We are working our way through the Hovot HaLevavot’s checklist of seven prerequisites necessary for Bitachon. In order rely on somebody (not necessarily Hashem) they have to pass these 7 prerequisites of reliability.
We have already covered the first- that this person loves you and has tremendous mercy for you. But even if he loves you and has tremendous mercy for you, he can’t forget about you. He must always be on top of you watch over & never forget about you.
Hashem has this traits He is:
אינו מתעלם.
He never ignores or neglects us.
The Hovot HaLevavot’s source for this trait is the pasuk from tehilim 121:
הנה לא ינום ולא ישן שומר ישראל
G-d doesn’t nap nor sleep. He’s the Shomer/ Watchman of Israel.
In fact, in Arbit, we make the beracha
ברוך אתה ה׳ שומר עמו ישראל לעד
God protects and watches over the Jewish people.
Avudarham says this comes beracha comes from our pasuk. The Rabbis inserted this beracha into our prayers because people are more fearful at night. So we pray that G-d watches us from all the fears of the night.
We have a bodyguard watching us at all times.
To improve Kavana during tefila, some people like to make notes in their siddur. You can put a note next to this beracha that it comes from our Bitachon prerequisite #2. Hashem watches over us.
הנה לא ינום ולא ישן שומר ישראל
The Midrash Rabbah tells us a number of mashals that Hashem uses:
The first is that Hashem says make for me a Bet Hamikdash/ a mishkan. And he gives these mashals:
In Yehezkel, Hashem says to the Jewish people, you are my sheep and I am your Shepard and therefore make for me a booth.
He also says,
כי כרם צבאות ה׳ בית ישראל
You are my vineyards, and I am the Watchman, make me a booth to watch the Vineyard
Also, I am your Father and you are My children.
We have to realize, Hashem is just like a father or mother who always has their child on the mind.
And when the people complained that Hashem forgot them, G-d said, Can a mother forget her child? Even if it does happen occasionally, Has V’Shalom, that people forget their child, G-d says I never forget. You’re always on My mind. Your name is written on My palm.
G-d is watching us at all times. He has a GPS on us.
The Chafetz Chaim says one of the reasons for new technology is in order to help us fathom G-d’s abilities. G-d is watching? Yes! If I can watch the UberEats guy on his route down Ocean Parkway as he brings me a shake in the morning, certainly G-d can see where we are. G-d is a constant Shomer. So how can we think G-d isn’t watching or that He doesn’t know what’s going on? He’s the Shomer. He’s always watching over us.
During the time of Purim, when G-d was so to say, בהסתר hiding, Haman told Ahashverosh: ישנו עם אחד
Which literally means “there’s a nation..” but the word ישנו can also be interpreted as ישן- sleep. He was saying: “G-d is sleeping”
It didn’t look like He was watching, such as how people may say Hashem wasn’t watching during the Holocaust. But Hashem doesn’t sleep. אני אין לפני שינה.
I don’t sleep.
In the end, Hashem said Haman would get wiped out over sleep.. (When Ahashverosh couldn’t sleep...) showing that Hashem doesn’t sleep
הנה לא ינום ולא ישן שומר ישראל
That’s the lesson. We are always being watched. And therefore G-d has reliability check #2.
Stay tuned for the next item on the list.