The sefer Kehilat Yaakov, from one of the Mekubalim, points out that the letters of the word איבה - Eivah/Hatred can be re-scrambled as an acronym for the words of the pasuk:
הגבר אשר יבטח באדם ..
The man that relies on man.
The word איבה/Eivah is found in the pasuk where God tells the snake,
“וְאֵיבָה אָשִׁית בֵּינְךָ וּבֵין הָאִשָּׁה
I will put hatred between you and the woman.”
In other words, the snake, was be the fulfillment of,
ארור הגבר
אשר יבטח בה׳
Accursed is the one that relies on man.
The snake was the one that separated man from his Creator, the one that caused man to believe that there was something other than his Creator, and ultimately caused man and his wife to get cursed with the challenges of childbearing, child rearing, and making a living.
The snake is responsible for that. And on the snake, it says, “His bread is dirt,” which the sefer explains as meaning that he sees the whole world as dirt. The snake sees everything in a negative light. He doesn’t see anything positively, because he doesn’t have Bitachon.
This shows us the power of Bitachon; It causes us to turn around and see things in a positive light. That is what
ברוך הגבר אשר יבטח בה׳
Blessed is the one that relies on Hashem means.
In his sefer Pahad Yitzhak (letter 240), Rav Hutner says, in a very poetic way, that two people can go to work, and one of them can be very involved. They are both fulfilling God’s will, so to say. One of them is fulfilling the curse of, “By the sweat of the brow you’ll eat bread,” and the other one is fulfilling the blessing of, “ברוך הגבר אשר יבטח בה׳Blessed is the one who relies on Hashem.“ They are two people doing the same thing, but it is up to the person to decide whether he wants to be in the ארור/cursed group or in the ברוך/blessed group.
And as we mentioned regarding the snake, the person in the accursed camp has the negative view that the whole world is dirt. There is nothing positive. He is in dry and arid land, which is the curse of someone who has no Bitachon.
But regarding the one who has a bitachon, it says, “Like a tree that is on waters, at a time of drought he is not worried.”
Like a tree planted on waters that is always moist, so too, the Baal Bitachon always feels God’s Hashgacha/providence in his life. That is the “moisture,” so to say. He is not dried out.
The Meiri, in his sefer Hibur HaTeshuva, explains that, “At a time of drought, he’s not worried,” means that in times of difficulty in the world, when people are being punished, the person who has Bitachon will not be swept up with the sins of others. So he does not have to be worried in that time of “drought.” He’s not drawn in with everyone else, in whatever global situation is going on, and he’s not worried. He is his own man.
Another explanation for this, from the Meiri, is that in a time drought, there are difficulties, and the Baal Bitachon might be suffering as well, but the blessing of Bitachon is that these difficulties don’t cause him to become panic stricken, or to despair and give up. He doesn’t stop functioning or stop serving his Creator. He takes it like a man. When he sees that things aren’t going well, he looks into his deeds, rather than questioning God. He doesn’t doubt God’s judgment, ask why God is doing it, or how it is good for him.
So the Meiri’s two explanations are that:
1- He’s not worried because nothing is happening to him,
2- He has difficulties but he’s still not worried.
The sefer Akedat Yitzhak (gate 58) says something very similar to this second explanation. It says that even when he is lacking certain things, or having challenges, he will continue to flourish in a spiritual way. He won’t be down. He won’t be focused on his physical lackings. He will continue to give fruit- the sweet fruit of his connection to God. That connection, that moisture, doesn’t go away. It’s that connection to God that, “waters the trees.” That moisture is always there, in all situations, even if there was a draught outside.
He doesn’t view his physical challenges as a disconnect from God. He always feels connected and always has that closeness. That is the moisture.
This is a beautiful mashal, from Hashem, given through Yirmiyah. The Baal bitachon is moist and gives off fruit, and isn’t worried.
That is the ‘Baruch,’ whereas the opposite, the curse is on the snake, who is just living in the dirt.
B’ezrat Hashem, we are all on the Baruch program.
Have a wonderful day.