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 20 - When God Takes Away: The Ultimate Test of Faith
Navigating the space between our busy lives and spiritual obligations creates one of life's most profound tests. Have you noticed how holidays always seem to arrive at your busiest professional moments? This timing isn't random—it's a deliberate opportunity to demonstrate our trust in something greater than our daily concerns.
When we can disconnect from work precisely when it feels most impossible, something transformative happens. The stress melts away, replaced by the richness of meaningful connections with family and community. As we explore the fifth spiritual benefit of trusting the divine plan, we discover that true faith means maintaining consistent character regardless of our financial circumstances. Whether we suddenly gain wealth or lose everything, our fundamental orientation toward life and our responsibilities shouldn't change—only our capacity to fulfill different obligations shifts.
The ultimate measure of spiritual development comes when facing loss. Can we genuinely express gratitude when resources are taken away with the same enthusiasm we showed when they arrived? This challenging concept extends even to our understanding of death itself. By examining accounts of near-death experiences and traditional wisdom, we find surprising evidence that what we fear most might actually be a transition into profound peace. When we stop worrying about what we don't have or what might be taken away, we can finally experience the gift of the present moment. Join us after Passover as we continue exploring how cultivating trust transforms our relationship with life's inevitable challenges.
Good morning everybody. Welcome to Thursday, the Thursday before Passover. I'm sure everybody's going nuts doing all the things that we need to do. It's still important to take 5, 10, 15 minutes out of your day and remember why we do the things that we do and make sure that we are operating the way that we are supposed to be operating. We can get easily lost in the mix, in the craziness, in the mayhem that ensues leading up to a holiday.
Speaker 1:You know it's no coincidence, just as an aside, that the holidays fall on the days that they fall, the time of year that they fall. As a business owner which really means in business in general, most industries, obviously everyone is exposed to different cyclicalities, but generally speaking, especially in my industry, they always fall at the most difficult times. Generally, in business is a series every day of ups and downs. You're riding a roller coaster of emotions. It's, you know, cash flow is good, then it's bad, sales are strong, then they're weak, and you're always planning and trying to prepare for what's to come. Bottom line, when the holidays come, it's always a very challenging time. It's never during the lulls. There are lulls where things are going well and, thank God, the lines are working and the money's coming in and the cash flow is there and everybody's doing what they're supposed to do. Those things happen, right. They're far and few between, but they happen. And that's not when the holidays fall. The holidays fall at the peak of craziness or at the absolute ebb, at the bottom of the drought, when things are difficult, when the last thing you want to do is disconnect from your work and your office and you've got so much going on the last. If you want an unbelievable indication of bitachon, of trust in God, it's being able to disconnect when it's the hardest right, being able to shut down the thoughts of the day-to-day and the mundane and shift focus to the things that are really important. Because that's exactly what we're about to do. We're about to spend time with family members, with friends, with community members. We're going to forget about work, believe me, because it happens every time.
Speaker 1:I go in stressed, and once I'm in, I feel like a million bucks, because there's nothing I can do to think about my work, absolutely nothing. And even if I thought about it, there's nothing I can do about it. So why think about it? Instead, I have delicious food and I have important and meaningful conversations, and I get to catch up with community members and spend time with friends. There's nothing better friends. It's literally Olam Haba, the next world in this world. That's what the holidays are.
Speaker 1:But God puts us to the test. He forces us to take that time off at the most critical times, because it's a test. The whole life is a test to figure out. Are we going to do what's right? And when we do what's right, are we doing it for the right reasons? Are we doing it because we love Hashem? Are we doing it because we have clarity and we have experience and we know that it's only good? Or are we doing it because somebody commanded us to? Are we doing it because our wives or our spouses are going to get on our case if we don't, or whatever? It may be right. There's a test and are we going to pass that test or not? God willing, we're all going to pass that test with flying colors and you're going to have an amazing Pesach.
