We are discussing the pasuk בטחו בה׳ עדי עד
Rely on Hashem forever…
The Chafetz Chaim wrote many books, as he saw fit for his times. He wrote Shemirat HaLashon, Mishnah Berurah and many others.
He wrote the sefer Machane Yisrael specifically in order to give hizzuk and advice to Jewish soldiers conscripted into the Russian army. It’s unbelievable to read this book and see the concern and compassion that the Chafetz Chaim had for these Jewish soldiers.
In the book, he quotes the story of Yonatan and his lone aid, where he tells him, “There is nothing that stops God from saving, with a little or a lot.”
He also quotes a story of David HaMelech (Shmuel א perek ל) with an important lesson for us. David HaMelech and his men came to the town of Sichleg, then left and came back.
In the meantime, the people of Amalek had taken the women and children of the city captive and then burned the city down. When the men returned to the city and saw it burned to the ground, and their wives and children missing, they cried until they had no strength to cry anymore. David HaMelech’s own wives were taken captive. The people wanted to stone David because they felt that he was negligent.
And then it says the following four powerful words:
ויתחזק דוד בה׳ אלקיו
David strengthened himself in Hashem, his God.
He then went to Evyatar HaKohen, who had the Urim V’Tumim, and asked him what to do.
David was told to chase them and he’d be successful.
So David HaMelech went out with his people and ended up bringing back all the captives.
The Chafetz Chaim says that the Navi is teaching us a lesson. Before David HaMelech asked the Urim V’Tumim, it says he strengthened his heart in God.
The Chafetz Chaim said that had he not strengthened his heart, the Urim V’Tumim would not have given him an answer.
It was only because he strengthened his bitachon first that he got that answer.
The Chafetz Chaim was trying to give hizzuk to the soldiers, that if you strengthen your heart and have bitachon, you will win.
Using stories from the Navi to prove his point, he told them that the main strength of a person at war, and the way to win the war, is with bitachon.
To the Chafetz Chaim, the Navi was not a book of stories, but a book of Halacha L’Maaseh.
In his words, quoting from pesukim in the Torah, ”If you are in Galut and you search for God with your heart and soul, you will find God.”
I always thought this searching and finding God was referring to doing Teshuva. But the Chafetz Chaim is proving from this pasuk that “Even when the justice is strict in the world, and a person is under great difficulties, if you seek Hashem, He will be there.
In his words, “Rely on Hashem and hope to Him and He will definitely help you.”
Using these pesukim, he says that when you’re in trouble, search for Him and He will be there. “He will be there,” means He will save you. He learns the pasuk to mean,
Umatzata- You will find God.
קרוב ה לכל קוראיו
Hashem is near to those who call out to Him
He will be there and save you at war.
The Chafetz Chaim was a Posek. He knew how to learn and that’s how he reads the pesukim.
He quotes our pasuk בטחו בה׳ עדי עד
Rely on Hashem forever,
and quotes the Zohar that says Every day of a person, he has to have strong bitachon. And if you have strong bitachon in God properly, “No one can hurt you..
כִּי בְּיָהּ ה׳ צוּר עוֹלָמִים
because God is the one who created the worlds.”
As we discussed yesterday, God created this word with the letters yud and heh. And He keeps the worlds going on these letters, so how can anyone hurt you?
Everything that’s here is only because God is willing it to be. In the words of the Zohar, “The whole world is existing because of His name.”
If the world is existing because of His name, how can anybody hurt you? There’s nothing but Hashem. It’s really the concept of En Od Milevado.
These are the words that the Chafetz Chaim gives, to not the great Sadikim, but to simple Russian Jews that were going to war. Maybe they didn’t know a lot. They were just simple Russian Jews. But the Chafetz Chaim wrote this book for them, and included laws and instructions for Netilat Yadayim and other things. They may not have known much, but he was telling them what to do if they wanted to win. And it was not just for David HaMelech, or for Yonatan, or for the people during the times of the Gemara..
It was for Russian soldiers in the 1920s, and for us. This is forever.
B’ezrat Hashem, these strong lessons will help us in our challenges in life.
