Episode 12 - Faith Over Fear: The Alchemist's Gambit

What happens when we put our trust in schemes and shortcuts rather than divine providence? Drawing from medieval wisdom, today's lesson explores the fascinating parallel between alchemists—those notorious scammers who claimed to transform base metals into gold—and our modern struggles with provision, anxiety, and peace.

Rabbeinu Bachia cleverly uses the alchemist as a powerful metaphor for misplaced trust. Through examining three compelling reasons why divine dependence surpasses self-reliance, we discover how our approach to livelihood directly impacts our psychological and spiritual well-being. The first reason highlights the vulnerability of depending on limited resources versus the unlimited provision available through faith. Whether you're an alchemist without chemicals or a professional suddenly facing illness that impairs your abilities, self-reliance always leaves us exposed to circumstances beyond our control.

The second reason addresses safety—both physical and social. Dishonest practices inevitably lead to exposure and consequences, while even legitimate professions carry inherent risks. But perhaps most striking is the third reason: the psychological burden of deception. Those living dishonestly must constantly look over their shoulders, anticipating discovery. "I cannot begin to imagine having to worry every single day that somebody's going to show up to my door," the teacher reflects. "That is a terrible way to live." This constant fear stands in stark contrast to the peace promised through genuine trust.

As we journey deeper into understanding bitachon (trust in the Divine), we're challenged to examine our own sources of provision and their impact on our inner peace. Are you choosing the path of anxiety or abundance? Join us tomorrow as we continue exploring the spiritual benefits of placing our trust beyond ourselves.

Transcript

Jessy Revivo: 0:00

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming back for another class. We are continuing with Shara B'tachon. We are still on the third spiritual benefit of B'tachon.

Jessy Revivo: 0:11

Rabbeinu Bachia takes a quick turn over here and he starts to discuss the concept of an alchemist. It's a term that hasn't been used in a long time. It's a medieval term, which is when the time of Rabbeinu Bachia lived, so it's apropos that he would use that as an example. What is an alchemist? Alchemists were renowned for claiming to be able to make gold and silver out of base metals. Yeah, so it was a well-known scam. It persisted for quite some time. There are people today on YouTube that will show you how this was done. And really what they do is they take base cheap metals using a chemical reaction, different ingredients. They create a cocktail of reactions that results in something that looks like gold or silver and is really worthless, but they would pass it off as gold and silver and that's how they would make their living. And back in the day, people aspired to it. Especially those who didn't know that it was a scam, would think, oh, if only I could become an alchemist, then I wouldn't have to worry about my parnassah, Then I wouldn't have to worry about where my income is coming from. Then I could sleep well every night because I could literally print money, and then, obviously, it was exposed to be a scam. There's no such thing. You cannot create gold or silver. You cannot create precious metals from base, worthless metals.

Jessy Revivo: 1:31

Now Rabbeinu Bacha brings an alchemist as an example of somebody who lacks faith in Hashem, who doesn't recognize where his income in his livelihood is coming from. And he uses him because we can extract from the experiences or the ideology of becoming an alchemist or greater than that becoming a scammer, becoming an illegitimate business person running your business in a crooked way in order to achieve a livelihood because you lack faith in Hashem. And he brings 10 different examples of why it is that somebody is much better off putting their faith and trust in Hashem to provide them with their income and livelihood than it is to resort to a life of thievery and cheating. And so we're going to run through them. Some maybe we'll take a little, we'll drill down a little bit more on other ones Maybe we'll just go through a little bit quickly, but let's read them together. So I'm just going to really summarize this. He goes through each one in depth and there is a lot of repetition, and then at the end he summarizes it all. So I'm going to go through the end, where he summarizes it.

Jessy Revivo: 2:38

And he starts off by saying that the alchemist's success depends on the availability of specific materials, whereas a person with bitachon is sustained by Hashem's limitless resources. In other words, an alchemist who wants to engage in his craft and needs money now to pay for his kid's tuition has to come across the ingredients that he needs, whatever chemicals they are that get put into this concoction to come up with something that's supposed to be gold or silver. He needs also the raw materials, the base metals that are involved in this process. If they aren't available for whatever reason, if there is a lack of supply on tin or copper or whatever it may be I don't know exactly what materials they use or whatever the chemical components are that are used in this transformational process, If those aren't available for whatever reason, if they're living in a part of the world or they happen to be in a part of the world at that time where they can't access these materials, well, guess what? No income, there's no Parnassah, my friends, your kids aren't going to school, You're not paying the tuition, You're not putting food on the table. That's when you depend on your livelihood and we can even take that to a regular. It doesn't have to be a scammer. It could be an everyday job or it could be anybody. At the end of the day, we need to have our resources in order to do our job.

