The Trust Factor
A daily lesson that focuses on achieving unparalleled success in life using ancient wisdom in modern times.
We will be discussing critical concepts as they are laid out in the book Sha'ar Habitachon - The Gate of Trust. Written 1000 years ago, the author reminds us of the values and wisdom that have allowed humanity to thrive throughout history.
The concept of trusting in a higher power that exists purely for our benefit, puts us in the drivers seat with absolute confidence to achieve greatness.
Eliminate: Fear, Hatred, Anxiety, Depression, Jealousy, Greed...forever!
* Note that some terminology will be in the original Hebrew or Aramaic which I will always follow with the English translation.
The Trust Factor
Episode 16 - Why I Wouldn't Take Any Amount of Money to Stop Keeping Shabbat
Shabbat represents the ultimate divine gift - a day set aside from the rushing world that transforms from burden to blessing when embraced fully.
Most of us have internalized the dangerous myth that success requires constant work and hustle. We've been programmed to believe that working seven days a week, as many hours as possible, represents the path to prosperity. Yet reality tells a different story - there's actually a negative correlation between endless work hours and true success. The wealthiest individuals aren't chained to their desks; they're managing time effectively while others burn themselves out chasing an illusion.
The Torah uses parent-child relationships to illustrate our connection with Hashem - just as children resist vegetables despite their benefits (needing parental bribes), we resist Shabbat despite its profound benefits for our wellbeing. Keeping this mitzvah demonstrates remarkable trust in Hashem's wisdom. Unlike other commandments, Hashem described Shabbat specifically as "a gift from my treasury" - containing artifacts of immeasurable value beyond quantification. When we disconnect from technology, avoid mundane activities, and create space for genuine connection, we discover what this priceless gift truly offers.
The most telling evidence? Those who initially resist Shabbat observance (when no amount of money could convince them to disconnect for a day) eventually reach a point where no amount could persuade them to abandon it. This transformation proves Shabbat exists not for Hashem's benefit but for ours - creating irreplaceable space for growth, relationships, and reconnection with what truly matters. Ready to experience this treasury gift for yourself? Connect with community members, plan meaningful activities, and discover how one day of disconnection can transform your entire week.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Happy Sunday. I hope you had an amazing Shabbat. I know I certainly did. It's hard not to have a good Shabbat. It is easily the best day of the week and it is our time to unwind, disconnect from the craziness that happens in the world and reconnect to the things that are important Our friends, our family, our community and, obviously, to connect to our Creator. So Shabbat is spectacular. Maybe we'll spend a couple minutes talking about it.
Jessy Revivo:Some of you probably keep Shabbat already. Many of you probably don't. It wasn't that long ago that I wasn't. I grew up secular, never kept Shabbat, it wasn't a thing, it was tradition at best. And when I became a Baal Tshuva with my family and my wife and my children primarily my wife and I, because our son was very young at the time it was very difficult to start keeping Shabbat, understandably.
Jessy Revivo:So we grew up in an environment where we work seven days a week. We work as long as it takes and as hard as it takes. And if there was eight days in a week, we'd work eight days in a week. We'd work eight days in a week. That's just because that's the way that the powers that be have programmed us that the messaging has come across. If you want to be successful, you do whatever it takes. You work as hard as you can, as many days a week as you can, as many hours as you can spend in the office. That's what you do if you want to succeed. I hope we've established already that that's ridiculous and if we haven't established it, seed I hope we've established already that that's ridiculous.
Jessy Revivo:And if we haven't established it, then you have to just look around and recognize that there is no correlation. There's no positive correlation between working long hours and making a lot of money. There isn't. If you just look at the people who are working two jobs, look at the people who are spending countless hours in the office, it does not correlate. The people who are on the golf course, the people who are making the money are not locked in the office, they're not chained to their desk, they're on the golf course. They're the ones making millions. They're having a few meetings a week. They're managing their time effectively. There is no direct correlation between working long, hard hours, not seeing your family, not having a life, and making money. And if anything, if anything, it's a negative correlation Because all the people that you know that are working two or three jobs, are having a hard time making ends meet. Yeah, so the reality is this whole concept. Remember, we've talked in the past if you don't keep Shabbat, or even if you do, you just want a reminder.