Speaker 1:Let's get into Chavot, halevavot, the gate of trust. Quick reiteration of yesterday, very important. We talked about the people that we know all too well. Unfortunately, there are people in this world who make it their life's mission Some people are professionals at it to operate on guilt. They make you feel guilty all the time that you're not doing enough for them because they do so much for you. That is a terrible, terrible trait. It is also a real sin, and so if you know people like that, we have to do everything we can to inform them. Like we said last time about rebuking your fellow person, remember that you have to do it properly. But the reality is that these people are operating in a very, very dark area and we got to get them out of there. We certainly cannot be like that. When we do something for somebody else, we do it with all of our hearts or don't do it at all. If there is a sense that you're doing something because you're going to hold this person hostage to be able to get what you want from them when you want from them, then don't do it. Better not to do it than to get caught in that trap.
Speaker 1:That was the gist of the fifth benefit. We're going to move on to the worldly benefits after this, but let's finish off and summarize. It says that the fifth spiritual benefit of trusting God is that attaining wealth does not negatively affect the person's reliance on God or his righteousness. It doesn't matter. Today I've got nothing. Tomorrow I win the lottery.
Speaker 1:Nothing changes in terms of my relationship with my creator. The only thing that now changes is that I have extra means to be able to do his work that I didn't have yesterday. Yesterday I wasn't obligated. Today I'm obligated. That's the only thing that changes. I'm obligated to help my community. I'm obligated to help do the things that the Torah commands me to do to make this world a better place. I now become the treasurer. Yesterday I wasn't, and that's fine. I didn't need to be yesterday. Today I need to be.
Speaker 1:But my personality doesn't change. My outlook on this world doesn't change. I'm not all of a sudden high and mighty. I'm not all of a sudden running away with all my money. That nobody should look at me and nobody should find me and nobody should come and ask for anything from me. Right that's? Somebody who has real trust in Hashem understands that this is just another tool that God put into your tool bag. And the same thing goes the other way around. If somebody doesn't around, if somebody has money and they're a treasurer and they're a custodian and they're handing out monies and they're taking care of communities, and suddenly things change, suddenly things get difficult. We hit a recession, we have things like COVID and lockdown and people are put out of business right and multi-generational businesses where people thought they were going to be fine for generations to come. Suddenly, they can't do it. They can't afford to support their own family. Yeah, those people understand that their job now is no longer to support the community. That was their job yesterday. Today, their job is to make sure that they can take care of themselves and their family. That's how it works.
Speaker 1:Hashem determines at certain times in your life what your role is and what you need to be focusing on with regards to wealth. So that's what the fifth spiritual benefit is. Over here it talks about that an individual maintains his level of understanding. This is a very hard concept, by the way, guys, that even if it's seemingly bad, even if you were wealthy one day and the next day you're destitute, that it's still just seemingly bad. Why is it just seemingly bad and not terrible? Because we don't know what's going on in the background. We don't know what's happening, what the transactions are that have happened over generations, over reincarnations. We have no idea what bills we're paying for, what our tikkun is, what our fix is, what we really need to do in this life to be able to achieve greatness. Only he knows, but we know that we have to show up and give 100% effort. So if today he gives me the means but tomorrow he takes away those means, I have to be just as grateful.
Speaker 1:This is an unbelievable concept, guys. I have to be just as grateful and say thank you, hashem, for taking away my money. Thank you for taking, just as I said thank you when I won the lottery, just when my heart dropped into my shoes when that machine rang and I realized that I just won many millions of dollars. And suddenly I'm elated and I'm on top of the world. Same set of emotions, to the same extent, when Hashem takes away that money. Now you're thinking to yourself yeah right, yeah right. That, my friends, is how far away we are from where we should really be operating. Right. The extent to which you're thinking to yourself yeah right, this guy's dreaming right? That is an indication for you of how much work you need to do to be able to get to a level where you have complete trust in Hashem. The same thing applies and this is even harder if you think money is just one dimension. The same thing is harder, god forbid.
