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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
88.
From the Mouths of Babes: Three Modes of Trust
Compiled and Translated by Uri Kaploun

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  87.
A Jewish farmer "believes in Him Who is the Life
of all the worlds - and sows."
Search this book:
89.
When one has trust in the One on High,
he also has trust in his fellow Jews.  

The[597] Midrash relates[598] that when the letters ordaining the decree against the Jews had been duly sealed by the king and delivered to Haman's hands, Haman and all his comrades went strolling with jovial hearts and encountered Mordechai.

Just then Mordechai had caught sight of three little boys on their way home from school. He hastened towards them, and Haman and his band followed him so that they could hear what he was going to ask them.

When Mordechai caught up to the young pupils he said to one of them: "Recite me your verse!" The little boy promptly recited the verse he had just learned at school: "Do not fear sudden terror, nor the destruction of the wicked when it comes."[599]

The second little boy spoke up and said, "I studied Scripture today, and this is the verse I just reached at school: 'Contrive a scheme, but it will be foiled; conspire a plot, but it will not materialize, for G-d is with us.' "[600]

And the third little boy said: "To your old age I am [with you]; to your hoary years I will sustain you; I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.' "[601]

The Midrash proceeds to relate that when Mordechai heard these responses, he smiled with a happy heart.

Haman asked him: "What makes you so happy about what these children said?"

Replied Mordechai: "I am happy because of the glad tidings they told me - that I should not be afraid of the evil plot that you contrived against us."

Hearing these words, the wicked Haman flew into a rage and declared: "The very first ones whom I will destroy shall be these children!"

Simply understood, the reason for Mordechai's joy was that in the children's words he saw a prophecy that he had no cause to fear Haman's decree. Along these lines, there are a number of sources in the Talmud[602] in which we encounter the phrase, "Recite me your verse," intimating that the verse quoted by a small child serves as a kind of prophecy[603] from Above.

As to the spiritual content of the above three verses: A Jew has an innate, latent capacity to sacrifice himself for the sake of Heaven. And these verses indicate three modes and levels of faith and trust in G-d, faith and trust that propel this latent capacity to the surface.

The first child's verse was: "Do not fear sudden terror, nor the destruction of the wicked when it comes." It is natural that a person should be afraid when confronted by sudden terror or by the destruction of the wicked. Nevertheless, because of his innate faith and trust, a believer - a Jew - does not have this fear, nor does he need any rational explanation as to why he should be unafraid. With him it is natural that he should experience something in the spirit of the teaching of the Sages: "Whatever the Merciful One does, He does for the good."

The second child's verse was: "Contrive a scheme, but it will be foiled; conspire a plot, but it will not materialize, for G-d is with us." This verse indicates a stronger kind of faith. At this level, not only is one unafraid. Beyond that, he is certain that the threatening evil will be foiled and will not materialize. Moreover, he is certain of the reason that underlies his response to his predicament - "for G-d is with us."

Higher yet is the fundamental premise of the individual who lives at the level of the third verse: "To your old age I am [with you]; to your hoary years I will sustain you; I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you." It is clear to such an individual that even the laws of nature that G-d imbued in all of Creation have no dominion over a Jew. He does not feel overwhelmed by them. This state of mind demands more justification than the previous state of mind. Not only is a person at this level conscious that G-d is "with us," but moreover, since He has promised that "I have made you," the individual who lives at this level is confident that the corollary of that promise will be fulfilled - "I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you."

These three modes of faith and trust also correspond to three levels in the schooling of the three children.

The first child, taking his earliest steps at school, can only "recite his verse." More than that he has not learned. Nevertheless, even before he reaches an age at which he can understand things rationally, this he should know, simply and decisively: "Do not fear sudden terror, nor the destruction of the wicked when it comes."

When a child is a little older and his learning has progressed ("I studied Scripture today, and this is the verse I just reached at school"), so that he can now read and study alone and can use his own understanding, he is taught to appreciate a deeper principle. He can now be taught to attain - and with certainty - a superior level of faith and trust. He can now be taught: "Contrive a scheme, but it will be foiled; conspire a plot, but it will not materialize." Moreover, he is now ready to be taught why such certainty is warranted - "for G-d is with us."

The mind of a child at the third level is even more developed.[604] In the mind of such a child one ought to impart and implant the axiom - complete with an explanation of the third-quoted verse - that a Jew does not allow himself to be overawed even by the natural laws and limitations that G-d created.

   

Notes:

  1. (Back to text) Excerpts from a sichah delivered on Purim, 5726 (1966), and appearing in Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 21, p. 206ff.

  2. (Back to text) Esther Rabbah, toward the end of sec. 7:17. An abbreviated version is to be found in Yalkut Shimoni on Esther, sec. 1057. See also: Aggadas Esther 3:9, Midrash Abba Gurion 4:1, and Midrash Lekach Tov 4:1.

  3. (Back to text) Mishlei 3:25.

  4. (Back to text) Yeshayahu 8:10.

  5. (Back to text) Op. cit. 46:4. These are the three verses (Al tira...) that appear immediately after Aleinu at the conclusion of each of the three daily prayer services.

  6. (Back to text) Gittin 68a; Chullin 95b. See also: Chagigah 15a ff.; Gittin 56a; and further references discussed in the source of the following footnote.

  7. (Back to text) In two substantial footnotes appended to the text of this talk as published in the Holy Tongue (in Likkutei Sichos, loc. cit.), the Rebbe analyzes the various stances of a broad range of Rishonim on the question of whether such a response should be termed "a kind of prophecy" or "a kind of minor prophecy" or "something related to prophecy"; on the ways in which asking a child to "recite his verse" is distinguishable from the forbidden kinds of divination (Vayikra 19:26); and accordingly, whether it is permitted to rely on such a response as a basis for actual decision-making, as opposed to merely rejoicing and taking note that this response is a good omen.

  8. (Back to text) Since in the Midrash the third child spoke in sequence to the second, it may be assumed that he introduced his verse similarly: "I studied Scripture today, and this is the verse I just reached at school."


  87.
A Jewish farmer "believes in Him Who is the Life
of all the worlds - and sows."
Search this book:
89.
When one has trust in the One on High,
he also has trust in his fellow Jews.  
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