Jessy Revivo:In the past we've talked about the correlation, the analogy or the metaphor used in the Torah many times of a child and a parent Hashem is the parent and we're the child. Why does that analogy make sense, we've said, because a child knows nothing. It's not an insult, it's reality. A child knows nothing Until they've grown and until they've developed and experienced life, they know absolutely nothing. And that's why, like we've said, when the parent wants their child to eat their vegetables, they have to bribe them. Yeah, eat your vegetables, I'll buy you a gift, I'll buy you your new PS5 game or whatever it is. Just eat your vegetables, right? And that's the only thing that'll bring this child to eat the vegetables. Now, is that child eating the vegetables for the parent? No, they're eating the vegetables because it's going to be healthy for them. They don't know that and even if they do, they don't care about it. They can't really conceptualize it.
Jessy Revivo:Parents, adults, have been around enough, they know, they've done the research and the homework and they recognize that, yeah, the reality is you need to have your greens, you need to have your vegetables, you need to have your vitamins and your minerals, and you don't get them all from steak. So the reality is our kids don't know this. That's why there's an analogy where the parent knows a lot more than a child does, and so oftentimes a child gets themselves in trouble because they just don't know. And sometimes they'll listen to their parents and learn the easy way, and sometimes they will insist on doing it themselves, even though their parents have told them otherwise, and they'll get burned. And that's how they need to learn, and both methods are fine. Obviously, the smarter money is on the person, who will learn through other people's experiences. But really that's a difficult ask, because we want to prove that we're not like everybody else. That may not have worked out for you, may not have worked out for my parents, my grandparents, but I'm different and it's going to work for me. Yeah, I'm going to put my hand in fire and I won't get burned. Why? Because I'm special. And then ultimately, they learn that. No, you know what? There are some steadfast rules in life that apply to everybody, and so they'll either learn it the hard way or they'll learn it the easy way.
Jessy Revivo:Well, what's the idea about Shabbat? There is no better indication of your relationship of trust and faith in Hashem than keeping the mitzvot, specifically difficult ones. Like it is to start keeping Shabbat If you've grown up your whole life not keeping it, it seems wacky to you. It seems difficult, especially when you try, because we're not used to it. We're not used to taking that time off. We want to work more, we want to work harder, we want to amass more wealth, and we've directly connected that back to work and hours in the office. Bottom line is this If you're going to keep Shabbat or other mitzvot that were given to you by a creator that you've never met, you're not going to keep Shabbat. You're not going to, you've never spoken to, you've never heard, you've never touched, you've never sensed with any of your senses. There is no better indication that you're holding on a really, really high level with your creator.
Jessy Revivo:Now, how do you get there? Well, we've talked about it and we're going to continue to talk about it, because it is a daily exercise. It is an exercise that is not just daily. It requires effort. Every hour of the day. You need to constantly be aware. You have to constantly analyze and assess your past and your present. Look at the things around you, look at how things have worked out. Look at in the past the things that even you thought were seemingly bad always played an important role and worked out for the better. It may have been difficult not saying every experience in life is a walk in the park. It may have been difficult, but ultimately, if you're honest with yourself, you recognize that that difficulty had a purpose, a very expressed purpose that worked out for your benefits. The same relationship over here.
Jessy Revivo:Hashem says to you keep the mitzvot. And the most beautiful and most precious mitzvah that Hashem gives us is Shabbat. How do we know? It's the most precious? Because, when it came to all the other mitzvahs, hashem said to Moses gather the people. I'm going to tell you what the mitzvah is and then I want you to relay it to the nation.
Jessy Revivo:When it came to Shabbat, hashem said to Moses gather the people, because I have a gift to give to them from my treasury. And if anybody knows what the king's treasury is, it contains everything that is invaluable. You cannot put a price on the things that you can find in a king's treasury. It is artifacts that are one of a kind that have absolutely enormous value that you can't even quantify. That's what Hashem says Bring them around. I want to give it to them personally. I want to give them a gift from my treasury. That gift end up being Shabbat, just like all the other mitzvahs. They're for our benefit. We just don't recognize it because it's not easy to recognize. We're not programmed to recognize it.
