Developing Trust in Hashem

MyLife Essay Contest

This essay will attempt to explain a concept that is  probably not mentioned anywhere in writing. There are some things that are not written but one must find them by reading between the lines, and in this essay we will see how one can find an explanation not in an actual Chassidic discourse or talk but in the conduct of one of the greatest Rabbis that ever lived.

Several years ago a book by the name of “The Secret” came out and sold millions of copies worldwide. Many others jumped on the band wagon writing similar books. The book talks about the power of positive thinking and all the great things it could bring into a person’s life. I was also very intrigued by the book but then realized that they were not really saying anything new. The Law of Attraction was actually written about in the early 1900s by several authors, but I am referring to something much earlier. The Five Books Of Moses talks about the power of positive and negative thinking.

The easiest way to explain it is comparing our minds to a magnet. Just like a magnet will attract metal objects to itself, so too our minds have the power to attract different things. The difference is that we can control what kind of things our minds will attract. We can create a magnet that will attract positive things into our lives or we can dwell on negative thoughts and attract negative experiences into our lives.

This seems like a pretty serious statement. But we know from our own personal experience that our mind has the power to cause things to happen. I don’t know if you will be able to bend spoons like the Israeli Uri Geller did, but is that really important? No one’s spouse will be happy if they find out that their entire Oneida Collection is all bent in half. Our minds can affect people. Try looking at a person from his back and place your entire focus on him, you will notice in most cases that person will turn around to see who is staring at him. How many times have you thought about a friend, and suddenly the phone rings and it is your friend on the other end of the line.

It is not only people who can be affected by our thoughts, we can affect the things that happen around us. The source in the Torah, where we find the “secret” of the power of thought is mentioned in Exodus 2, 11-15. When Moses one day leaves the palace to go see his brothers working as slaves, he noticed an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Jewish Slave. After making sure that no one was watching, Moses defended the Jewish slave, and ended up killing the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. The next day when he came back, he saw two Jewish men fighting with each other and tried to stop them. Their response to Moses, was “are you planning to  kill us like you killed the Egyptian yesterday?”

In one of the few instances in the Torah, we are told what Moses was thinking at that moment which caused him to have fear. Moses, was thinking if the matter is now known, Pharaoh probably will find out and send soldiers to catch me and put me in prison. And the Torah continues, that immediately after Moses’ negative thought, Pharaoh sent soldiers to imprison Moses, and Moses had to fled to Midian.

Moses running away only happened after Pharaoh placed a request to catch Moses, the fear itself did not cause him to run away. Why was it necessary for the Torah to tell us that Moses was fearful from Pharaoh? The Torah is using this opportunity to teach us the power of thoughts. The energy generated by positive thinking in trusting that God will save someone is what brings salvation. Had Moses trusted that God would have protected him from any harm happening to him, the outcome of the story would have been different. The fear that took over Moses, is what “caused” Pharaoh to  hear about the incident, and place a decree to capture Moses.

The verse also stresses that Moses expressed his fear in speech, “And Moses feared . . . and he said . . .” This teaches us that when one expresses his lack of trust in speech, the damage is amplified. And so to it is with positive thinking, When we also express our positive thoughts in speech, it speeds up and makes the salvation even greater.

Whenever a person finds any obstacles or challenges in life, one should know that the solution is entirely in one’s own hands, i.e. changing his thoughts and speech. Which in turn causes one to have emotions which make one feel good, creating positive vibrations and the opposite with negative thoughts.

If one puts his trust completely in God, that He will help you with a good outcome, and it feels so real that one is actual very calm and serene knowing that there is no reason at all to be worried, and that one has done everything humanely possible, and is guaranteed to have a good outcome.

The above is a short synopsis on the power of Trust.

The mystery is: there are so many commandments in the Torah, and each commandment has so many details regarding in how to fulfill it, the proper time and place, and questions regarding different questions that can arise from different situations. Regarding the holy day of Shabbat, there are tens of books that deal with the different aspects of Shabbat. And so too with most of the commandments.

