Bitachon isn’t only for physical matters, actually, it’s especially relevant to spiritual matters. A person has to rely on Hashem that He will take care of him. And even when he feels distant from God, whether due to sins or other reasons, he still has to pick up himself and rely that Hashem will help him and bring him closer.
The pasuk in Naso says,
נָשֹׂ֗א אֶת־רֹ֛אשׁ בְּנֵ֥י גֵרְשׁ֖וֹן
גַּם־הֵ֑ם
לְבֵ֥ית אֲבֹתָ֖ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם
Lift up the heads if the sons of Gershon,
Also them,
To the house of their fathers
What does it mean, to lift them up also? Simply speaking, Kehat was counted first, and Gershon was counted second. As such, Gershon could possibly feel down,
Therefore it says, “Lift them up also.” They aren’t as important, in that they don’t carry the holiest of vessels.
The rabbis find a hint in the word Gershon- the root is Gerushin, which means to be sent away (divorce is called Gerushin) or distanced.
So when a person feels that they are ( like Bnei Gershon) distanced from God, lift them up.
How? By reminding him of where he comes from, of his parents, grandparents, and forefathers all the way back to Avraham Avinu, and also by remembering that his Father is God.
Even the most distanced person can be uplifted, by remembering where he comes from. That is part of the reason for the counting in Bamidbar; In order to make every person feel important. They got to meet Moshe Rabbenu, and hear about who they were, where they came from, and what their lineage was. That gave importance to each person.
A person has to realize who they are, and know that even if they’ve sinned, they still have strong roots, and can still return to the levels of their forefathers.
In another related explanation, this weeks pasha talks about a Nazir, a man who has decided to refrain from cutting his hair, eating grapes or any of their byproducts, to stay away from contamination, and to become a celibate of sorts, in order to reach higher levels.
Then the Torah describes a man who was doing everything right, but then somebody just dropped dead right in front of him, and he became contaminated against his will. This person might think that God is distancing him, or that God doesn’t want him. He might think, “Look what happened! I tried to come closer to God and accepted upon myself all of these things and then I suddenly became contaminated against my will? God doesn’t want me.“
This person might start to despair, but we tell this man, “Make your head holy on that day.” Start again. Put the previous days to the side. Start counting forward.
This is a lesson in life. Sometimes we try to come closer to Hashem but we feel distanced. That in itself is part of the test. There is a Gemara in Gittin that says, “Man does not understand the words of Torah unless he stumbles on them first.“ This means that when a person falls, it is an opportunity to learn from the experience and pick himself up again. That in itself is part of the learning process.
As the pasuk says, “The righteous man falls seven times, but gets up.“ Rav Hutner explains that it doesn’t mean that he happens to fall 7 times and gets up. The whole getting up, to the level that he reached, was because of all the times that he fell. That is what caused him to grow, because he overcame those challenges. We make the mistake of thinking that everything goes smoothly for great people, without any challenges or difficulties. But that is not the case. They have challenges just like we do. The difference is that they don’t give up. They keep pushing and they keep getting up. They don’t give up because they feel distanced. That is a secret to the Bnei Gershon. When you feel that you are being chased away, Naso- pick yourself up and realize where you come from. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.