to this town, he took all my luggage, got it ready, took it to the place overnight. And he took me on the way to Danzig, showed me where to stay, how to go, how to buy the tickets… he got somebody to get me across the border … every step of the way, until I got to Poland. I was in shock. I couldn't believe what was going on. And I read this pasuk
אנכי בדרך נחני ה׳
“God took me on the road,” literally like a child who's being held by the hand, and being directed.”
That is what it means,
ואל בינתך אל תשען
Don’t lean on your wisdom
To realize that if you merit, you can have this level of
אנכי בדרך נחני ה׳
God took me on the road.
The Gaon of Vilna says it comes from אל בינתך אל תשען not relying on your own wisdom.
Of course, you have to do what you can. Rav Yerucham didn't sit at home. He went to the train station, but in his head, he knew it's not happening from me.
Have a wonderful day.