Jessy Revivo:But when you stop and assess and you recognize it, wait a second, what is Shabbat? It's a day for me to stop, to disconnect. Shut off the ridiculous phone, shut off your computer. Don't touch electricity. Stay within your community. Don't get in your car and drive to the shopping mall where you're just going to do more fighting and more aggravation and looking for deals and getting upset and trying stuff on, and it doesn't fit the same stupid routine we've been doing and we can do all week. Stop On Shabbat, unplug, disconnect. Recognize that this is a time for you to spend entirely engulfed in your family, entirely surrounded by your children, entirely surrounded by community, by people who are of the same mindset, that people who are in a growth pattern, who are trying to do things to improve themselves and you're surrounding yourself with that goodness. You're eating amazing food. You're spending time with family, you're spending time with community and friends going to their houses, coming to your house, spending time with kids that are generally the same age.
Jessy Revivo:There are so many benefits to keeping Shabbat. The biggest one is that we're disconnecting from the mundane, from the regular six days a week where everybody tells us what to do and everybody has our time and wants our time. This is for us. This is an opportunity for us to reconnect, reevaluate our lives, put things into perspective and really focus on appreciation and maybe even a little bit of thought forward, thought into the future, you know. Think about how wonderful your life has been and, god willing, how good it's going to be. That is Shabbat. It is a. It is a gem.
Jessy Revivo:If you are keeping it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you're not keeping it, I would encourage you to make an effort. Okay, when I did it, it was very difficult. It's difficult for everybody. The key to doing it properly is to plan. Plan for it. Don't find yourself sitting at home with nothing to do. Find the community. Get to know the rabbi and the rebbitzim, connect with some of the community members. Make sure you can find people, if you have children, that their kids are your kids' age. Find commonalities, plan for it, know where you're going to eat, prepare your meals. Do all the things that you're going to do on Shabbat. Prepare them all ahead of time so that you're not caught bored out of your mind because you're so used to running around the city doing a hundred different things on Saturday that you can do on Sunday. Right, that's the idea, guys, and there is no better way to show your commitment and your faith to Hashem.
Jessy Revivo:And at the end, what's the most beautiful part of all this? The most beautiful part of all this is that you come to realize what you originally thought you were doing for God you're not doing for Him. He doesn't need you to keep Shabbat. You're doing it for you and your family and your sanity. You're doing it because it benefits you. And how's the proof? How do I know that? What's the proof that I can give you that indicates that what I'm saying is true? Take somebody like myself.
Jessy Revivo:Before I started keeping Shabbat, there wasn't an amount of money that you could give me to disconnect, to take away my Saturday. The things I would do on Shabbat, the shopping and going to the gym and fixing the house and running all the errands I couldn't do all week and all the other myriad of things that we deal with on a daily basis, that we just leave it over for Saturday, when, for some ridiculous reason, we don't do it on Sunday. That's your Yetzirah, by the way. That's your evil inclination. He understands the holiness of Saturday, so he prefers that you work on Saturday and on Sunday you do the other things.
Jessy Revivo:The reality is Shabbat is the day On the seventh day. Hashem created the world in six days and on the seventh day that's Shabbat. It's not Sunday, it's Saturday. On the seventh day he rested. If you're doing it on any other day of the week, my friends, it doesn't work. It only works on the seventh day, on Shabbat.
Jessy Revivo:But let's get back to my point. We'll finish with this. How do I know it's true? Because when I wasn't keeping Shabbat, there wasn't an amount of money you could pay me to keep Shabbat. Today, there isn't an amount of money that you could pay me to stop keeping Shabbat. Why? Because it is only for me. I don't gain, I don't benefit anymore through any other thing in the world any other day of the week than I gain from on Shabbat Not just me, but my wife and my children, and my community members and my friends, everybody who keeps Shabbat. We benefit tremendously from it Personal growth, downtime, all the other wonderful things.
Jessy Revivo:We didn't really get a chance to get into Sha'ar B'tachon today, but I can assure you the conversation we had around Shabbat is a perfect indicator of the level of trust that you have in Hashem. Trust that what he gave you is for your own benefit. Trust that what he gave you is for your own benefit. Trust that you're not doing it for Him, you're doing it for you. And trust me, though, I'm telling you that when you do it, and you do it properly and you plan for it, it will not take long, my friends, until Shabbat becomes a firm part of your life that is irreplaceable. You will not replace it with anything.
Jessy Revivo:I guarantee you that, my friends, tomorrow we'll get back into Shabbat. We're going to finish up on an amazing concept of who is wealthy. It's in Pirkei Avot, the chapters, the ethics of our fathers that teach us about what it is to live a proper life. It talks about a very important point who is wealthy? The one who is happy with his lot in life. We're going to talk about that tomorrow. Have an amazing day. Wishing you an amazing week.
