Today we introduce the third benefit of Bitachon.
Before we go further, a quick review: Benefit one of relying on Hashem is that you’re placed in Hashem’s unlimited hands, and not in those of others.
Benefit two is that you don’t have to flatter people- you can be comfortable doing what’s right.
The third benefit of Bitachon is that:
מהן - שהבוטח באלהים יביאהו בטחונו לפנות את לבו מעניני העולם ולייחד לבבו לעניני העבודה, ויהיה דומה במנוחת נפשו ורוחב לבו ומיעוט דאגתו לעניני עולמו לבעל האלכימיה, והוא היודע להפוך הכסף לזהב והנחושת והבדיל לכסף אשר ישיג אותה על ידי חכמה ומעשה.
The one who relies on Hashem, his reliance will bring him to a clear heart from the issues of the world, and he’ll be able to focus on serving Hashem. He will have the level of serenity and tranquillity and lack of worries like the alchemist, who was known to turn silver in gold, and copper and lead into silver through his knowledge.
The Hovot HaLevavot compares the Ba’al Bitachon to the Alchemist. What is the alchemist?
Alchemy was an ancient art of turning base metals into more precious ones. The alchemist could take any metal, like lead, and upgrade it to something precious like gold. In modern times, it could be compared to having a counterfeit money machine in your basement. Imagine your son asking you for $100 and you being able to go down to your basement, print up $100 bill and just give it to him. The alchemist had these wonderful powers. The Hovot HaLevavot used the Mashal of the alchemist to illustrate the powers of Bitachon, (and also to point out the drawbacks of this alchemist in comparison to the one who relies on Hashem, as we will soon see).
Before we delve further into this Mashal, let’s explore what a Mashal (allegory) actually is. Our sefarim tell us we get the concept of Mashals from Shelomo HaMelech, the wisest of men. In modern terms we can describe a Mashal as imagery. The imagery provided to us by our Sages help us better comprehend a concept.
For example Hashem is described as אבינו שבשמים our father in heaven. So we have an image of Hashem as a father. Personally, when I think of this, I visualize my father. My father is a doctor. When we were children, if we needed stitches he would never do them himself because he didn’t want to hurt us. Whenever I sit in a doctor’s office, I think of my father. And when I think of Hashem, I think of how my father loves me so much he didn’t want to cause me any pain, and then I think, Hashem is like my father, he loves me just as much, if not more, and doesn’t want to cause me pain either. So I have this image of Hashem as loving as my father... this is what a Mashal, or imagery, can do. It can give us a “real-feel” for what we are trying to learn.
So we have the image of the Alchemist, who can take anything and turn it into something better. It’s the secret of turning trash into gold. The Bet Yosef alluded to this when he described what learning Hovot HaLevavot can do for us.
This ability to look at a situation and see it a different way is what we have referred to as reframing- a modern term for what the Hovot HaLevavot teaches us to do with our Bitachon. What a power this is! In your head, you can be an Alchemist- anything you’re given, you can turn it around. There are many situations that people don’t understand, that, with our Bitachon, we can turn around.
For example, there’s a famous Mashal from Rav Elchonon Wasserman that gives us a wonderful case of reframing, when we don’t understand a situation. Rav Wasserman describes how a child might visiting his uncle on a wheat farm and wonder why they are tearing up the ground with the plow. Then he might question why they are smothering the seeds in the ground, or why they are dousing them with water. Then, as the wheat begins to grow, he might ask why they are cutting it- it looked so nice growing tall in the field. Later he wonders why they are grinding it up. Aren’t they ruining it? Then he sees it turned into a loaf of bread and he cries out- why are they burning it?? All the while the farmer patiently tells the boy to wait and see.. And finally the bread comes out of the oven and the boy understands. This, Rav Wasserman says, is a Mashal for how Hashem runs the world. It’s a new way to look at things. Very often we can’t understand things. But it’s just Hashem baking bread. Even the Holocaust was Hashem baking bread.
That’s the power of the alchemist and the power of Bitachon.