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Translator's Introduction

Part A: Letters

Part B: Talks

   78.
Why was Yosef punished for placing his trust in the royal butler,
for preparing a natural means through which he could be released from the dungeon?

79.
Regardless of everything, Yaakov Avinu went on his way
with a light heart and in high spirits, because he had trust in the One Above.

80.
Even if until that moment such a person was tainted by idolatry,
or perhaps a tinge of it, when Pesach eve arrives he can have complete trust that "now
the Omnipresent has brought us near to His service."

81.
So long as the Yeshivah is their home, students should immerse themselves in their Torah studies
and not be concerned with questions as to how they will eventually earn a living.

82.
The Rebbe Maharash answers his own question:
"People are not lacking a livelihood; they are lacking trust.
Every individual is indeed provided with a livelihood. It's only that by lacking trust,
a person sometimes turns off the tap...."

83.
"Even a little guy like me gave tzedakah to a bedraggled stranger!"

84.
The first time Adam saw nightfall,
he discovered that a man is able to diffuse light even when the world around him is dark.

85.
Before the Sea Splits: Four Responses to the Crises of This World

86.
Faith and Trust

87.
A Jewish farmer "believes in Him Who is the Life
of all the worlds - and sows."

88.
From the Mouths of Babes: Three Modes of Trust

89.
When one has trust in the One on High,
he also has trust in his fellow Jews.

90.
Once the beleaguered King Chizkiyahu heard the words of Yeshayahu,
he placed his trust so completely in the Hands of G-d that he lay down in bed...
for a sweet and tranquil slumber.

91.
Even Bread from the Earth comes from Heaven.

92.
G-d will provide him with all his needs even if he has not yet
tackled his task for the month of Elul - repentance.
Indeed, it applies because he is in that state.

93.
G-d's army - and in our context, the Israel Defense Forces,
whose privilege it is to defend Jewish towns with actual self-sacrifice...

94.
Yosef turned to the Chief Butler
as if his whole salvation depended on him - and this constituted his sin.

95.
This arousal included a heightened trust that Divine Providence
supervises the particulars of every individual's life,
and this in turn empowered the chassid to decide what to do and how to act.

96.
"In G-d we trust" means that one regards G-d as his trustee:
one hands everything over into His Hands and relies on Him in all one's affairs.

97.
When a child is born, his sustenance is born together with him.
Indeed, the birth of an additional child increases the sustenance of the entire household.

98.
The commandment to "be fruitful and multiply" should be fulfilled in a spirit in which G-d's blessings
of sons and daughters are received "with joy and a gladsome heart."

99.
Trusting in G-d does Not Contradict the Belief that Everything is for the Good.

100.
Exactly What is Meant by the Obligation to Trust in G-d?

"A Weighty Task Indeed"
A Thought from the Rebbe Rashab

"When there is still a straw to hang on to"
A Thought from the Rebbe Rayatz

In Good Hands
100 Letters and Talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson
on Bitachon: Trusting in G-d
Part B: Talks
80.
Even if until that moment such a person was tainted by idolatry,
or perhaps a tinge of it, when Pesach eve arrives he can have complete trust that "now
the Omnipresent has brought us near to His service."
Compiled and Translated by Uri Kaploun

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  79.
Regardless of everything, Yaakov Avinu went on his way
with a light heart and in high spirits, because he had trust in the One Above.
Search this book:
81.
So long as the Yeshivah is their home, students should immerse themselves in their Torah studies
and not be concerned with questions as to how they will eventually earn a living.  

[The[447] Rebbe opened by quoting a passage from the Haggadah:] "In the beginning our forefathers were idolaters, but now the Omnipresent has brought us near to His service."

[The Mishnah directs that when recounting the story of the Exodus,] "one begins by telling of [our forefathers'] disgrace."[448] In the words of the Haggadah, "In the beginning our forefathers were idolaters." Now, why should we speak of their disgrace? Have we not been taught that the Torah does not speak of the disgrace of even an unclean animal?[449]

Seeking an answer to this question, we may observe that this account of our people's past disgrace relates to every individual's Divine service on "this night."[450]

The Alter Rebbe writes in Tanya that "a person who violates G-d's Will,"[451] "even if he commits a minor sin,"[452] "is greatly inferior to and more debased than the sitra achara and kelipah which are called avodah zarah[453] and 'other gods.' He is separated completely from G-d's unity and oneness even more than they are, as though denying His unity even more radically than they, G-d forbid."[454]

Looking inside himself, everyone knows what his spiritual state really is. Not only may he have stumbled with regard to matters that are permitted but dispensable;[455] occasionally he may also have stumbled with regard to forbidden matters (whether unintentionally[456] or even intentionally[457]) - and this is related to the sin of idolatry, as explained above. Considering this, a person may become disheartened.

At this point the Haggadah assures him: "In the beginning our forefathers were idolaters, but now the Omnipresent has brought us near to His service." That is to say: Even if a moment ago ("in the beginning") such a person was in a state in which he was subtly linked to idolatry, in one single moment he can transform himself from one pole to the other, from being an utter rasha to becoming a consummate tzaddik. In the words of the Haggadah, "but now" - that is, at this very moment - "the Omnipresent has brought us near to His service."

The possibility for such an absolute change is highlighted by the events of "this night" of Pesach.

The Children of Israel had fallen so low while in Egypt that they had become idolaters. Indeed, the Midrash teaches [that when G-d announced in Heaven that He planned to release them from bondage, the Accusing Angels protested]: "These [i.e., the Egyptians] are idolaters, but so, too, these [i.e., the Children of Israel] are idolaters!" Yet despite their lowly spiritual status until that time, they were granted a revelation of Atzmus, the very Essence of Divinity - the ultimate expression of "the Omnipresent [bringing] near to His service."

An echo of this dynamic reverberates every year. Even if until that moment ("in the beginning") such a person was tainted by idolatry, or perhaps a tinge of it, when "this night" arrives he can have complete trust that "now the Omnipresent has brought us near to His service." This trust surpasses mere hope. (As explained by my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], a person with trust[458] not only hopes for a certain eventuality; he is certain[459] that it will materialize.) He trusts that "now the Omnipresent has brought us near to His service," for by virtue of this night's revelation of Atzmus, the very Essence of Divinity, he can about-face and become a completely different person.

   

Notes:

  1. (Back to text) Excerpt from a sichah delivered on the first night of Pesach, 5712 (1952), and published in Toras Menachem - Hisvaaduyos 5712 (1952), Vol. 2, pp. 113-114.

  2. (Back to text) Pesachim 9:4.

  3. (Back to text) Sanhedrin 54b, commenting on Vayikra 20:15.

  4. (Back to text) I.e., the first night of Pesach, so called in the Four Questions beginning Mah Nishtanah.

  5. (Back to text) See ch. 24 in Lessons In Tanya, Vol. 1 (Kehot, N.Y., 5742/1982), p. 315.

  6. (Back to text) Op. cit., p. 318.

  7. (Back to text) Lit., "alien worship"; i.e., idolatry.

  8. (Back to text) Op. cit., p. 315.

  9. (Back to text) In the original, mosaros.

  10. (Back to text) In the original, beshogeg.

  11. (Back to text) In the original, bemeizid.

  12. (Back to text) In the original, bitachon.

  13. (Back to text) In the original, batuach.


  79.
Regardless of everything, Yaakov Avinu went on his way
with a light heart and in high spirits, because he had trust in the One Above.
Search this book:
81.
So long as the Yeshivah is their home, students should immerse themselves in their Torah studies
and not be concerned with questions as to how they will eventually earn a living.  
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