Parashat Pinhas follows the death of 24,000 men, due to their sins with daughters of Midyan. G-d then counts the Jewish nation again.
In that counting we see that there were 64,400 children of Dan. It was one of largest tribes. On the other hand, the tribe of Binyamin had 45,600 children.
A simple reader studying this wouldn’t see a lesson of Bitachon here, but the Chafetz Chaim teaches us something very powerful. If we go back to the end of sefer Bereshit, where the 70 people from the twelve tribes go down to Mitzrayim, we see that Binyamin had ten sons. Dan, on the other hand, had only one son, named חשים/ Chushim - which literally means “senses.” This was a euphemism because he was missing one of his senses. Chushim was deaf. So Dan went down with one handicapped, deaf child and Binyamin had 10 healthy children.
Fast forward 210 years, and we see the success that Dan has had from his one deaf son. He now has about 20,000 more descendants than Binyamin, who came down with ten healthy sons!
This is a lesson for us: that sometimes in life we see in the moment, but we don’t always see the full picture-that takes time to unfold. It’s the same with money. A person can have a small amount of money that brings happiness and success, while another person can have a lot of money but not see happiness. Our physical eyes aren’t always capable of seeing what’s truly good or bad. We have to believe that Hashem controls the world. We don’t always get to see how the calculations play out.
Based on this, we can explain the blessing that Yaakov gave Dan when he was blessing all the Shevatim:
לישועתיך קויתי ה׳
״I will hope for your salvation Hashem.” This blessing suited Dan. It says that when he walked in to receive his blessing, with his one handicapped child, he was crying. Yaakov told Dan to remember this lesson: Hope to Hashem’s salvation. Don’t stop relying on Him. Strengthen your emunah; you’ll see that this one child will bring you much nachat.
Furthermore, the Gemara tells us that this power of
לישועתיך קויתי ה׳ - hoping to Hashem, was passed onto future generations. Shimshon (Sampson) was powerful, he fought the Philistines, and he was a successful judge for many years. His strength came from the fact that he was a nazir who didn’t cut his hair. Eventually, the secret of his strength was revealed and his hair was cut. He was then captured by the Philistines, they poked out his eyes (again, a descendant of Dan was handicapped), and he was tied to the pillars below the Philistine castle, where the thousands of ministers and VIPs were partying. Shimshon called out to G-d, to ask G-d to help energize him one last time. “I’m counting on You,” he said. And Hashem energized him. He then pulled down the pillars and the entire castle came crumbling down. All those Philistine leaders and ministers perished. Even in his handicapped state, Shimshon relied on G-d and that’s what brought his salvation.
Our rabbis tell us that if you take the letters of the name, Chushim, ח,ש,י,מ the name of Dan’s handicapped child, and rearrange them, it spells mashiah משיח, because the Mashiah will come when we realize that regardless of our strength, our physical prowess, or financial power, when we rely on Hashem, that brings the salvation.