Today we will quote an interesting Pasuk from Tzephaniah (3,2). It’s not a pasuk that describes someone having bitachon, but it does give us some hizzuk on the need to have bitachon. Tzephaniah, when talking about the generation of the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash, says, לֹ֤א שָֽׁמְעָה֙ בְּק֔וֹל לֹ֥א לָקְחָ֖ה מוּסָ֑ר בַּֽיהֹוָה֙ לֹ֣א בָטָ֔חָה אֶל־אֱלֹהֶ֖יהָ לֹ֥א קָרֵֽבָה׃
They did not listen to the voice. They did not take mussar, they did not rely on Hashem, they did not come close to God.
Those are four different reasons for the Churban.
1-They didn’t listen to the voice-
The Chida says this refers to the voice of the Nevi’im.
2-They didn't take mussar, they didn't look around and see what happened to the 10 tribes.
As Tzephaniah says later, they didn't see what happened to the other nations of the world. When God causes upheaval, its for us to take mussar to ourselves.
3-They did not rely on Hashem.
We see from here an important lesson. They did not rely on Hashem means that part of the Churban came about because of a lack of reliance on Hashem.
This is brought down by the Sefer Divreh Shalom in his 19th derasha And this is from a great rabbi of yesterday named Mahari Adribi. He says that from here we see the importance of Bitachon and that a lack of Bitachon caused the Churban.
That's why Tzephaniah is complaining; If they would've relied on Hashem, these problems would not have happened.
The outcome of the Bitachon would've been,
4- El Eloheha Karava/They would've come close to God.
It says, ‘You didn't rely on Hashem, so you didn't come close to God.’ If they had relied on Hashem, they would've come close to God. They would've turned around and their enemies would've left.
The sefer Safa Berura, by Rabbi Moshe Vale says that the first letter of each of the words
בַּֽיהֹוָה֙ לֹ֣א בָטָ֔חָה /In Hashem they didn’t rely spells out בלב / In the heart.
He says a pasuk in a Shir Hashirim says, “I am asleep and my heart is awake.” Meaning, every Jewish person may look like he's sleeping, but his heart is awake. He just needs a bit of a jolt, and he'll be able to pay attention to his heart, which is connected to God.
This was the complaint against the Jewish people, that inherently they were connected, as it says, ‘My heart is awake.’ I'm connected. So why didn't they see what was going on in the world, or listen to the words of the prophets (in the times that we had prophets)?
The Malbim adds that it means, in the time that we have teachers, listen to your teachers. Take the mussar, take heed to what's going on around you, when you see things that are going on that are negative and scary. Just like we see in our days, especially considering the situation in Eretz Yisrael after October 7th. It’s something to take mussar from, and it's definitely something that's scary. There are a lot of unknowns. So what are we supposed to do? Tzephaniah is letting us know. We can learn the mussar from the previous generations- We should do the opposite and the positive.
-We should be Shomeah B’Kol/ Listen to the voice.
- Lokeach Mussar/We should take the rebuke.
-B’Hashem Batacha/ We should rely on God.
-El Eloheha Karev/We should come close to God.
And then, B’Ezrat Hashem, everything will turn around.
Rav Dovid Soloveitchik, in one of his sefarim, when talking about Emunah and Bitachon, quotes this pasuk and says we see from it that the Churban came from a lack of Bitachon. He then quotes a pasuk in Michah(5,6) that says,
וְהָיָ֣ה ׀ שְׁאֵרִ֣ית יַעֲקֹ֗ב בְּקֶ֙רֶב֙ עַמִּ֣ים רַבִּ֔ים כְּטַל֙ מֵאֵ֣ת יְהֹוָ֔ה כִּרְבִיבִ֖ים עֲלֵי־עֵ֑שֶׂב אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹֽא־יְקַוֶּה֙ לְאִ֔ישׁ וְלֹ֥א יְיַחֵ֖ל לִבְנֵ֥י אָדָֽם
The leftovers of Yaakov amongst the many nations, like the dew from Hashem and the rain on the grass- the grass does not rely on anybody else. It knows the rain and dew are coming from God. It doesn’t hope to people.
This is talking about the future; this is what's going to bring Mashiach. He says it's going be the leftovers. Why the leftovers of Yaakov? Why not Bet Yaakov? Rav Dovid Soloveitchik z’l says that it’s because not everybody is going to survive. Who will survive? The Botchim, those that rely on Hashem, will be the leftovers that survive.
B’Ezrat Hashem, we will be from those people that survive these tumultuous times, due to our Bitachon and coming close to Hashem.
Have a wonderful day.