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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
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.
Compiled and Translated by Uri Kaploun

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  89.
When one has trust in the One on High,
he also has trust in his fellow Jews.
Search this book:
91.
Even Bread from the Earth comes from Heaven.  

...We[611] celebrate the Festive Meal of Mashiach[612] while we are still in exile, thereby demonstrating that Jews do not acknowledge the exile. This very fact in itself is effective in "burning down the walls of exile" (to cite the idiom of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz]) - very, very soon, when Mashiach will be revealed and will "lead us upright to our land."[613]

...In order to make it easier for people to appreciate this line of thinking, we may note that - like all subjects in the inner, mystical plane of the Torah[614] - this subject, too, is alluded to in the revealed plane of the Torah.[615]

On the eighth day of Pesach, the Reading from the Prophets[616] is the passage that opens with the words, "[Sancheriv exerted himself] to be standing at Nov while it was yet day...."[617] Why on that day? - "Because the downfall of Sancheriv took place on the eve of the first day of Pesach."[618] Now, since the downfall happened on the first day, the above-quoted explanation for the choice of this passage for the eighth day comes as a surprise.

The solution to this seeming anomaly lies in the fact that this passage speaks of the victory of King Chizkiyahu,[619] whom G-d sought to establish as Mashiach[620] - and it is on the Last Day of Pesach[621] that "the radiance of Mashiach is openly revealed."

Moreover, many of the predictions promised in this Haftarah were not fulfilled during the victory of Chizkiyahu; they will be fulfilled with the arrival of our Righteous Mashiach. For example, "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb...."[622] (According to Rambam,[623] too, this prophecy relates to the Days of Mashiach, though in keeping with his approach he understands it as a parable alluding to the presently warring nations.) Another example of a prophecy that will be fulfilled only in the Messianic era concerns the Ingathering of the Exiles: "And it shall come to pass in that day that G-d will [...] recover the remnant of His people that shall remain from Assyria and from Egypt... and from the islands of the sea..., [and He will assemble the dispersed of Israel, and gather together the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth]."[624] Since this Haftarah, much of which will be fulfilled when Mashiach comes, is read on the Last Day of Pesach, it is self-evident that "the radiance of Mashiach is openly revealed" on that day.

Accordingly, it is possible to explain the above concept even when speaking to a person who contends that not every individual can experience this radiance. One can explain to him that it illumines him, too. After all, in his shul, too, this Haftarah was read, complete with its introductory and concluding blessings to which everyone responded Amen. And since this Haftarah speaks of the Coming of Mashiach and related subjects, he, too, should experience this theme. He, too, is lit up by the above radiance, so that he, too, will be able to trust in G-d, utterly and absolutely, and without any trace of a doubt. Even though according to the laws of nature there is nothing to warrant such a trust, he trusts in G-d that He will fulfill His promise supernaturally.

One's trust ought to resemble that of Chizkiyahu. His trust was so complete that he said to the Holy One, blessed be He: "I do not have the strength to kill nor to pursue nor [even] to sing [Your] praises. Instead, I shall sleep in my bed - and You will act."[625] This he said even though the armies of Sancheriv had besieged Jerusalem on all sides, and had promised Chizkiyahu peace if he would surrender under certain specified conditions.[626] Moreover, Shevna [the Scribe] and his party, who constituted the majority of the Sanhedrin, held that according to the Torah, the Jews should submit to this offer of peace and follow the laws of nature.

Yet despite all this, Chizkiyahu acted according to the Word of G-d that the Prophet Yeshayahu relayed to him: "Thus says G-d, 'Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the King of Assyria have blasphemed Me..., for I shall cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.' "[627] Once the beleaguered King Chizkiyahu heard these words, he placed his trust so completely in the Hands of G-d that he lay down in bed and, unlike a worried man who cannot fall asleep, his trust allowed him a sweet and tranquil slumber. And as he slept, G-d fought his battle, as it is written: "And it came to pass that night that the angel of G-d went out and smote in the Assyrian camp...."[628]

In the same way, every individual should be certain about the Coming of Mashiach with an absolute and unwavering trust, so that "I shall await his coming every day." He trusts that Mashiach is coming the very next day, even though he finds no support for this trust in the rational arguments of nature.

A trust such as this has the power - in itself - to accelerate the Coming of Mashiach in the immediate future.

   

Notes:

  1. (Back to text) Excerpts from a sichah delivered on the last day of Pesach, 5732 (1972), and published in the Appendices to Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 7, pp. 274-275.

  2. (Back to text) In the original, Seudas Mashiach - first celebrated by the Baal Shem Tov, "for on this day the radiance of Mashiach is openly revealed." Ever since the year 5666 (1906), when this custom was instituted - complete with four cups of wine - by the Rebbe Rashab in the Tomchei Temimim Yeshivah, it has been widely honored throughout all Lubavitch (and many other) communities. See: HaYom Yom, entry for 22 Nissan (Acharon shel Pesach); From Exile to Redemption (Kehot, N.Y., 1952), Vol. 1, p. 85ff.

  3. (Back to text) From the blessing that immediately precedes the Reading of Shema in the morning prayers.

  4. (Back to text) In the original, pnimiyus haTorah.

  5. (Back to text) In the original, nigleh deTorah.

  6. (Back to text) This Haftarah is read only in the Diaspora, because Pesach in Eretz Yisrael is a seven-day festival.

  7. (Back to text) See Yeshayahu 10:32-12:6, which begins by predicting the miraculous collapse of the mighty armies of Sennacherib of Assyria as he stood overlooking Jerusalem in scorn, confident that he would conquer it within a blink.

  8. (Back to text) The Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch: Orach Chayim 490:13, paraphrasing Rashi on Megillah 31a.

  9. (Back to text) I.e., the victory of Hezekiah, King of Judah, which came about by the downfall of Sancheriv. The above passage then proceeds to describe the world as it will ultimately be transformed in the Messianic era.

  10. (Back to text) Sanhedrin 94a.

  11. (Back to text) In the original, Acharon shel Pesach.

  12. (Back to text) Yeshayahu 11:6.

  13. (Back to text) Hilchos Melachim 12:11.

  14. (Back to text) Yeshayahu 11:11-12.

  15. (Back to text) Eichah Rabbah 4:15.

  16. (Back to text) I.e., a promise of prosperity if they would agree to be uprooted from their land. See: II Melachim 18:31-32; Yeshayahu 36:16-17.

  17. (Back to text) II Melachim 19:6-7; Yeshayahu 37:6-7.

  18. (Back to text) II Melachim 19:35; Yeshayahu 37:36.


  89.
When one has trust in the One on High,
he also has trust in his fellow Jews.
Search this book:
91.
Even Bread from the Earth comes from Heaven.  
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