We are up to the sixth advantage of the Baal Bitachon over the alchemist, which is that the alchemist has no guarantee that he won’t get sick. Previously we discussed that the alchemist is subject to work hazards. Now we discuss sickness in general.
There are people that seem to have it all but lo alenu, they can’t enjoy it because of poor health.
As the Hovot HaLevavot teaches:
שבעל הכימיה אינו בטוח מהחליים והמדוים, שמערבבין עליו שמחתו בעשרו,
The alchemist is not immune from sickness and disease, which hinders his joy in his wealth and prevents him from benefiting from what he has..
והבוטח בה' בטוח מן המדוים והחליים
And the Boteach B’Hashem is guaranteed against sickness.
*Now before we start listing all the baalei Bitachon we know who have gotten sick, we have to remember that only Hashem knows what’s in a person’s heart.
But, even if they are true Baalei Bitachon, the Hovot HaLevavot adds another facet:
אלא על דרך הכפרה או על דרך התמורה,
The Baal Habitachon understands that if something bad does happen, such as an illness, lo alenu, it’s either a kaparah to cleanse him, or G-d is using it as a barter for a bigger reward for that person.
The Baal Bitachon has the proper outlook and sees the difficulty or health challenge, not as an attack, but as a benefit. This is his greatest advantage. It’s an important concept that we can’t stress enough. It’s the ability to reframe, something we continue to study.
I recently taught a seminary class this topic. We had been discussing how the Hovot HaLevavot teaches that when someone insults you, you should send them flowers. One student stated that she felt this was an impossible level and asked how someone could be happy when something bad had happened to them.
I told her to think of the dentist. When we go for a cleaning, the dentist makes us bleed, he hurts us, it’s very unpleasant and yet we pay him and say thank you!!
The Baal Bitachon looks at a challenge like it’s a “cleaning” from Hashem. This attitude is how the Baal Bitachon gets through his hard times, including sickness.
And this outlook is probably the most important thing we can learn.
In a Halacha class recently, we studied the laws regarding the proper direction of the hechal in a shul. Ideally, it should be in the East. The Kaf HaChaim quotes the Pele Yoetz, in his Sefer חסד לאלפים, in which he complains about people that move the hechal for aesthetic or architectural reasons. He questions how a person could base the decision of where to place the hechal using his “physical” eyes, and states that one has to use his halachic, spiritual eyes. Using his halachic eyes, he’s being able to see that the proper placement of the hechal leads to Hashem’s acceptance of our tefillot- and that is the true beauty! What does aesthetics have to do with it?
Additionally, Rav Chaim Vital talks about controlling yourself when insulted, and using your “intellectual eyes” in the face of this difficulty. He says, regarding insults
,עם עיני שכל לך if we had “intellectual eyes”, we’d ask for it.
There’s a story about a boy and a spook house. The young boy went through the spook house ride at the amusement park with tremendous fear of all the scary sights. He came out traumatized and then realized to his dismay, that he’d left his kippah inside. An employee calmed him and escorted him in. Now, with the lights on, not only was he able to find his kippah, but he was able to see that all the things that had scared him were actually nothing but fake ghosts and fake witches! It was all a facade.
We have to realize that life is spook house and G-d is a dentist. This is using our עיני שכל- our intellectual eye, and it’s the power of Bitachon.