Speaker 1:We should never know that. We should be just as grateful to Hashem for taking a loved one from this world as we are when he brought the baby into this world, loved one from this world as we are when he brought the baby into this world. The same way we're elated and on top of the world and we're new parents and our lives are changed forever and we're forming this bond and it's beautiful and we say thank you, hashem, how great are you and how wonderful, and we sing his praises all day long. The same way, we appreciate a new individual coming into this world. We have to appreciate when they leave this world Again, the further away we are from that concept.
Speaker 1:And it's okay. It's okay to be far away from this because, remember, we're not brought up with these ideas. Secularism does not teach us. This Government in Hollywood does not teach us this. In fact, they don't even talk about this stuff, right? But the reality is, this is real life and the more we connect with this idea, the more we understand that everything is perfect, that even death was created by that who gave life, by that who gave you all the wonderful, amazing experiences in this world, the juicy, delicious beauty of relationships and of money and of experiences, and of roller coasters, and all the wonderful experiences that he gave us in his life and childbirth, and weddings and bar mitzvahs, and all these beautiful events and occasions and delicious food, and go on and on and on. That's the same God that loves you and cares about you and wants to see you succeed, who created death.
Speaker 1:So you tell me, is death necessarily going to be a terrible, tragic thing? Maybe there's a dimension of it that's not good. What is that dimension? That only dimension of negativity and death is that we cease to be able to do the things in this world that earn us a better place in the next world. But that's it. Because if you've stopped and learned about Olam Aba, if you stop and take the time, like you're learning now, to learn about what happens when we're gone, what happens after 120 years, where do we go, what do we do you will come to realize, my friends, that it's absolutely nothing to fear.
Speaker 1:On the contrary, if you've ever watched these shows and in fact I think Hollywood, of all people, came out, or of all places, came out with a new movie I think it was about a year ago talking about life after death. People who've passed away, moved on to another world and then came back were resuscitated, which, by the way, happens almost every single day. People die for minutes, sometimes they die for hours and they literally come back to life. They're pronounced dead, they've checked their vitals, they've done all of the checks and balances to confirm that this individual is in fact deceased. They've written them off, signed the death certificate and guess what? 15 minutes later, their eyes pop open, or they're still working on them, but they've lost brain activity and suddenly they've brought them back right. And what do they tell? They've got story after story after story, and all of these stories have so many similarities between them. Right, like I said, hollywood just came out with a movie.
Speaker 1:But we don't need Hollywood. We've known this for thousands of years. It's in the Gemara, story after story of individuals who've passed, they've gone to the next world, they've come back and they've given an accounting, and all of them, all of them say how they felt warmth and love and security and they were at peace. And so many have said that they no longer fear dying after that. So the fact that we don't know, it's only because we haven't learned.
Speaker 1:But I have news for you If you want to learn about it. There are ample, ample books written about it and there are very highly qualified individuals to teach about it, the point being that we have to be just as grateful to the things that we don't have or that have been taken away from us as we are for the things that have been given to us. Remember that friends is a very, very important concept and it's an indicator for you. It's the litmus test that tells you how close you are to your creator. It tells you how much you've learned about your creator and it tells you how much trust you've put in your creator.
Speaker 1:If you're worrying all day long which most people do, about the things that you don't have, that things that you haven't been given and the things that have been taken away from you, or worrying about death, dying and when that day is going to come, you are missing out on life. Life is passing you by. You are so busy being stressed about what will be that you're not enjoying what is my friends. That concludes the spiritual benefit section of the gate of trust, and we are now going to move in starting tomorrow, god willing on the worldly benefits of trust, and we are now going to move in, starting tomorrow, god willing, on the worldly benefits of trust and we'll finish that off tomorrow. We're going to move into Passover and then we'll pick up again, god willing, on the Tuesday, next Tuesday, after Passover. Have a spectacular day. I wish you success in preparing for Passover and we'll speak tomorrow.
