Yesterday's Daily Bitachon Message
Very often, people are concerned when it seems that there is an item that they need, but there is a shortage of that item. They worry about how they will get it.
One modern, and very timely example is the vaccine that can help prevent someone from contracting the Covid-19 virus. There is not enough for everybody at this point, and there are some people that are quite concerned about it, so they are trying to find ways to get it. Of course, we have to do our hishtadlut, but sometimes it just doesn’t seem like it will happen, and people get anxious. People might think that someone will get it before them, or that someone will take it away from them…
There is a very beautiful Hovot HaLevavot that is hiding in Shaar Heshbon HeNefesh, one of the ten “gates” written by the Hovot HaLevavot. We quote from Shaar Bitachon most often, because that is our topic, but occasionally there is a beautiful bitachon point found in another section. This is one such example, where he talks about the fact that the human being is really alone in this world, as it says- “Man was created alone.” As the Elder of Slobodka says, “For as many people that there in the world (for example 6 billion people), that’s how many worlds there are (i.e., 6 billion worlds). Each person has their own world. Each person is the center of his own world, and everyone else is just scenery in that world.
This is the way a person is supposed to look at things, although, of course, without any arrogance.
G-d created me and I have to deal with G-d.
His point is that a person is always alone. He explains that when a person is born into this world, no one can give him his sustenance unless Hashem decided so, and likewise, no one can take anything away from him. He says, imagine if the whole world was yours alone, and there was no one else in the world but you. That would not give you any extra food, not even the size of a mustard kernel (which is very small). You will get the amount of food that you are supposed to get, and everyone else around you, seemingly adding or subtracting from your portion, is really insignificant. Furthermore, he says to imagine the other extreme. People worry about the population growth, and that there won’t be enough food for everybody, and there won’t be enough resources for all of these people. But, he says, even if the world were to have double the amount of people, that would not take away from what you get- not even a mustard kernel! Nobody can harm you, and no one can benefit you, No one can add or subtract from anything that you are supposed to get.
And his punchline is, if that is the case then you really have no connection or relationship with people. As he says, “you are like an immigrant/stranger that no one is really helping or harming.
You are just a stranger walking around. Your only friend and your only companion is your Master, which is G-d. There is no one that is compassionate about you, except for your Creator.
Once in a while we need to re-calibrate, and think to ourselves, “Slow down. No one is taking anything away from me. If I am supposed to get a vaccine, I will get a vaccine. That was decided on Rosh Hashanah.”
We have to tell ourselves this. Of course, we have to do our hishtadlut/effort. But sometimes there is no hishtadlut. If you are under 65, you are not a healthcare worker, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason why you’d be on the vaccine list right now, then there is no room for worry. Rav Chaim Kanievsky, shlita, says a beautiful thought about worry: Worry is all rooted in a person’s lack of a proper bitachon mindset. Make up your mind, he says. Was it decreed? If it was decreed, then nothing will stop it from happening. And if it wasn’t decreed, then nothing in the world can make it happen.
So, what is one worried about?
The only things to be worried about are your sins.
In his words, Do you believe that everything came from Hashem, and that the gezerah/decree was there? If so, no wisdom or understanding can stop what G-d wants.
And if it wasn’t decreed, then what are you worried about?
That is the way to look at things. If you are supposed to get it, you will get it (the vaccine, that is). And if you aren’t supposed to get it, you won’t get it.
So just sit back, relax and do whatever hishtadlut there is. However, for most people, there is no hishtadlut right now. And if that’s the case, there is nothing to worry about.
There can be no one in the world, and it still wouldn’t come to you. Or, there can be twice as many people, and it will still come to you.
That’s the calming Hovot HaLevavot from Shaar Heshbon HaNefesh that I wanted to share with you.