Bitachon sermon

Bitachon- Trust in God

This is a sermon that I delivered at the shul last week...

There is a story about a shoe company in the early part of the 20^th century who sent two salesmen to Africa to see if it would be profitable to sell shoes there. The first salesman traveled around the land and sent back a telegram saying “Don’t bother. No one wears shoes here.” The second salesman also went around Africa and sent back this message, “Great opportunities! No one has shoes!” This story illustrates that how we perceive things can greatly influence our conclusions.

This is certainly true of our parsha[1] this week. The parsha starts off with the 12 spies sent into the Land to see if it was good. They return. Ten of them report bad news. They said that the land was indeed flowing with milk and honey, but they also say that the cities are strong, the people are giants. “We were like grasshoppers in our eyes and in theirs!” they exclaim. But 2, Yehoshua and Kalev (Joshua and Caleb), give a good report. They say the land is good and God is on our side. We can conquer this land.

Why the difference? How can two groups of people see the same things and draw completely different conclusions? The 10 saw the good land but reacted in fear and dismay. But the 2 had excitement, confidence, and joy. The reason is that Yehoshua and Kalev had bitachon—trust in God. They saw the same things that the others did, but instead of reacting in fear they were excited about the good land that they were about to receive. I am sure that the well fortified cities and the giant inhabitants were at first daunting to them as well. But they also trusted in God’s promise that they were taken out of Egypt for a reason, to receive the Torah and then enter the Promised Land.

Bitachon is considered a core virtue in Judaism. The Rambam’s son, Rabbi Avraham, once said, “Trust is one of man’s loftiest attributes, indeed one of the foundations of Torah. It is on everyone’s lips, but implanted in the hearts of a chosen few.”

Interestingly though, there was some debate amongst our sages as to whether trust in God is one of the mitzvoth or not. Rambam himself did not include it in his enumeration of the commandments. Ramban, Nachmonides[2], however, criticized him for leaving it out. He declared that it is based on the commandment to not listen to astrologers to determine the future. He argues that God is over all and therefore could even reorder the constellations that astrologers rely on. “From this we learn,” he writes, “the commandment to trust in God in all that we do, as is brought in the Prophets and the Writings.”

Bitachon, trust, makes all the difference in the world. It turns what would be fear and despair into strength and happiness. The Torah is replete with references to just how important trust is. The most famous one is in Mishlei (the book of Proverbs): “Trust in Hashem[3] with all your heart and do not rely on your understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight (Prov 3:5).” Trusting in God leads to peace and joy. Lack of trust in God leads to confusion, fear, doubts. When our people failed to trust in Hashem and instead listened to the ten spies, they certainly did not have straight paths, did they? They were condemned to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

There are plenty of other references. In the Psalms we have, “Put your hope in Hashem, be strong and He will give you courage. (Psa 27.14)” And, “Cast your burden upon Hashem and He will sustain you. (Psa 55.23)”

In the Besorah[4], Rav Shaul[5] states “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh[6]. (Rom 15.12-14)”

In the first letter to the believers of Corinth he says, “Love… always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres… (1Cor 13.7)”

Yeshua Himself lived a life of perfect bitachon. He trusted in that Hashem had the best in mind for Him. And He exhorted us to do the same. In the famous sermon on the mountain He said, “Do not worry about what you will wear or what you will eat. God knows that you need these things. Instead, seek His kingdom and its righteousness and He will give these other things to you.” In that same sermon he likened those who trusted in His words that He was bringing from the Father to a builder who built his house on rock. Those who do not trust in God are like those who build their houses on sand, which are washed away in storms.

Yeshua trusted in God even unto the point of death. In the Garden, He was standing on the edge of a new land—the land of suffering and death. Yet He was able to trust God and say “Your will not mine.”

Not surprisingly, since it is comprised largely of scripture, our siddur[7] is also full of references to trusting in God. At the end of the hymn “Adon Olam” we sing, “God is with me, I shall not fear.”

Just before we pray the Amidah[8], we refer to God as “tzur yisrael”, Rock of Israel. Rock is symbolic of trustworthiness in Jewish literature.

The second blessing from the Amidah calls out to God who is worthy of our trust. “M’chalkayl chayyim b’chesed, m’chyay maytim b’rachamim rabim…” You sustain the living with steadfast love, and give life to the dead with great compassion.You uphold the falling, heal the sick, free those in bondage, and keep faith with those who sleep in the dust. Who is like You, Lord of might, and who can be compared with You, O King,

who brings death, restores life, and causes salvation to spring forth.

And at the conclusion of the service, in the Alyenu, we call out to the God who will keeps his promises and will keep His promise of bringing the Messiah and the world-to-come.

“We hope therefore, LORD our God, soon to behold Your majestic glory,

when the world shall be perfected under the reign of the Almighty; when all human beings will call upon Your Name, and all the wicked will be turned to You;

when all inhabitants of the earth will know and recognize, that to You every knee should bend and every tongue should swear.”