Jessy Revivo: 4:04

For some people, that resource lies between their ears, whatever knowledge they've gained as an accountant or as a lawyer or whatever it is. And if they don't have that knowledge available to them, maybe it's in their head, maybe it's in books that they have to then interpret and apply. If they don't have that ability, which they may have today but we all know that can be taken away in a heartbeat. Yeah, we're seeing what's happening around the world. One second you're healthy and fully cognitive and the second you're struggling. You're struggling to remember, or God forbid. I just heard last week somebody in our community, a young guy in his 50s another blood clot. People are getting God forbid strokes or whatever it is neurological diseases that are stopping them from being able to do their job. Another person I just met recently and diagnosed with Parkinson's was a very successful lawyer, had to retire from his practice.

Jessy Revivo: 4:52

Just because you have the knowledge doesn't mean you're able to apply it. And what if you don't have the knowledge? What if you're a plumber and you don't have your tools? You don't have your snake drain and you don't have your scope, your drain scope? You don't have any of these things. How are you going to work? You're going to show up to a job. You've got no tools. You're not going to work, which means you're not going to produce an income. So, whether you're an honest businessman or whether you're an alchemist, you still need tools. You need resources.

Jessy Revivo: 5:19

The second reason that one would want to rely on Hashem as opposed to himself, especially if they're somebody who's illegitimate, he says over here, the alchemist's craft is arduous and hazardous, whereas a person with bitachon is sustained in safe and pleasant ways. It's dangerous. Why is it dangerous? Because if you're a scammer, then it's a matter of time before people are onto you. If you're running your business crookedly, it's a matter of time before your client realizes you've cheated them, and it's just a matter of they may get away with it once, twice, 10, 30, a hundred times, but eventually it catches up. My friends, Eventually good wins over evil. It happens all the time, it's not just in movies. You will always be held to account. So an alchemist's craft is dangerous, Nevermind physically dangerous.

Jessy Revivo: 6:04

Also, you know he's taking chemicals and combining them and, and, and it could produce a hazardous environment for him to work in, which could explode on him, you know, and that can. Again, it can happen in regular trades. Yeah, you talk about an electrician and that's a very dangerous job If somebody's working, especially if they don't have tools. But even if they have tools, you know, know they're working with high voltage and high amperage and somebody makes a mistake and something slips. You burn to a crisp in seconds. Yeah, so it's a very dangerous thing. Working for a living, especially in certain trades, can be very difficult. So the same concept applies over here. If you can choose where to get your parnasa from whether you have to go out and break your back and put your life at risk in in order, especially if you're trying to do something like an alchemist, where you're mixing chemicals together, that can cause a very serious chemical reaction that could end up killing you or hurting you certainly I would choose the alternative of relying on Hashem for my parnasah.

Jessy Revivo: 6:59

Number three the alchemist must be secretive about his craft, whereas a person with a bitachon can proudly discuss his faith. Obviously, that one's pretty obvious. If you're a scammer, you don't want people knowing you're a scammer, they won't end up doing business with you and you'll end up broke anyway. So that's the guy who's constantly worried, constantly looking over his shoulder, constantly concerned that somebody's watching him, somebody's following them. I can't even begin to imagine that, my friends. I cannot begin to imagine having to worry every single day that somebody's going to show up to my door, knock on my door and say we got you. Or somebody's going to pull up and say whatever it is, hands in the air. I mean, God forbid, I don't even know what the terminology is, I can't even begin to get it. But there are people who live that kind of a life every day, right, they're constantly worried that somebody's after them, that they're going to get caught. That is a terrible way to live. Talk about stress, Talk about anxiety.

Jessy Revivo: 8:00

Remember we started this whole program off over here talking about if you're learning this, then one of the benefits, the major benefits of learning about B'tachon and trust in Hashem is that you're going to acquire the ability to do away with your stress and your anxiety. You're going to be able to live a calm, fulfilling life. You're going to do away with all the negative character traits of hate and jealousy and fear. How? Here's a perfect example Somebody who relies on himself, especially if he's a scammer, all day long worried about who's coming after them. When are they going to get caught? Is today the day? I can't imagine what it's like to live a life like that. We're going to hold it over here. Those were the top three. We're going to get into some more of them tomorrow, God willing.

Jessy Revivo: 8:45

But in a nutshell, we summarize by saying somebody who has a choice to decide whether or not I'm going to rely on myself, my craft, whether I'm going to risk jeopardizing my morals and my values and the ethics in order to be able to produce a living, or am I going to put my faith in Hashem, who has been providing for me for 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 years? Yeah, For me, the answer is simple. For you, it may be a little bit more complicated, but that takes time. It takes work. We have to work on ourselves. That's what you're doing now. Congratulations on working on yourself. God willing, with time and with experience, your bitachor and Hashem will continue to grow and you will continue to reap the benefits of having trust in Hashem. Have a wonderful day, my friends, and we'll speak tomorrow.