Today we will discussed a very famous pasuk from perek כז
קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל־ה׳ חֲ֭זַק וְיַאֲמֵ֣ץ לִבֶּ֑ךָ וְ֝קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל־ה׳
Hope to Hashem, strengthen and have courage in your heart. And hope to Hashem
On this, the Gemarah says,
“If a person sees that he prayed, and he wasn’t answered, he should pray again” and it quotes this pasuk
קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל־ה׳ חֲ֭זַק וְיַאֲמֵ֣ץ לִבֶּ֑ךָ וְ֝קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל־ה׳
Hope to Hashem, strengthen your heart, and again- hope to Hashem.
Never stop praying.
The Chafetz Chaim says that this principle of never stop praying doesn’t just apply to our standard Amida. That’s obvious. This refers to praying at any time of the day, pouring out your heart, in any language. He says that there are two factors necessary:
One is that it must come from the depths of your heart and not just be lip-service ( he says that if you can cry, it’s even better). Secondly, you should focus your prayer, just like your Amida, through Eretz Yisrael, through Yerushalayim, to Kodshei Hakadoshim.
When you do this, in his words, your prayer won’t come back empty handed.
Those are powerful words.
The commentaries add that Bitachon builds on itself. It’s a snowball effect. You hope to Hashem, and once you do, you feel a little stronger, then, once you feel a little stronger, you can further hope to ask Him. In this way, you keep growing in your hope.
Furthermore, the commentaries say that
קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל־ה׳
Hope to Hashem
What’s going to cause you to get strength?
The fact that you hoped to Hashem- and that hope earns you zechut/merit
So even if you have no merit, you start the process by relying on Hashem. Even though, when you rely on Hashem, you don’t yet deserve to get answered , you relied on Hashem and that created a merit.
Then, strengthen yourself again, and rely on Hashem, and now the merit of the previous prayer and bitachon will yield reason to be answered.
Normally, we like to say that you rely on Hashem and you get what you want right away (maybe).
But now, we have an additional Hiddush: Rely on Hashem- hope to Hashem-And maybe that prayer didn’t work yet. But that prayer in itself created a merit. So now you can hope to Hashem a second time, and you already have a merit, even though the first prayer started without a merit.
That’s a beautiful thought.
Our final thought on this pasuk comes from the Brisker Rav. He says that the greatest reward that Hashem can give a Baal Bitachon is more Bitachon.
He explains with the following mashal:
There were two brothers, one wealthy and one poor. The wealthy brother had a good heart and gave from his wealth to his poor brother, food, drink, clothing, housing, everything with an open hand. It seemed almost as if they lived an identical life. Then the wealthy man told his brother, “The truth is that you have everything that you need, but it’s not good, because you are dependent on me. Therefore, I want to give you a business. That business will produce a salary for you so that you will no longer be dependent on me.”
Bitachon is like that business. It’s a wonderful tool that we can get a lot of things with.
But, the person keeps getting one individual item, then another. What’s the biggest reward Hashem can give a person for his individual Bitachon?
In his words, “The greatest reward is that he should merit to have even more bitachon.”
That is the meaning of our pasuk.
קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל־ה׳ חֲ֭זַק וְיַאֲמֵ֣ץ לִבֶּ֑ךָ וְ֝קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל־ה׳
When you hope to Hashem, the zechut is, you get more Bitachon.
Bitachon is not just a way to get something. It’s an end in itself. Bitachon is a connection to Hashem. Bitachon is a state of mind, it’s a state of being. It’s a calmer more relaxed state. So the ultimate reward for Bitachon is even more Bitachon.
Like every pasuk in tehilim, this pasuk has quite a few beautiful thoughts, and is full of beautiful lessons.
-Your hope causes more hope,
-Your hope is, in itself, a merit to be answered on your second hope
-The reward for your hope is hope itself.
Have a wonderful day.