There’s a beautiful Mishnah in Pirkei Avot which has a strong bitachon lesson, in connection with the month of Elul.
The Gemarah in Masechet Avot tells us in the fourth perek (14th Mishna),
רַבִּי נְהוֹרַאי אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי גוֹלֶה לִמְקוֹם תּוֹרָה
Rabbi Nehorai says, exile yourself to a place of Torah,
In other words, choose a place to learn, even though it might be difficult. (This is the source for many boys who choose to go overseas, to Israel, to learn.)
וְאַל תֹּאמַר שֶׁהִיא תָבוֹא אַחֲרֶיךָ,
And don’t say, “It will come to me.”
Don’t assume that somehow it’ll come to you, and that you don’t have to go there.
שֶׁחֲבֵרֶיךָ יְקַיְּמוּהָ בְיָדֶךָ.
You need your friends, your group
(There might be a better group there)
וְאֶל בִּינָתְךָ אַל תִּשָּׁעֵן:
Don’t rely on your wisdom
Simply speaking, this means one shouldn’t think he can stay behind while all his friends go off to Israel, and rely on his wisdom to achieve the same.
The Midrash Shemuel gives a deeper explanation of these last four words,
וְאֶל בִּינָתְךָ אַל תִּשָּׁעֵן:
Don’t rely on your wisdom
They’re actually the last four words of a pasuk in Mishleh. Interestingly enough, the Tanna Rav Nehorai actually cut and pasted these four words. In chapter 3, verse 5 of Mishleh, it says,
בְּטַח אֶל ה' בְּכָל לִבֶּךָ וְאֶל בִּינָתְךָ אַל תִּשָּׁעֵן:
Rely on Hashem with all your heart, and don’t rely on your wisdom.
This, says the Midrash Shemuel, means that in life, a person has to put forth all the necessary preparations to learn Torah, according to his abilities. Therefore, he must go to Yeshiva, and pick the best havruta. Those are good things. But after all of that, he shouldn’t say, “It’ll come to me because I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do.” Don’t rely on your wisdom, or what you’re doing. Rather, with all that you are doing, ask Hashem for help, because Hashem is the source of all wisdom.
כי ה׳ יתן חכמה
G-d gives wisdom.
Therefore, what the pasuk and the Mishnah are saying is that yes- do everything you can, go through all the necessary preparations and requirements to get to wisdom (or any goal for that matter), but at the end of the day, you need to pray because without prayer it doesn’t happen. And actually, it’s not just that without prayer it doesn’t happen, but rather it’s the opposite. The main thing is prayer, but a prerequisite in bitachon is to do some effort as well.
The two are interdependent.
The Gemarah in Masechet Niddah (70b) tells that the people of Alexandria, Egypt asked Rav Yehoshua Ben Hananiah, one of the Tanaaim
מַה יַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם וְיֶחֱכָּם?
What should one do to become wise?
He answered,
ירְבֶּה בַישִׁיבָה
Spend a lot of time in Yeshiva,
וִימַעֵט בַּסְּחוֹרָה.
And spend less time on business matters
In other words, put your focus on learning
They answered
הַרְבֵּה עָשׂוּ כֵּן, וְלֹא הוֹעִיל לָהֶם
that many people did that but didn’t become wise people.
Here, he seemingly retracts his advice, and replies,
אֶלָּא יְבַקֵּשׁ רַחֲמִים מִמִּי שֶׁהַחָכְמָה שֶׁלּוֹ,
Rather , ask mercy from the Source of all wisdom, which is G-d. And he quotes this same pasuk in Mishleh-
"כִּי ה' יִתֵּן חָכְמָה מִפִּיו דַּעַת וּתְבוּנָה".
G-d gives wisdom, from His mouth comes all understanding and knowledge.
Here the Gemarah asks, if prayer is what makes it happen, why didn’t he originally just tell them to pray? Why play with them? And the answer given is that,
דְּהָא בְלָא הַא, לָא סַגְיָא.
One without the other doesn’t work.
It really is prayer, but the condition for the prayer is that you need to put in your efforts.
They asked another question of the Rabbi,
מַה יַעֲשֵׂה אָדָם וְיִתְעֲשֵׁר?
What can one do to become wealthy?
יַרְבֶּה בִסְחוֹרָה,
He answered, put a lot of time into business.
וְיִשָׂא וִיתֵּן בֶּאֱמוּנָה.
And act honestly in your business.
אָמְרוּ לוֹ, הַרְבֵּה עָשׂוּ כֵּן וְלֹא הוֹעִילוּ?
They answered that many people did this and it didn’t work.
So, he answered
אֶלָּא יְבַקֵּשׁ רַחֲמִים לְמִי שֶׁהָעוֹשֶׁר שֶׁלוֹ, ,
Rather, pray and ask mercy from the one who is the source of wealth, as it says,
לִי הַכֶּסֶף וְלִי הַזָּהָב",
God says, I have all silver and all gold.
And the same question is asked.
Why not just tell them to pray from the beginning?
And the same answer is given:
דְּהַא בְלָא הַא לָא סַגִי.
One doesn’t work without the other.
The Gemarah goes on to a third question: What can you do to have a baby boy?
Sometimes people want a segula. And the same thing happens. He tells them the segula, and again they say that for a lot of people, it doesn’t work. The same answer is given yet again, “So pray to the Source, who is G-d.”
Again the same question, why not just tell them to pray. and the answer is the same. One without the other doesn’t work.
The theme here, explains Rav Wolbe, is that we have to assign to prayer a weight that’s equal to whatever hishtadlut we do. One without the other doesn’t work, and that’s why he answered them that way.
This applies to spirituality as well. Rav Yerucham says that Elul is about preparation for the great, holy days. So, we go and prepare. But even after all of our preparations, we have to realize that our preparation is still limited. We can say that many people prepared for Elul, and they didn’t seem to have success.
And the answer is that we have to pray for that too. For whatever we do in life, we have to ask for help from Hashem. We have to say, “Hashem help me have a successful Rosh Hashana. Please help me pray well. Please help me do Teshuva. Please help me accept the yoke of Your Kingdom.”
Anything we need to do, we need to ask Hashem to do, even if we have put forth a lot of effort. We do what we can, in raising our children, or whatever it may be. These are all prerequisites. But tefila and bitachon are required as well.
בְּטַח אֶל ה' בְּכָל לִבֶּךָ וְאֶל בִּינָתְךָ אַל תִּשָּׁעֵן:
Rely on Hashem with all your heart, and don’t rely on your wisdom.
Of course, we need to use our wisdom, but there must always be a balance. We have to realize that one without the other doesn’t work.
Have a wonderful day.