The Hovot HaLevavot tells us that the Baal Bitachon is not concerned with famine.
He quotes Iyov, ברעב פדך מות (איוב ה כ):
During a time of famine, you were redeemed from death.
And Tehilim: (תהלים לז יט): לא יבשו בעת רעה ובימי רעבון ישבעו:
You won’t be embarrassed in a time of bad; in a time of famine you’ll be satiated.
This is what we’ve been talking about until now, with many stories told about people surviving what seemed like impossible situations.
But a “famine” isn’t always about food.
There’s a Tanna Deve Eliyahu that quotes a pasuk from Yeshayah:
הלוא פרס לרעב לחמך ועניים מרודים תביא ביתכי תראה ערם וכסיתו ומבשרך לא תתעלם
Give out your food to someone who is impoverished, and invite the poor into your home and clothe the undressed. Don’t ignore your flesh and blood.
(ישעיהו נ׳ח ז׳)
There are always many levels of understanding. Here, the Tanna Deve Eliyahu explains that this quote is not simply about food. It’s obvious that we must feed the hungry, house the homeless and clothe the poor. There is something deeper here. He says that this is referring to the spiritually hungry. He quotes the pasuk:לא רעב ללחם כי אם לשמע את דברי ה'
We will not be hungry for bread. We will be hungry to hear the word of G-d.
The Tanna Deve Eliyahu says sharing Torah with someone who is spiritually hungry is the same as sharing bread someone who is starving.
Furthermore, the Bene Yissachar says that just as giving charity before praying can help a person who needs a yeshua/salvation, G-d answer the prayers of those that take care of someone spiritually as well.
And just as with our sustenance, G-d tells us that if we rely on Him, He’ll give us our spiritual bread too.
There are people who want to come close to Hashem but don’t know how. Hashem helps them stumble onto a way to be closer to G-d, just like He helped the man who found the bread on the garbage can. The system works with spiritual bread just as it does with physical bread.
My father in law, Rabbi Nosson Scherman Shlita , once told me a story about a cousin of ours who works in Kiruv (outreach) in Zichron Yaakov in Israel. A man that came to learn in his Yeshiva grew into a true Ben Torah. He had quite a story: He grew up in Wisconsin and while at college there, he befriended a Native American named Yellow Kidney. The Jewish man went with his friend Yellow Kidney into the tribe one day, sat in the teepee with them and was impressed by what he saw. He decided he’d like to convert and join the tribe. When he told the Indian Chief his plans, the chief asked him why he would leave his own beautiful Jewish heritage for another religion? He told him to go back to his own heritage. So, the young man went on to learn more about his heritage, and he became a Baal Teshuva. This man was starving for spirituality and Hashem gave him “a piece of bread” at an Indian reservation, which set him on his path to religion.
This happens constantly. At a Siyuum at Yad Yosef for Rabbi’s Ashear’s minyan recently, Sol ‘Poppi’ Setton told the following story: A while back, he had been thinking that he’d like to start learning more seriously, with a solid hevruta, and he asked Hashem to help him. The very next night, at his friend Davy Haber’s wedding, he bumped into an old friend of his, Charles Chehebar. Charles asked him how he was, and if he’d like to start learning together.
Sol said he would. When do you want to start?” Charles asked.
“Tomorrow,” said Sol. And just like that, Sol’s “hunger” was satiated. They learned together for a year, finished Masechet Megillah and celebrated at the Siyum together.
We should all look back our own lives and see how this has happened to us.
And remember, if someone asks Hashem for that spiritual bread, they are going to get it from somewhere. Why not be the one that feeds someone spiritually? It might as well be you. Pick up the phone and ask a friend if they they’d like to learn with you.
This is my little plug for our Havruta night at Yad Yosef, where B’h hundreds of these types of pairs have been going strong. Come join us.
Why not make the choice to be the messenger to give someone that piece of bread?