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In Good Hands

100 Letters and Talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson on Bitachon: Trusting in G d

From the talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson
מתוך אוסף "שיחות באנגלית"
Part A: Letters
1. “A guide for all the troops under your influence...”
2. “Endeavors to create a medium within the natural order do not contradict the concept of bitachon...”
3. “One should not be too dejected or doubtful, for this, too, is exploited by the [Evil] Inclination.”
4. “I do not know where you stand with regard to bitachon.”
5. “If this blessing is sometimes delayed...”
6. “In words that are appropriate to her present state of mind...”
7. “One must have appropriate vessels to accommodate all these blessings.”
8. “Consider: Is G-d really in need of your worry...? Or will He succeed in finding good solutions even without your worrying?”
9. “I saw in a little book — it’s called the Tanach...”
10. “...a weakness in your trust, and the remedy for this is to study Shaar HaBitachon.”
11. “And when a person is strong in his trust..., he then sees [the result] with his fleshly eyes.”
12. “People study, and study — but when it comes to practical application, where’s the trust?”
13. “Just as He has a say in the big world, He certainly has a say likewise in our little personal world.”
14. “This very thought — as to what will happen if, G-d forbid, a misfortune occurs — is itself a misfortune.”
15. “Medical matters are not your Divinely-ordained mission in this world.”
16. “The income that G-d fixed for you [on Rosh HaShanah], which I am sure is generous, no one can lessen and certainly no one can take away.”
17. “If you occasionally feel this certain trust is wavering..., avert your attention from this weakness, for it is no doubt only imagined.”
18. “Since you place trust in G-d in questions of materiality & livelihood, surely trust should be firm when it comes to children & their conduct!”
19. “Several well-known incidents testify that with staunch bitachon one can accomplish whatever is needed.”
20. “David HaMelech says, ‘I will fear no evil, for You are with me.’ And ‘for You are with me’ relates to every single Jew.”
21. “Even when one does not see how this operates within the realm of nature, G-d will carry out His [Will].”
22. “It is disappointing and painful to encounter certain dispensable expressions in your letter. Why do you do this?”
23. “If a person thinks that his livelihood is meager, he should donate more tzedakah than previously.
24. “At the same time, one must create a vessel on the natural plane and follow the doctor’s orders.”
25. “A man’s trust is the measuring-stick...”
26. “The tzitz was worn on the forehead, and thus represents a trust that transcends mortal reason.”
27. “Not merely pushing through one day after another...”
28. “You are already wealthy but do not know it.”
29. “One should not initiate — and introduce into the world — depressing lines of thought.”
30. “Especially in the month of Elul, of Divine mercy, you — or you together with your wife — should talk at least a few minutes on trusting in G-d.”
31. “It seems to me that this is the only organization within the precincts of Lubavitch that is conducted in this way.”
32. “One only does accounting that will certainly not weaken one’s avodah, obviously — that will leave no room for the faintest trace of despair.”
33. “Descent ought arouse... greater faith, whose external manifestation is courageous spirit & lack of emotional reaction to unpleasant phenomenon.”
34. “When you are firm in trust & actually perceive the situation [as a trial], the trial will cease to exist, & you will return to former standing.”
35. “Splitting the Red Sea was actualized by [Nachshon’s] strong trust & faith in G-d. We learn the approach to be followed in finding one’s match.”
36. “You are worried about children’s health, & you conclude by asking what you can do apart from weeping…. First of all, one should stop weeping….”
37. “There is a well-known teaching of the Sages that ‘a son can bring merit upon his father’ — and upon his mother, too.”
38. “This is ‘something concerning which none of us knows’ — determining a specific time, & not later, by which G-d, Who makes matches, should do so.”
39. “Days of Pesach are days of faith & trust, Jews of those times went out with their wives & children to a wilderness…, relying on a word from G-d.”
40. “Divine Providence applies in particular... to a person whose position enables him to influence a certain circle.”
41. “We have seen in practice that the greater a man’s trust, & the more he looks toward his future with joy, the faster do these things materialize.”
42. “Take G-d as partner, pledging tzedakah a little more than a tenth, & preferably close to a fifth. His Partner will then bring him success.”
43. “The end of your letter, about your lack of joy, contradicts the beginning of your letter.”
44. “One states as a fact, and regards as certain (G-d forbid), that in a month’s time his father’s health will not be as it ought to be?!”
45. “The instances in which doctors are mistaken in such matters are innumerable.”
46. “And G-d, Who since the Six Days of Creation has been ‘arranging matrimonial matches,’ will no doubt make available to you.”
47. “You ask whether the gates of Heaven have been closed (G-d forbid) and why the way of the worthless prospers.”
48. “There can be nothing that is not good, for in that place no one has any dominion apart from G-d alone.”
