We are now studying a new pasuk from Yirmiyah (17,5)
אָרוּר הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר יִבְטַח בָּאָדָם וְשָׂם בָּשָׂר זְרֹעוֹ וּמִן ה׳ יָסוּר לִבּוֹ
Cursed is the man who relies on man, and makes flesh his outstretched arm, and he removed God from his heart.
There is a built-in curse for somebody who is not relying on Hashem.
The Bet HaLevi, in his sefer on Bitachon, quotes this pasuk as says,
A person should realize that when you rely on a human being, besides for the fact that it doesn’t help (as it says in Tehilim 146,3
אַל־תִּבְטְחוּ בִנְדִיבִים בְּבֶן־אָדָם ׀ שֶׁאֵין לוֹ תְשׁוּעָה
Don’t rely on generous people or a man that has no salvation), More than that, he is cursed for this.
So how foolish it is, that a person chooses to get cursed from a prophet who speaks in the name of God (which is guaranteed) and rely on human being who doesn’t even help.
It makes no sense to rely on a human being and accept upon yourself a Godly curse.
Imagine a person going to the Baba Sali and getting cursed. That would be petrifying!
Well, this is worse. This is a Hashem Himself cursing, in the name of Yirmiyah the Navi.
It sounds pretty scary- Every time you rely on someone, has v’shalom, there’s a curse that comes down?!
Actually, we have a little saving grace: Rabbi Avraham, the son of the Rambam, in his sefer HaMaspik Le’Ovdei Hashem (on the chapter of Bitachon) quotes his father, who says,
“If not for the fact that Yirmiyah would end with the words,’ וּמִן ה׳ יָסוּר לִבּוֹ
…And he removes his heart from God,’ most people would be included in this curse. He says it would be almost everybody: A son relies on his father, a woman relies on her husband, a partner in business relies on his partner.. etc. Therefore, this is not what we are talking about. The curse only applies to somebody who removes himself totally from God. If, in your heart, you rely on God, but are being helped by intermediaries, that, of course, is not included in this pasuk.
So don’t get scared. You are allowed to rely on a person. But don’t take your heart away from God- that is the catch.
And although you aren’t cursed by doing so, you don’t exactly get the full blessing like this. (We will discuss that more over the next few days)
But first, this important disclaimer: This curse only applies to somebody who is actually totally removing himself from God. If a person, in his heart, relies on God but also relies on people, that is a different story.
The Chatam Sofer (in Parashat Bechukotai 27/29) has a very interesting understanding of the words, וּמִן ה׳ יָסוּר לִבּוֹ
And he removes his heart from Hashem.
Whose heart?
He says this refers to the fellow that helped you.
For example, it refers to someone who borrowed money from someone, and then thanked the person for the loan, without realizing that the lender’s heart was in the hand of God, that Hashem put it in his heart to have mercy and give the loan- that he did not do it on his own. This is who the pasuk refers to. This person removes the heart of his benefactor from God. When a person doesn’t realize that the Shadchan who called, the lawyer who helped, or the doctor who did him a favor, are all God’s messengers, and doesn’t realize that the human being’s heart is controlled by God, this is who is cursed.
The Chida reads an unbelievable explanation from pasuk ג of tehilim 146 , quoted above:
אַל־תִּבְטְחוּ בִנְדִיבִים בְּבֶן־אָדָם ׀ שֶׁאֵין לוֹ תְשׁוּעָה
Don’t rely on these generous people, who can’t save you.
תֵּצֵא רוּחוֹ יָשֻׁב לְאַדְמָתוֹ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא אָבְדוּ עֶשְׁתֹּנֹתָיו
His spirit will leave, he will go back to his dirt, and on that day all of his ideas come to nothing.
This means that you are relying on someone that will die, and then all your plans are gone.
But the Chida says that there is a spirit that God put inside him, and if that spirit leaves him, he goes back to his earthliness and he won’t want to help you.
So don’t rely on that generous man, because if the spirit of Hashem, that wanted to help you, leaves him, he will revert to his regular earthly ways.
And he says that’s what it means that his heart will leave Hashem.
This is very important. Nobody wants to be cursed. We are finding out from the Chatam Sofer that the definition of the cursed person is the fellow that thinks that it was a benefactor they did him a favor. Of course, that benefactor will get rewarded because he has freedom of choice, and we do have to be thankful, says the Hovot HaLevavot, because he did us a favor, and he was a conduit. But at the end of the day, his heart was in the hand of God. And if you don’t realize that, that’s big trouble.
Have a wonderful day.