The Hovot HaLevavot now tells us a general rule about bitachon: What makes one person have more Bitachon than another depends on how much he understands G-d, believes that G-d protects him, supervises him and understands that G-d is always out for his own good. The more you look at G-d as a father figure, the more you will rely on Him. Of course, as we have said, you have to recognize G-d’s hessed, His kindness and know that He commanded you to rely on Him. The Hovot Halevavot then goes through a mashal, step by step, about how everyone has a built-in Bitachon system. All human beings need to rely on something. That’s a fundamental. The Bet HaLevi says this as well. Everyone believes in something. There is no such thing as a Kofer-somebody who denies completely.
For example, there are people who rely on evolution. They also believe in something. I once sat next to someone on a plane, and we got into a conversation about creation and evolution. After talking for a while, he couldn’t answer even the most basic proofs of plan and purpose that reveal the holes in the theory of evolution. When he ran out of answers, he said, “Look, I’m not a scientist. I trust the scientists.” So basically, he was a Maamin-a believer. But instead of G-d, he was relying on the scientists. He didn’t believe in G-d or Moshe Rabbenu, but believed in Darwin and his cohorts instead.
So that’s the fundamental: Everyone relies and has Emunah in something. The question is, who are you relying on? As we discussed back in the beginning of this series, some people rely on their wisdom and other people rely on their own strength. Some people rely on their good looks, and others on their parents.
The Hovot Halevavot builds a pyramid of reliance for us. He says that when a child is first born, he relies on his mother. But he’s not even relying on his mother as a person. He’s relying on whatever he’s nursing from. He doesn’t even realize there’s a person called a mother. He doesn’t know anything beyond the milk. He quotes a pasuk from David HaMelech, who admits it:
מבטיחי על שדי אמי -I rely on my mother’s nursing.
He doesn’t even know who his mother is yet! He just suckles at the source of milk. When he gets a little wiser, he begins to realize that there’s a lady there who is watching over him, and cares about him. It’s a nice mashal in itself. We don’t realize it, but there’s a bigger G-d, there’s a bigger Being that’s taking over, and that’s how we started off as little babies. At first, we don’t understand that there’s a mother, and then later on we start to appreciate that we have a mother who takes care of us, feeds us, clothes and bathes us. We begin to see that the mother is “the force.” The Hovot HaLevavot continues and explains that as we get a little older, we begin to see that somebody is bringing home the money that enables the mother to buy all of these things, and we start to realize that our fathers are the ones to rely on. (This was written 800 years ago. Maybe things have changed somewhat and kids today realize that it’s still the mom is charge, but 800 years ago, dad was in charge.)
Then we get older, stronger, and wiser. We may start relying on ourselves, on our own abilities and tactics. This is a mistake.
Here, the Hovot Halevavot pauses and gives a horrifying story to make this point:
There was a pious man who told the following story. He had a neighbor who was an expert scribe, who got his parnassa from his ability to write sefer Torah and tefillin. One day the pious man asked his neighbor the scribe, “How’s it going?” The scribe responded, “Life is great as long as my hand works.”
That night, while doing something, there was an accident. His hand was crushed and he was no longer able to write! That was his punishment because he relied on his hand, instead of relying on G-d.
This sounds horrific to us, but there are two points to note: Firstly, one of the Rishonim says that it would have been okay for him to say, “As long as my hand is good,” but he should’ve added, “Be’ezrat Hashem” Or, “As long as G-d is protecting my limbs.”
You’re allowed to rely on your business, but you have to say “As long as G-d is taking care of me.” That was the missing ingredient.
Furthermore, Rabbi Miller says, in his sefer Torat Avigdor, you many look at this as a horrific story, but imagine if this man would have gone through his whole life without that tragedy. He would have thought he was in charge! Therefore, Rabbi Miller says,
זו היא רפואתו
That crushed hand was his healing,
Because the danger of thinking that you’re in charge of your life is much worse than losing a hand. A lack of emunah is much worse.
It was an expensive lesson, but it was a lesson that set him straight.
And therefore, Rabbi Miller adds that this man, who had his hand crushed, was a great man. Simple people don’t get such speedy corrections or such fast direction from G-d.
Regardless, we should all have the proper attitude. Although we’re not yet at the end of the story, we will pause here to advise the people who rely on themselves: Don’t make that mistake. Always say “With Hashem’s help.”