Bitachon Chapter 5

The Alshich was once speaking about the topic of Bitachon without Hisdalut and one man in the crowd was stirred by the Alshich's words that he said to himself, "Since Bitachon works even without Hisdalut, a person must be insane to engage in fruitless and vain efforts day and night. I am better off avoiding all these troubles and simply relying on Bitachon. And from now on, I have no need for my cart or to work in the dirt. Also, who is to say I will get as much as I need? Since there is Bitachon without Hisdalut, the money will come to me anyways without any doubts. I have nothing but to be wrong and foolish to leave a source of life and to rely on my own efforts and troubles, which will not fulfill my needs or desires."

Thus, he made an ironclad decision and went to recline by the stove to recite Tehillim. When the man's wife and kids heard, they confronted him and demand that he go to work to support them. He chastised them, "Are you crazy, G-d Forbid? I heard from the Alshich explicitly that if a person trusts in Hashem, he will receive all of his needs without any effort. Why should I go out in the cold and the snow, since we will get what we need without working for it? Until now, I was confused but now I understand that there is no purpose to all the injurious and difficult toil. Come, children! Sit with me by the stove and do not worry about parnassah."

After a while, the family gave up on changing his mind and they sold the donkey with the wagon to a non-Jew. The non-Jew went out with his new equipment to quarry lime. As he worked, he discovered a treasure and loaded his filled sacks with the treasure onto his wagon. Just then, a rock fell from the mountain, striking and killing the non-Jew. The donkey bolted and made its way back to the original owner. When the family heard the braying outside, they went to investigate and found it was transporting sacks of gold. The family ran over to the man and exclaimed, "Look! Your Bitachon saved us, for we have found a great treasure!"

When the Alshich's students heard this story, they asked, "We have striven long and hard in search of acquiring Bitachon, and yet we weren't as successful as this simple peasant who heard it one time."

The Alshich answered back, "Why is this similar? Imagine someone who is driving a stake into the ground, if it pierces the soil, the stake will stand strong and true without moving or leaning from its place. However, if he drives it into soft dirt that has been dug up before, the stick will twist, turn, and wobble. Your ground has been plowed and crumbled, for 'As a person's greatness increases, so do his challenges'" (סכה נב א).

A person always wonders what is correct -- perhaps he experienced a miracle and perhaps not. He is plagued by so many doubts and never sure of the way to proceed. Therefore, it like driving a post into soft ground and it does not stand straight or true. What should a person do? He should bury the post as deep as he can until it goes past the soft shell of the broken up dirt. Then, once it's deep enough, it will penetrate the rigid earth so that it can stand. When a person is failed by his broken promises, he should erect a new safeguard more than in the past. Then, he must stick to it without budging. If a person's home has been robbed, then he shouldn't continue to use the same lock as before. Instead, he needs to upgrade to a stronger and better lock. The same is true for a person who has broken his previous spiritual commitments; he must devise a new safeguard that is stricter than the previous one, so that it will be strong and not prone to being broken again.

This applies in all areas. A person wavers in his commitments, because he isn't sure whether he even wants to succeed. When he tries to acquire Bitachon, he wonders: Perhaps Bitachon works like a miracle, perhaps it is only for the pious, and perhaps I won't be able to succeed in following Bitachon and I will be left wanting in my needs. These doubts destroy a person's resolve, leaving him with a double loss. He loses being on a level of an elevated person, and he loses out on his material goals. But if he firmly drives the stick into the ground -- that is, he fully commits to the Torah as it plainly is, and even though his dirt has been dug up and crumbled, he will overcome all his past failure and he will certainly succeed without question or doubt.