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 17 - From Dungeons to Dollars: Why Market Panic Doesn't Matter
What defines true wealth? According to Pirkei Avot, "Who is wealthy? One who is happy with their lot." This ancient wisdom flips our modern understanding of prosperity on its head, suggesting that contentment—not cash—creates genuine richness.
The wealth mindset explored in this episode reveals a profound truth: someone of modest means who trusts they have exactly what they need experiences greater peace than a billionaire constantly worried about losing or expanding their fortune. We examine how this principle plays out in real time, referencing a popular financial podcaster who, despite counseling calm during market volatility, visibly struggled with his own anxiety about potential losses.
Through the biblical story of Joseph—who transformed overnight from dungeon prisoner to Egyptian viceroy—we witness the unpredictable nature of fortune and the futility of placing ultimate trust in material resources. The markets rise and fall, circumstances change dramatically, but those who maintain faith in divine provision experience a remarkable resilience amid financial storms.
This perspective offers freedom from the cycle of comparison that drives so much unhappiness in our communities. While your neighbor upgrades their home or purchases an expensive car, the path to true prosperity lies not in matching their acquisitions but in recognizing the perfection of your own circumstances.
The greatest gift of this trust-centered approach isn't just financial peace—it's physical wellbeing. Those who aren't constantly stressed about market fluctuations experience better health outcomes and potentially longer lives. When we understand that everything we have comes from a higher source that loves us and wants us to succeed, we gain the advantage wealth should provide but rarely does: genuine contentment.
Ready to experience the freedom that comes from true wealth? Listen now and discover how trust transforms your relationship with money forever.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is Monday and we are continuing with the Shara B'tachon. We are finishing off, hopefully, the fourth spiritual benefit of B'tachon, of trust in God, and it goes a little something like this there is a verse in what is called Pirkei Avot. It's a book that talks about the ethics or the teachings of our fathers, and basically what it is in a nutshell is it's a book that a father would write to a child to say hey, if you really want to be successful, if you want to be respectful, if you want to conduct yourself honorably, then these are the practices that you should put in place to have peace of mind, to be what's called a mensch. A mensch is basically to be a man, you know, be honorable, upright, live with dignity. And one of the things that he says over here is very important and it's one that's been around for a long time and many of you have heard, and I mentioned it last time at the end of last class.
Speaker 1:The verse says what does that mean? Who is the wealthy, the truly wealthy and content individual? It is the person who is happy with his share, with his lot in life, a man of limited means who is content with whatever Hashem gives him, whatever God gives him, is, in truth, wealthier than a man with vast assets who is consumed with concern about how to preserve and expand them. What is he referring to over here? How could it be that somebody who has nothing is really happy with his lot? He's really the wealthy person. Ezehu Ashir, who is the wealthy person he's saying? The real wealthy person is somebody who's content with his lot, not somebody who has over a million dollars or over a billion dollars, or owns three vacation homes or or, or all these material acquisitions that one might think defines an individual. What he says over here is that what identifies an individual as being rich is that he is happy, that he is content with what he has. That means that his trust inem, his trust that God has given him exactly what he needs, not any more and not any less than what he absolutely needs to be able to succeed, to be able to become the best version of him in this world is what he has, and that is his wealth Just the knowledge, just the understanding, the internalization, and living day to day with that thought in your mind, knowing full well, not believing, but knowing that every dollar that you have in your account at any given time is exactly the amount that you need. You don't need to be like your neighbor Neighbor. Bought a new, bigger house built on an addition Good for him, god bless him. He bought a brand new riding house built on an addition Good for him, god bless him. He bought a brand new riding lawnmower Fantastic Good for him. Got a new, the newest car very expensive car.
Speaker 1:You're wondering what's going on over here. We live in the same neighborhood. We live in similar houses. How is this guy buying a brand new car that's $150,000, $200,000, and I'm driving an old, used jalopy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's not what goes through the mind of somebody who is perfectly content, knowing that everything that he has is absolutely perfect. Now, that doesn't refer just to a person who's poor. That refers to somebody who has a lot of means as well. The difference over here is not the amount of money that the individual has. The difference here is how they view the money that Hashem gave them, that God gave them. Do they think that they're entitled to more? Do they think that they should double and triple it? Are they constantly worried that it's going to evaporate on them, that something is going to happen and somebody's going to cheat them out of their hard-earned money and therefore they're always worried and always planning and always investing and shifting monies around and always suspicious of the people who are around them or are always out looking to make more money. Right, be more efficient, save more money, even if they've got millions. But they're constantly thinking that one day it's not going to be there. And rightly so, because we've talked in the past. There is nothing that guarantees that what you have today you will have tomorrow. Today you might be a pauper, today you might be somebody who can't afford to make ends meet, and tomorrow you're on top of the world. You're on top of the world, just like Joseph.
