Welcome to Daily Bitachon. Today we will discuss yet another incentive to work on the topic of Bitachon, quoting from the sefer Egeret Al HaBitachon by Rav Bloch. On page 7, he starts off by quoting the Rambam on Perush Mishnayot that explains the Olam Haba that awaits Sadikim and, has v’shalom, the karet/ cutting off for those that do not get Olam Haba. The Rambam writes that Olam Haba is that one benefits from the glory of the Shechina. They delight in constant new knowledge, and this is the best possible pleasure. There's nothing more that compares to it.
Mesilat Yesharim says something similar, that it's the greatest pleasure, the true delicacy. The ultimate punishment, he says, is when a person's soul is cut off and does not last and enjoy that pleasure- what we call karet.
When he talks about the person going to Olam Haba, he brings a pasuk
והיתה נפש אדני צרורה בצרור החיים
The soul of my Master should be knotted in the knot of life, which is similar to what we say at a person's funeral: תהיה נשמתו צרורה בצרור החיים
Let his soul be tied in the knot of life.
The pneumonic for this, תנצבה is placed at the end of people's names, and the Sror HaChaim/Knot of Life is the everlasting connection to God. There's no greater reward than that. It’s what all the prophets look forward to, as Rambam writes in the laws of Teshuva.
Based on this, Rav Bloch has a tremendous hiddush: that bitachon can fix a sin of Karet. This is a huge hiddush. When a person commits a sin of Karet the soul is cut off. Of course, Teshuva can bring it back.
Yom Kippur can atone for Karet – For example, if someone was M’Challel Shabbat, if somebody ate Hametz on Pesach, if someone ate on Yom Kippur, if someone committed a forbidden relation… these are all sins punishable by Karet. Horrible.
How does Bitachon fix that?
He quotes the Rambam on the laws of kings (chapter 7, Halacha 15) where it says that when a person goes to war, he law relies on the hope of Israel, and the One that saves them the time of challenge. When he does that, he's guaranteed that no evil or damage will come to him. He'll come back home, build a house in Israel, merit he and his children in this world, and get the next world.
And he quotes this pasuk about a man coming back from war,
והיתה נפש אדני צרורה בצרור החיים
The soul of my Master should be knotted in the knot of life,
That means when one has bitachon, and relies on Hashem, he gets connected to Hashem. We've discussed that in the past. The Meshech Hochma says the Mitzvah of bitachon is a Mitzvah of UBo Tidbak/ cleave to Him, because God is constantly on your mind when you’re constantly relying on Him.
And that's the way we fix Karet.
Rav Wolbe says, from Rav Yerucham Levovitz, that the three cardinal sins are the ultimate hate, the ultimate distancing, and those are sins of Karet. So it makes sense, then, that bitachon, which is the ultimate connection in cleaving, will fix such sins. And that's why, as we said, Olam Haba is recognizing God's name. We say in Birkat HaTorah, We and our children, and our children’s children should all be those that know Your name. Know Your name means knowledge of Hashem. And it says that those who know Your name are the ones that have bitachon.
So we connect to Hashem with our bitachon. This is a tremendous incentive, to constantly work on bitachon, to keep on thinking about Hashem in our lives. Because that fulfills UBo Tidbak, and that can fix even the greatest
punishments out there, has v’shalom, the sin of karet.
B’Ezrat Hashem, our bitachon will cause us to beצרורה בצרור החיים
Serura BSerur HChaim.
Knotted in the knot of life.