We left off yesterday talking about how the Baal Bitachon focuses on today and doesn’t live for tomorrow. This concept can be misunderstood. It might sound like, “I know I have a daughter getting married, but I won’t save up for the wedding, or I need to buy a house, but I’m not going to save up.” That is not what we mean, as we will see from the commentary of the Gedolim.
Rav Wosner, a great posek from Bnei B’rak, was once asked (in his sefer Shevet HaLevi) about saving money for retirement, and whether that is considered a lack of Bitachon. He said it is not a lack of Bitachon, because it’s natural to get old.
Similarly, marrying off a child is natural. Being prepared for these things isn’t a lack of Bitachon, because you are preparing for things that are natural.
Of course, there are people on very high levels that live day by day, that don’t feel the need to prepare, but you can live in a natural way and still be a considered a Baal Bitachon.
Similarly, Rav Aharon Kotler writes that it says in Devarim
-תמים תהיה עם ה׳ אלקיך
Go with G-d with simplicity, which Rashi explains to mean-
לא תחקור אחד העתידות
Don’t start trying to figure out the future.
אלא כל מה שיבא עליך קבל בתמימות
Whatever comes upon you, go with it simply.
Don’t start trying to figure things out. This was originally referring to using Black magic. But Rav Kotler says it’s not just about black magic. It applies to the general concept of worrying and anxiety about what will be...
What if the market crashes...?
What if Trump does xyz...
Rav Kotler says that worrying about these things is not “nogeah lemaaseh”- meaning it’s not practical to worry about them right now, and that type of worry is a lack of Bitachon.
Conversely, getting old is natural, so it’s a practical thing to prepare for. That’s okay.
Of course, as with all areas of Bitachon, there are levels. Some great rabbis literally lived day by day. Any money they had left over at end of day was given to Sedaka, because tomorrow they would worry about tomorrow. But that’s a high level.
It’s interesting to note that in the laws of Kadashim, offerings to G-d, there is a law called Notar-which means the offerings have an expiration date by which they must be eaten, either one day and night or two days. But no offering could last more than a week. These offerings were holy, like stipends, that the Kohanim ate from. So why the expiration date? And furthermore, not only could it not be eaten after the expiration, but it had to be burned. It’s one of the 613 commandments, to burn holy meat that passes the expiration date. The Sefer Hinuch, which gives understanding behind the mitzvot, says that the message behind this is a Bitachon message.
שלא יהיה אדם חונק עצמו במאכלו יותר מדי להצנעו יום מחר
You shouldn’t choke yourself too much today.
If you have food for today- eat it. Don’t start saving or hoarding.
That’s the lesson. You have Kadashim food? Eat it and finish. Hashem will bring us more tomorrow.
There isn’t a clear right or wrong approach to this concept. Everything must be done within reason.
Of course, we have the highest level- David HaMelech. In tehilim, he says, as we’ve quoted before,
אם לא שויתי ודממתי נפשי כגמול עלי אמו כגמל עלי נפשי
My soul is quiet and at peace like a nursing baby on his mother.
The Gaon of Vilna said the definition of Bitachon is this pasuk. The baby, once he finishes nursing, doesn’t worry about where his next meal comes from, even though the milk hasn’t been produced yet. That’s Bitachon.
The Gaon of Vilna also says, elsewhere, that the Keruvim/ Cherubim in the Holy of Holies depicted two children, either facing each other or turned away from each other, as a replica of the Jewish people’s relationship with Hashem. Why were they children? The Gaon of Vilna says it’s because children are the picture of bitachon. They don’t think about tomorrow. Today is about today.
Again, the key differentiator is worry.
A saving is plan is legal, but to worry about tomorrow is illegal.
Have a wonderful day.