In Good Hands: Part B: Talks

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Translator's Introduction

Part A: Letters

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

Compiled and Translated by Uri Kaploun

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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...."

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.

When[492] a person asks G-d to grant a particular request, a question arises: Since G-d owes nothing to anyone - for no one does Him a favor that would obligate Him to repay - how does one have the nerve to confront Him with requests?[493]
The solution[494] is to give tzedakah to an individual whom one has never seen, and who has never done the donor a favor, and who is never going to return the present favor. And despite all that, one now provides such a person with all his needs, without calculations and without conditions.
That done, one can now have the nerve to face the Holy One, blessed be He, and say: "Even a little guy like me has given money that I toiled to earn (or at least I could have used it to buy whatever I fancied) to a bedraggled stranger whom I had never seen and from whom I will never get anything in return. So certainly You, G-d, ought to grant all my needs from Your wide-open hand, without any conditions or calculations!"
[At this point the Rebbe turned to one of those present who had previously said that he would contribute a certain sum to tzedakah, but on a certain condition, and told him that he ought to donate that sum, but without any conditions.]

Notes:
(Back to text) From a sichah which the Rebbe addressed in his study to supporters of the Tomchei Temimim Yeshivah on the eve of 6 Tishrei, 5716 (1955), and which was published in Toras Menachem, Vol. 15, pp. 20-21.

(Back to text) Making a request presupposes that one believes that it is in place.

(Back to text) For an alternative answer to the above question, see Item 92 below.

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...."

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.

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