In loving memory of our beautiful mother and grandmother Frieda Beyda a'h on her 19th yarzheit - she is always in my heart and will never forget her by Judy Wygoda
When preparing a class, one often sees Siyata Dishmaya/Hashem’s help. I specifically saw Hashem’s help in preparing today’s class. I was looking for a Bitachon thought, and I stumbled upon an interesting Bnei Yisaschar, in a discussion of Bitachon, but I needed a little background.
Then, a few days ago, a dear friend of mine, Mr. Zach Mishan, shared a thought that he heard from Rabbi Meyer Yedid, from a speech in Shaare Zion. He was very excited about it.
He said that Rabbi Yedid quoted (and I later learned that it was from the Bnei Yisaschar) that when we say Asher Kidishanu B’Mitzvotav V’Sivanu Hashem made us holy with His mitzvot and commanded us (which we say before every Mitzvah that we do),
what does it mean that He made us holy with His mitzvot?
On a simple level, it means that it’s a Mitzvah that Hashem commanded us. But the Benei Yisaschar explains that “His mitzvot” refers to the mitzvot that G-d Himself fulfills. So G-d allows us to fulfill the mitzvot that He does. The Benei Yisaschar sources this from the Sefer his teacher, Rav Menachem of Rominov, Sefer Menachem Sion. It connects with this week’s reading of Zachor, where it talks about eradicating Amalek.
G-d tells us to eradicate Amalek, but He also says Himself, “I will eradicate Amalek.”
We have a Mitzvah to eradicate Amalek, like G-d Himself will eradicate Amalek. We do G-d’s mitzvot. Just like it says that G-d puts on tefilin, and we put on tefilin ( What this actually means is not within the scope of this class). G-d does hesed, and we do hesed.
G-d allows us to do His mitzvot. This is actually sourced in a Yerushalmi, in Rosh Hashanah, where it says that normally, when a king of flesh and blood makes a decree, he may or may not keep it. But with Hashem, it doesn’t work that way. Hashem makes a decree, and He fulfills it first. As it says ושמרו את נשמרתי
Guard My Guard , I am Hashem.
That means Hashem fulfills the mitzvot first.
This concept, that G-d fulfills the Torah, exists, but the Hiddush of the Benei Yisaschar and his teacher, is that this is how we read the Beracha- Asher Kidishanu/ that G-d made us holy with His mitzvot.
And now for the Bitachon related Hiddush, that needed that background, which coincidentally came from the same Rabbi, the Benei Yisaschar.
The Benei Yisaschar says the following thought on bitachon:
What is the concept of hametz and matzah? (I know it’s a little early for Pesach, but this beautiful thought fell into my hands and I wanted to share it) Matzah is called the bread of emunah. It teaches us emunah, simply speaking, because it reminds us of Yetziat Mitzrayim.
The Hiddush is that in order for Matzah to be made, it has to be worked on. If you have ever been to a Matzah bakery, you’ve seen that they don’t leave the dough for one second. If they leave it alone, it becomes hametz, and hametz is not edible on Pesach.
And the Benei Yisaschar says that we are the dough. It says that G-d kneaded man from dirt and water. Man was made like challah.
G-d is the Baker and we are the dough. As long as we allow G-d to work on us, and we don’t pull ourselves away from Him; we stay in his grip, and we let Him do the work, that means that we understand that He is doing everything. If we don’t take credit, and we stay in the hands of the Baker, we remain pure. We remain Matzah. But if we take ourselves out of the hands of the Baker, then we start to rise, which is arrogance, and that is hametz. That is disqualified.
When I saw how this beautiful thought fit so well with the idea that Hashem keeps the mitzvot, I wondered who said it, so I called Rabbi Yedid. It turned out that the same exact rabbi said both thoughts, which happen to coincide. Hashem makes matzot, and we are His matzot, and we can’t take ourselves out of His grip. That’s level one.
Now we are going on to extra credit:
Every day in our Amidah, we say
ולא נבוש כי בטחנו
We shouldn’t be embarrassed because we have bitachon in You. That means, Hashem don’t let us down. Don’t embarrass us by not fulfilling, because we are relying on you, G-d. If we say we are relying on You, then it will be an embarrassment if You don’t come through for us.
The cherry on top is that the Mishnah tells us that the point at which the Matzah starts to become hametz is when its face turns color - as if to say the dough turned colors and got embarrassed. So the point of being left alone is when the hametz sets in, and that’s the stage of embarrassment. The Benei Yisaschar says that that is what,
“Don’t let us be embarrassed because we rely on You,” means.
It means, “Don’t leave us alone. Don’t let us turn into Hametz. Don’t let us out of your grip. We are relying on you and holding on tight. It’s our job to keep ourselves in the hands of the Baker. What a beautiful thought on bitachon from the Benei Yisaschar! We have to thank Hashem for sending it, because the truth is, we don’t do anything. These things just come together.
I hope this was clear.
Have a wonderful day.