When we started the Sefer Madregat HaAdam, we learned that Bitachon has two types of benefits:
One is the byproducts of Bitachon, which we have discussed in previous day: peace of mind, lack of worry, etc.
The other type of benefit is what he calls
דרך הבטחון- The Bitachon Approach to Life, which he says is more important than the problems that can solved with bitachon!
Health is an example- when a person is healthy, it’s true that he is better able to sleep and concentrate, but the health itself is the main benefit. While it’s true that if you’re healthy you’re able to make money etc, these are just byproducts that show how great health is.
If I have health, I can run a marathon, but that is just an indicator. The ma’ala itself is something to be appreciated. The same is true with Bitachon. Aside from the benefits of being calm, and not having your blood boil every second, the main thing is the approach.
Therefore, he says, if the person at times lacks something, or if something isn’t going well, he views it like a person with a very successful business, that has been running for years. Just because there’s one day when he didn’t have a sale, he’s not worried. His business is a cash cow. A cash cow is double plus. It is inherently a cash cow, and it also produces cash. He knows that this business will continue to provide for him. His business is called the Bitachon Approach. Therefore, he is not worried when there’s a temporary blip, and he doesn’t complain if there is a momentary lapse. He has a plan and an approach, which will get him to where he must go. Why? Because this path is connected to G-d, Who is the Source of life and the Root of all success.
He realizes that he can’t benefit himself at all, with any intermediary that will get him there, more than the bitachon itself can benefit him.
In other words: What is more important? The intermediary or the connection itself?
When he was a young man, all of the important people wanted the great Brisker Rav as a son in law. In those days, (and maybe in these days as well), people were willing to pay money for a good son-in-law, buy him a house and set him up. The Brisker Rav was no different. When he married, he got a full block of real estate in Warsaw, which was considered a big commodity then. His father-in-law was a wealthy man and intended that he’d be able to sit and learn for years, undisturbed. Then war broke out and someone swindled him. He lost the entire block. He was totally devastated and destitute. He sat down and learned Hovot Halevavot’s Shaar Bitachon and reviewed it many, many times. After he got clarity and hizuk, he said, “I thought a wealthy man is a man who has a block of real estate in Warsaw. But now I realize that a wealthy man is a man who lives by Hovot HaLevavot’s Shaar Bitachon.”
That is what is going on here, and it applies not just to that Sefer, but any Sefer.
The person comes to realize that his whole lifeline is bitachon. That is what gives him everything. That is what is going to solve life ‘s problems. If you have the דרך הבטחון/ the bitachon approach, you have everything. You are calm, and serene, you don’t worry and you don’t toil. You know that you have the guaranteed system. That is the main benefit. Celebrate the fact that you have the bitachon approach to life.
It’s like a person who dieted and lost weight. It is good that he lost weight, but more important is that he now has the “diet” approach to life. He knows about small portions and regulating his meals. He knows how to balance his diet and exercise properly. This “diet approach” may be more important than the actual benefits of the diet. He has to celebrate that fact that he has the diet approach.
And if you have the bitachon approach to life, that is the commodity of all commodities. That is the source for everything. Wherever you go, you take that with you. No one can ever take that away. That is the ultimate asset- the Bitachon Approach to life.
Have a wonderful day.