Many years ago, I went to Chacham Yehuda Ades and asked him a question on behalf of a woman who had regularly attended my classes on Bitachon for some time. She said that as much as she learned about bitachon, she was still extremely frazzled when it came to a challenge in life.
Why, she asked, was she still continuously frazzled by the situation, despite learning so much about Bitachon?
Rabbi Ades answered that the Hovot HaLevavot says that the definition of Bitachon is Menuchat Hanefesh/ calmness and serenity. The person is calm and serene in any situation. When stuck in traffic on the way to the airport to catch an important flight, you are calm. That’s the goal of bitachon.
But Rabbi Ades said that this is assuming you have Menuchat Hanefesh when there are no problems going on.
As a Mashal, imagine a man who has just married off his last child and sold his business for one hundred million dollars. He and his wife are healthy and they are sitting on a private beach with beautiful view, a minyan down the block, and everything kosher…
He sits in the sand with his Gemara open, enjoying the breeze…. That’s the serenity of bitachon, and that’s what we should feel like, even in a traffic jam.
But, Rabbi Ades says, what if this guy, sitting there on the beach, still doesn’t have Menuchat Hanefesh? Then, of course, when the challenges come, with all the bitachon that he has, he isn’t going to be any better off than the man on the beach.
How can we feel calm and relaxed in the challenging situation, if we don’t even feel it in the most relaxing and serene of times?
Rabbi Ades said that the problem is technology.
Interestingly, he said this ten years ago, right after Rabbi Weinberg ah, the Menahel of Ateret Torah had passed away 10.
At the funeral, they spoke about how the rabbi was very outspoken about issues of technology, and I decided to downgrade from my early level Android smart phone to a flip phone.
So I was excited to tell Rabbi Ades that I had a flip phone.
But he said, “I am not talking about issues of technology because you might look at something that you aren’t supposed to, or anything else… just having the phone in your pocket is a problem. It takes away your Menuchat HaNefesh.”
People may not want to hear this, but we have to say the truth as we see it, and hopefully people understand.
At the time, Rabbi Ades had returned from a trip to America. He said he usually came back on a high, after seeing all the kehilot/congregations and what was going on in the various communities. He was usually happy to come back to Yeshiva and share all the stories. He had always been inspired and impressed. But, he said, after his last trip, he was totally frazzled. He wasn’t himself and he didn’t understand why. Then he realized that this trip was different from all previous trips, in that he had three cell phones going on the way to the city. There wasn’t a moment that the people had to themselves. And if a person doesn’t have any time to himself, there is no way that he can have Menuchat HaNefesh.
He said that was the reason for the concept of Arba Amot Shel Adam- Every person has to have his own (6 ft of ) private space.
But we no longer have that. It’s been taken away from us. There is no such thing as my own private area, because the whole world is always in contact with me. And this has absolutely nothing to do with forbidden material.
This is something to think about.
It says, Shabbat comes and Menucha comes. Baruch Hashem, we can at least experience this Menucha on Shabbat.
Someone told me they finally understand why learning on Shabbat is so special. He said, “It’s because it’s the only time I can be without distractions from my phone.”
Over this week, we will discuss different areas of technology, as it is actually a backdrop to bitachon, which was Rabbi Ades’ Hiddush all those years ago. I feel it’s important to share.
Have a wonderful day.