The Hovot HaLevavot teaches us that the Baal Bitachon brings benefit to the city.
לתקנת עירו ולדחות הפגעים מעל אנשי מקומו,
And he averts tragedies for the people there.
As the pasuk says,
(משלי י כה): וצדיק יסוד עולם
The Sadik /righteous man is the foundation of the world.
In this case, the Sadik is not one who reads the most tehilim or prays all day, but the one who relies on G-d.
As it says, צדיק באמונתו יחיה-The Sadik is rewarded with life, for his trust.
This means he’s keeping the world going.
A commentary on Hovot HaLevavot, Marpeh LaNefesh says that the source of this is the following gemarah:
כל העולם אינו נזון אלא בשביל חנינא בני
(Berachot 17b)- The whole world is satiated because of my son Hanina.
He is the source of Parnasa for the whole world.
Hanina Ben Dosa was a poor man who lived on only one pound of carob per week. That’s what sustained him. And he was the source of parnasah for the world.
He was supporting the whole world and not necessarily taking for himself.
On Rosh Hashanah some have the custom of reciting a prayer written by the Ben Ish Hai. In each of the verses, which rhyme, we pray the following:
תפתח שערי ———בזכות ———
Open the gate of ——- in the merit of ———
One of those lines reads:
Open gates of livelihood, parnasa, in the merit of Hanina Ben Dosa
The Baal Bitachon is someone people like, because we tend to develop a favorable feeling towards people who are helping us out.
We love the great Gedolim. Why did we love Rav Shteinerman ztl for example, or any of the Gedolim? (We love them all but I happen to have a story about Rav Shteinerman) People love Gedolim.
Many years ago we took a Yad Yosef Torah Center trip to Israel. Rav Sorotzkin took us to see the Gadol on behalf of Lev L’Achim. Rabbanit Tamar answered the door and said that although the rabbi was napping, she would wake him up for such a cause.
The Rabbanit spoke to us about the old days, when Rav Shteineman was a Rosh Yeshiva in Ponevezh. For a period of time during war, they paid the Rav with only a crate of squash for the week, in lieu of cash, which was sorely lacking.
How’d they survive on squash?
Said the Rabbanit: Breakfast was squash with sugar, lunch was squash with salt, and dinner was squash with pepper! Three meals a day! They survived on nothing.
Finally after about six months, the yeshiva was in a better financial position and wanted to pay him. He told them they didn’t owe him anything. He got paid so he could eat, and he ate.
There are people surviving on bare necessities. These Baale Bitachon bring the parnasa down for everyone else.
When the Gemara says: כל העולם אינו נזון אלא
בשביל חנינא- this word שביל can mean because, but it also can mean path.
The whole world gets its sustenance from his shvil - his path
The Baal Bitachon has access to the pipeline of Bitachon. There is limitless Bitachon coming down, and he acts as the funnel for everyone else to get the parnassa, while he takes nothing for himself- it would clog the funnel if he did.
This is the tenth advantage over the alchemist. That the the Sadik is the foundation of the world. - sadik yisod olam. If he wants, he can get too, but he is selfless. Like Rav Shteineman, who said no thanks these great, selfless people are the source of beracha for us. The least we can do is make sure that we appreciate what they do for us.