Bitachon doesn’t mean that we just sit back and fold our hands in our lap and wait for someitng to happen. The rabbis have been very clear that we are to unite our efforts to trust in God, trusting that He will aid us. In fact, it is considered a mitzvah to do so.

In the 11th century, Rabbi Bachya ibn Pakuda wrote a book titled "Duties of the Heart". In it he said:

“When one goes about earning a livelihood, he should bear in mind that he is performing a mitzvah, for God commanded man to resort to his own resources, as we read ‘The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it.’”

We should not wear ourselves out working night and day trying to ensure that we are secure. Nor should we be lazy, trusting that God will provide. Instead, we should do a reasonable amount of work and trust that it will be sufficient.

Bitachon also doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t share our fears and concerns in prayer. We are encouraged to pour out our hearts to God, but again trust that He will hear us, comfort us, and answer our prayers. A number of years ago, a woman showed up for a spiritual direction session, and asked me if I had ever had God tell me to shut up before. I said that I hadn’t and asked her to tell me about it. She told me that her husband was going on a trip to a dangerous third world country and she had been very worried about his safety. She kept praying over and over again that God would protect him. Finally, the day arrived and she took him to the airport. As she drove away she was once again seized with fear and started to pray again. At that moment God busted through to her and told her to shut up. As we unpacked this we realized that she was basically praying without bitachon. She was so caught up in the fear that she was unable to do anything but repeat herself over and over again. She couldn’t hear God in any of this. She was acting like the spies and was freaking out.

One rabbi wrote, “One lacks trust in God if he does not preface the hope and expectation of salvation to his prayer when in trouble… Here lies our mistake, for we think that we have trust in God because we pray, while in truth we might be close to believing in God, yet far from truly trusting in Him.”

Bitachon also doesn’t mean that we always get what we want. Sometimes God says no because it is not in our best interest. Sometimes pain and suffering can be in our best interest. Other times he can’t grant us our request because to do so would violate another person’s free will. The prayer, “God make so-and-so love me” is likely to go unanswered. Ultimately, the rabbis say, trust in God means that we trust that He will be with us. With us in the pain, joys, desires, fears. Recall the midrash that says God’s name that He revealed to Moshe Rabbenu[9] at the burning bush could mean “I am that I am” but it could also mean “I am with you now and will be with you in the future.”?

In Jeremiah it says “Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord and the Lord is His trust.” The rabbis asked why does it say this twice? Their conclusion was that ultimately trust in God is trusting that He will simply be with us. Trust is not what He can do for us, but the trust that He will be with us. It is a realization that the greatest gift He can give us is His presence.

The spies entered into the land but because they didn’t have bitachon, they returned in fear.

Oftentimes we find ourselves standing on the edge of a new land, an undiscovered country. For us it may be a life change like a job change, retirement, marriage or (God forbid) divorce. It may be the loss of a loved one, facing a severe illness, or even death. All of us in this congregation have faced or are facing such transitions. Deb has a son who is now in the Navy and is no longer close to home. Abby just took a new job. Zora just retired. Laura is on this new journey into exploring her Jewishness. We ourselves are facing Hannah graduating and moving on to college next year.

Looking at any of these situations without bitachon, at least places the temptation to be consumed with doubts, fears, and anxiety; and if allowed to run amok can lead to total despair. We can become like the spies and freak out. Or we can choose to have trust in Hashem, who has promised that He will always be with us, always work for our good. Then we can have peace, joy, confidence, and strength. Do you recall the sermon that I did a few months ago about the Exodus from Egypt? Remember the handout? The indicators of whether we were moving towards or away from God, ourselves, and others were these very moods. If we are experiencing anxiety, fear, confusion, anger, despair then we are in a place that is not so close to Hashem and trust in Him. On the other hand, if we have peace, hope, joy, confidence, then we are drawing closer to Him and living in trust of Him.

The Messianic movement is also on the verge of a new land. As we approach this crucial period of passing from one generation to the next there are fears of whether the movement will last or not. As we continue in this direction and work towards our goals, we need to have bitachon, trusting that Hashem is doing something important and unique and that He will prosper us.

The broader Jewish community is also on the verge of a new land. With the high assimilation and intermarriage rates, there are fears about whether there will be any Jews left in America in a 100 years. While these are real concerns that we need to work towards resolving, we need to have bitachon, trusting that Hashem has promised that there will always be an Israel.

May we imitate the Yehoshua and Kalev’s bitachon. May we imitate the life of bitachon that Yeshua Rabbenu[10] had. If we do, it will give us peace, joy, and make us better servants of Hashem.

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[1] Weekly Torah reading (Old Testament)

[2] Rambam and Ramban are two very famous and important Jewish authorities.

[3] A substitute for God’s name ( called Jehovah in churches) so that it is not pronounced. It means “The Name”.

[4] Lit. “Good News”, the New Testament

[5] The Hebrew name of the apostle Paul

[6] Hebrew for “Holy Spirit”

[7] Prayer book

[8] Central prayer recited during services

[9] Moses, Our Great Teacher

[10] Jesus, our Great Teacher