49. “This [mood] itself will increase the good tidings.”
"As is explained in many sources, this means that one trusts that G‑d will supply all needs, literally and materially, regardless, even if sometimes an accounting would show that this has not been deserved."
50. “And may G-d grant that my trust in the ultimate victory of good and truth will be vindicated — even with regard to political parties.”
51. “Despairing, & seeking miracles for one’s battles with the [Evil] Inclination — are simply the incitement initiated by the [Evil] Inclination.”
52. “It is self-evident that one cannot point out to G-d on the calendar that this must happen at the time that appears right to oneself.”
53. “Bitachon is the conduit through which one receives outstanding success from Above.”
54. “They’re cutting him up! He’s groaning in pain, but he can’t free himself from these kidnappers and murderers!”
55. “You write that it appears to you that your lot does not bring success. Avert your attention from all of that, because it is not true.”
“You write that it appears to you that your lot does not bring success. Avert your attention from all of that, because it is not true.”
56. “When there is a full measure of firm trust — that He is ‘my light and my salvation,’ then ‘whom shall I fear?’ ”
57. “With regard to the temporary inadequacy in your income, it is a pity that you are taking it so hard.”
58. “It could be suggested that rejoicing should be advanced ahead of time, even though improvement is not yet manifest.”
59. “When there arrives a moment that is not as one would have liked it to be...”
60. “If so, what room is left for worry?”
61. “[Involvement in the Chabad institution] is also the conduit through which the local members will receive their material livelihood.”
May it be G‑d’s Will that from now, at least, things will be done in the spirit taught to us by the recent days of Chanukah, whose lights increase from day to day. May this be the case with both your communal and your private affairs, and may your news be good — of the kind of good that is visible and manifest.
62. “I hope, too, that you will participate in the farbrengens..., which heal and strengthen and raise the spirits of those who are downfallen….”
62. “I hope, too, that you will participate in the farbrengens..., which heal and strengthen and raise the spirits of those who are downfallen….”
63. “When a person is weighing in his mind what he should decide and how he should act, at that time, too, G-d is watching over him and helping him.”
64. “When one realizes what is revealed is the meaning of that phrase: ‘For the L-rd your G-d is elevating you’ — over all the obstacles that veil.”
65. “If people made a habit of sharing good news, they would have less—or no—need to set up bonds of communication about opposite of good news.”
As I have written in the past to a number of people, if they had made a habit of sharing [their] good news and writing about it frequently, they would have had less — or no — need to set up bonds of communication by writing about things that are the opposite of good news. This is self-evident.
66. “When a soldier sets out to the battlefield, he strides forth to the joyful rhythm of a triumphal march.”
The Rebbe encourages the furthering of Judaism with joy; the more joy the more success.
67. “...there will be a corresponding decrease in one’s anxiety about what others will say about the manner of one’s speech.”
68. Through the Zohar, G-d opened up a new wellspring that provides a profounder G-dly understanding, and faith, and trust.
69. “Repentance, too, must be done out of a firm trust in G-d, and not (G-d forbid) out of despair.”
“There is nothing that stands in the way of repentance.” However, repentance, too, must be done out of a firm trust in G‑d, and not (G‑d forbid) out of despair.
70. “You write that you would like to have more children, but that there is a financial question.”
71. “A few reasons for my not answering your previous letters. One, I wanted to see how Divine Providence would guide you.”
72. “My intent [in writing of Divine Providence] is not to act as defense counsel (G-d forbid) for the above-mentioned [medical] situation.”
73. “The stronger and more disproportionate is one’s trust, the more disproportionately will one’s trust be manifestly vindicated.”
74. As to how one should feel, I have made my position clear on several occasions.
75. “You will then have less time to think the opposite of the directive to think only good.”
76. “You see miracles..., yet you insist on seeking out depressing subjects.”
77. “You have been promised that G-d is your guardian.”
Part B: Talks
78. Why was Yosef punished for placing his trust in the 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 such a person was tainted by idolatry, when Pesach eve arrives he can have trust “now the Omnipresent brought us near to His service.”
81. 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….”
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 Chizkiyahu heard the words of Yeshayahu, he placed his trust completely in the Hands of G-d that he lay down in bed... for a sweet slumber.
91. Even Bread from the Earth comes from Heaven.
92. G-d will provide with all his needs even if he has not yet tackled his task for 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.
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. The birth of an additional child increases the sustenance of the entire household.
98. Commandment “be fruitful & multiply” should be fulfilled in a spirit which G-d’s blessings of sons & daughters are received “with a glad 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?
Appendix
Translator’s Introduction
Appendix I: “A Weighty Task Indeed”
A Thought from the Rebbe Rashab
Appendix II: “When there is still a straw to hang on to”
A Thought from the Rebbe Rayatz