Speaker 1:We talked about him in the past. One minute he was underground in a dark dungeon for a crime he didn't commit, and the next minute he becomes the viceroy of Egypt. He becomes the second in command. He controls the world's largest superpower at the time, the equivalent to the president of the United States. Overnight, literally, they pulled him out of a dungeon to come and interpret Pharaoh's dreams and Boom, the guy becomes the second in charge and Pharaoh just becomes a figurehead. The guy making all the decisions is now Joseph from a slave, from a zero to a hero overnight. So the idea is you could be poor, not know where your next meal is coming from one day and be on top of the world the next and financing your entire community, and, conversely, you could have all the money in the world and suddenly you're in the hole. Suddenly, you're upside down. The more you have, the more you have to lose. Look at what's coming up right now, my friends. Okay, today is Monday, april the 7th.
Speaker 1:A lot of controversy in the marketplace. Controversy seems to be the theme of the last 10 years, but there's a lot going on today because of the tariffs that they've talked about in the US, that Trump's put in place, and everybody, especially in the media, is trying to make it seem like it's the end of the world. The markets have never crashed like this before, which is absolutely ridiculous, because if you just look back to around the time of COVID or just coming out of COVID, you'll see that we've had this and much worse, much, much worse, and we've recovered. But because there's a political agenda over here, suddenly, this is an anomaly. And so there's a podcaster that I watch that you guys have probably seen. I don't watch him regularly, he just pops up on my feed, patrick Bedavid. He's a very wealthy man. He's made a lot of money in, I think, in the insurance business, but anyway he pops up on my feed.
Speaker 1:He popped up yesterday visibly shaken, visibly nervous. Now he's a professional and he's a podcaster and he knows how to keep his cool and composure. But suffice it to say yesterday he wasn't cool and composed and his whole message was that there's supposed to be a Black Monday today, that the stock markets are supposed to tank today because of Trump. Meanwhile, just as a side note, not to get political countries have already scrapped, including Israel, their tariff system with the US. So clearly something is working. But forget about that for a second. They're planning a Black Monday and Patrick Beck David, who's obviously worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars came out and tried to get the message across that we should not be emotional, we should not overreact today. If things go down, relax, pump the brakes, he says. Don't get emotional. He stands to lose tens of millions of dollars if there is, in fact, a Black Monday. Right, but you could see that he's visibly shaken.
Speaker 1:It's like modern therapists okay, modern therapy. My personal take on it is it doesn't work. But that's a different discussion. But why do most therapists get into the business in the first place? Because the best way for them to feel better about themselves is to help other people. The best way for them to learn about what they suffer is to the best way for them to internalize why they suffer and how to fix themselves is to learn about what they suffer is to. The best way for them to internalize why they suffer and how to fix themselves is to learn about it, but then encourage others to do the very thing that they need to do. It's not a bash on therapists, it's just the reality. The best way to learn is to teach, and Patrick Bette David comes out and tells everybody whoa, whoa, whoa, pump the brakes.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, as you see, he's visibly disturbed.
Speaker 1:Who he's talking to is really himself. He's so worried because he has tens of millions of dollars to lose. Most people don't have that problem. That's what Rabbeinu Bachi is discussing over here that even whether you have billions or whether you've got a few hundred doesn't really matter. At the end of the day, you don't have to come out all frazzled that something's going to happen, that your money's going to disappear, guess what? Yeah, we could have a Black Monday and you know what People are going to have to put mechanisms in place to make sure that they minimize the downside and live within their means.
Speaker 1:But unless you think the world is coming to an end in which case you don't need your money anyways you see it as an opportunity, that's all. You recognize that there are regular cyclicalities in the market. Things go up, things go down. Hashem runs the world, hashem runs the world. Yeah, that's the bottom line. You can try and explain it away with economics. You can try and explain it away with rules of thumb, with history repeating itself, with market trends, all these things. But at the end of the day, is that really where your head goes to? Or do you come back and say at the end of the day, when you're sitting there on your couch and the markets are down and you're looking at your portfolio, you're going to go Hashem runs the world, everything is perfect. Or are you going to break a sweat and worry about what you're going to do to minimize further losses and to try and recoup everything?
Speaker 1:What usually happens, what usually happens and I'm coming from a finance background I could tell you that we are emotional beings and what people do is they make decisions important decisions from a position of emotion. And if that's what you're doing nine times out of ten, my friends, you will lose. Never make a decision out of emotion. And if you're ever going to do it, if you're ever forced to make a decision out of emotion, make sure that emotion is connected back to the idea that there is a boss that runs this world, that he loves you, that his entire existence is to be able to give and to do for you so that he could see you succeed. And if that means that there needs to be a market meltdown, then guess what? Nothing could be better Today. It might be tough, but down the road we'll look back with hindsight and you'll recognize that absolutely nothing could have been better.
Speaker 1:That, my friends, is a nutshell that encapsulates the whole concept of bitachon, of trust in Hashem, knowing where your money is coming. Nutshell that encapsulates the whole concept of bitachon, of trust in Hashem, knowing where your money is coming from. One who relies on Hashem knows that he will never lack and need not worry. So he has the advantage that wealth should provide. But wealth doesn't, because most people who have wealth and rely on their wealth are constantly in a state of worry, a state of panic, somebody whose wealth is his trust in God doesn't panic, keeps calm, cool and collected, does not stress out and therefore does not get sick and therefore leads a long, god-willing, healthy life. That's the class for today, my friends. Let's check in tomorrow and continue into the fifth spiritual, the fifth and final spiritual benefit of having trust in Hashem. Have a spectacular day.
