Friday's Daily Bitachon
This week's Parasha says, “
הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֔ פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּ֖ח אֶת־ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ
Be careful lest you forget Hashem your God.” And then it says,
וְרָ֖ם לְבָבֶ֑ךָ וְשָֽׁכַחְתָּ֙ אֶת־ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ
You're going to become arrogant and forget God.”
It says pretty clearly that arrogance is a direct cause of forgetting God, which means that Ga’avah/arrogance is an immediate detriment to our bitachon.
The Steipler Gaon says, in his sefer Chayei Olam (section one, chapter 27), that it's clear in the sefarim that all of our doubts and our questions in Emuna and Bitachon only come when we have Ga’avah in our heart.
Why is that? Because, as we said in the past, someone who's arrogant causes the light of God's Divine presence to leave him; as God says, “I can dwell amongst an arrogant person.” Furthermore, it says an arrogant person is like an idol worshiper, and he quotes the above pasuk. So, it's impossible for arrogance and Emuna to coexist, and therefore, all of our questions and lack of understanding are rooted in Ga’avah. Ga’avah is what grows all of the doubts. And therefore, he says, the best way to get all doubts and questions of faith out of our heads is by working on humility. It's not a philosophical discussion; it's not a philosophical problem, it's an arrogance-Middah problem. The heretic is an arrogant man, not a person who lacks philosophical tools. Therefore, he says, we have to work on the trait of humility, which means, in his words, to literally feel like you don't have any great qualities.
Of course, as we know, we get rewarded for our efforts, etc, but the inherent qualities, my wisdom, my beauty, my talents, my acquisitions… are all gifts of God. And they're given to me not even as gifts- they’re all on loan, because they're not going be with me forever. He compares it to an impoverished man that borrows the clothing of a wealthy man to go to a wedding. He's not going to say, “Wow, look at me!” You don't feel arrogant when you borrow someone else's fancy car to pull up at a wedding. You know it's not your car. You know you have to give it back to its owner. If anything, you might feel humbled by the fact that you are in someone else's car. He says, once you start feeling like that, and you start realizing, “Whoa, my wisdom isn't mine. My beauty isn't mine, my talent isn't mine,” in his words, “Immediately, a spirit of purity will dwell on him, as well as faith in God and Yirat Hashem.”
Therefore, he says, the biggest advice for people who have doubts is to work on humility, to read books that arouse humility.
And, as much as possible, realize that we are not the source of any greatness that we have, whether it's our talents, our success or our accomplishments.
Of course, you can be proud of the efforts you put into knowledge of God. That, you did. That, you can be proud of. But everything else is from God. So therefore, when one takes credit and is arrogant, that is a direct contradiction to Emunah and Bitachon.
Baruch Hashem we are working on our Emuna and Bitachon, and B’Ezrat Hashem, we will see the fruits of our labor. As we work on our humility, B’Ezrat Hashem, we will, as the Steipler says, immediately get an infusion of purity, and Emunah.
We wish that for everybody.
Have a Shabbat Shalom.