However, when it comes to the topic of Bitachon (Trust), many books were written on the subject, describing how this is vital in the service of Hashem, and all the good things that result from placing one’s trust in Hashem. But a very important aspect is missing in those books. None of them discuss how does one reach this level. Under discussion is not a physical action like affixing a Mezuzah to the doorpost or lighting candles for the Shabbat. Here we are trying to develop an emotion, a feeling. You can’t just tell a person start loving this person, or get the goose bumps when you approach this prospective mate. One must work on a relationship to develop a serious emotional attachment.

There are books and teachers who explain the importance of having a healthy diet, a healthy regimen of exercise and then will explain what are the steps to be taken, the specific exercises and so on. So too, I was looking for a book that explains how does one bring himself to a level, where he can truly feel that he is a person who Trusts Hashem. What are the steps one can take to develop Trust.

I would like to introduce a children’s game called Kerplunk. The way it works is that a number of marbles rest on sticks that criss-cross through a clear cylinder. When removing the sticks, eventually the marble balls fall down the cylinder on a plastic tray. By analogy we can compare the sticks to resistance/doubt, the marbles represent all the desires a person might have, and the fallen marbles represent the manifestation of our desires.

A person can have strong desires, but as long as there is resistance, nothing will happen. Only once the resistance is removed will the desire be manifested.

So the key is what exactly do I mean by resistance and what is the manner in removing those sticks (resistance)?

After spending the last 35 of my life learning the Lubavitcher Rebbes talks, and watching countless videos of the Rebbe talking with people from all kinds of walks of life, I came to realize that the Rebbe also taught us many things from the way he talked and acted.

The Rebbe explains in a chassidic discourse ( Maamar Vayigash 5725) that when a person prays to G-d he is always answered, and in the way we want it answered. Not the common answer so many give that sometimes God answers NO or sometimes He answers, but it remains in the spiritual realms and it still has to come down to this physical world. The Rebbe explains that we are always answered in this world, because this is what we prayed for.

The question then is why don’t we see it? And the answer is that God’s reply is sometimes wrapped up and all we have to do is remove the wrappings.

What exactly are these wrapping and how do we remove them?

I would like to suggest that these wrappings are similar to those sticks from the Kerplunk game mentioned above. The Rebbe’s belief was that there are many things in a person life’s that create a certain spiritual barrier between what we want and the actual manifestation of our desire.

Following are behaviors that one could notice in the Rebbe’s way of thinking and talking:

Biggest Obstacle is Doubt

Doubt comes from limiting beliefs e.g too hard, too old, too weak, not enough money, etc. These doubts generate negative energy which are the sticks/wrapping preventing us from seeing the object of our desire. If on one hand I pray and trust God will answer me, but on the other hand I have negative  thoughts of how can this be  accomplished, then it will never manifest itself.

The Tools the Rebbe taught us, not in any of his writings, but in his behavior was:

1.  POSITIVE LANGUAGE

Using only positive language and avoiding negative language as much as possible. (Notice how I used the word “avoid” instead of “not using.” The word no, not, against, and any other “bad” words are all words that emit negative feelings, and the Rebbe throughout the thousand of hours of talking avoided using negative words. Instead of saying kosher and traif, he would make it a point to say kosher and not kosher. The Rebbe believed that words have a power, and we have to be very careful to choose the proper words when we talk or write.

This is a very powerful exercise that we should work on and after spending some time working on this, one will come to realize that everything around him seems to look more positive.

This is the first stick that we must begin removing, and some of our doubts will begin to disappear.

2.  THINKING BIG

Whenever we want to do something, the Rebbe’s approach was always to go for the best and the biggest. Countless stories have been told when people were working on certain projects, the Rebbe always tried to get them to go for bigger numbers, bigger buildings, longer stays, etc. (The book on the Rebbe by Rabbi Telushkin illustrates many of these stories).

3.  USING ALLOWING STATEMENTS

Always think and act as if the requested desire is in the process of happening. Allow G-d to figure it out. I will do what I have to do and am confident God will make it succeed beyond any of my expectations.

4.  BEING NICE WITH PEOPLE

I believe that the above mentioned behaviors are some of the greatest gifts from the Rebbe. These are the tools, the halachos of Bitachon.

The Rebbe taught us how to remove negative energy from our lives and bring positive energy. This is how we remove those sticks of resistance, and unwrap the gifts that G-d sent us in response to our prayers.

And until we are answered, one’s life can be fully enhanced. One will have a more serene, happy and confident approach to everything he does.