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 22 - True Bitachon Lets You Smile When Everything Falls Apart
Stepping back into our exploration of Bitachon after the first days of Passover creates the perfect opportunity to examine how completely disconnecting from worldly concerns during holy days gives us a taste of true trust in action. That momentary freedom from business worries becomes a microcosm of what's possible when we develop genuine trust in God's providence.
The first worldly benefit of Bitachon might just be its most profound gift: complete liberation from anxiety about the future. When we truly trust that God orchestrates our circumstances perfectly, worry dissolves. Those with authentic trust radiate calm and contentment even when everything around them seems to crumble. They understand at the deepest level that nothing happens by accident—every challenge serves a divine purpose. This freedom from fear represents the pinnacle achievement of trust, transforming theoretical faith into practical peace of mind.
Our discussion expands to another surprising benefit: those who trust deeply often find their livelihood provided locally, without requiring extensive travel. The traditional blessing for local income recognizes the tremendous toll that business travel takes on physical health, emotional wellbeing, and family relationships. From disrupted sleep cycles to missed family gatherings, constant travel extracts high costs that no financial gain can truly compensate for. By nurturing trust, we open ourselves to discovering abundant provision right where we are—allowing us to maintain health, preserve relationships, and fully participate in our communities and traditions.
Cultivate deeper trust in your life by recognizing God's hand in every circumstance. Join our ongoing exploration of Bitachon and discover how this ancient wisdom provides exactly what modern hearts most desperately need—unshakable peace in an uncertain world.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back from the first days of Passover. We have one week to be able to prepare for the last days of Passover, starting on Friday night, which also coincides with Shabbat, so it's going to be extra holy. I hope you had an amazing Passover. I certainly did, fully maximized the downtime and again, like we've talked about in the past, once in a while an idea about my business creeps up into my mind, and the speed at which it leaves my head. It's even faster than it came into my head. Why? Because there's nothing I can do. I'm literally in the thick of Passover and there's absolutely nothing I can do, and if the world was coming to an end, I'd find out about it one way or another, and so the thought of my business or anything else that doesn't have to do with the holiday and my family and my community slips away from me. It doesn't even enter into my mind. I hope you guys had the same experiences. Let's continue on talking about Bidachon. I also was thinking during the holiday that maybe I haven't planned it out yet entirely, but maybe because now we start this tradition every week of learning what's called Pirkei Avot I've mentioned in the past. Pirkei Avot literally means the ethics or the chapters of the fathers, which is a whole tractate that talks about how to live life as a mensch, as a human being with morals and ethics and values, how to do the right thing versus the wrong, how to identify right versus wrong. It's a critical, critical component of Torah. Unfortunately, it's not taught as much as it should be. It's more in need today, in this generation, I would argue, than any other generation in human history. And the further we get away from Mount Sinai, the more we need the ethics of the fathers. It brings our sages, it brings our patriarchs and our matriarchs back and it's literally them speaking into our ears and telling us to remember the core values that allowed humanity to survive and to thrive for so many millennia. Right, and so we have that ability through the ethics of the fathers. I thought maybe, if we get a chance at the end of each session, we'll drop in a quick minute or two of an idea around Pierre Kavut ethics of the father. So I don't know that, I'll do it today, but possibly tomorrow, and we'll roll with that. See how it goes. We can only benefit from learning about ethics and values.
Speaker 0:We talked about the first of the worldly benefits of bitachon, of trust in God, and we said that in a nutshell. The first is that it allows a person to free themselves from the stresses and the anxieties and the worries associated with attaining one's desires. If you're constantly chewed up, thinking that you're in charge, that it's your strength, it's your wisdom, that somebody else is in charge, that is a flesh and blood, that somebody else will dictate how much you make when you make it, your health, your children, whatever it may be If you're constantly putting those powers in other people's hands or in your own, then you're constantly worried that you may lack tomorrow. When somebody has full trust in God, it doesn't matter what the situation is Health, wealth, relations, children, whatever the situation is, you are at constant ease. You are not worried. It is literally, my friends. Trust is literally the recipe for peace of mind. You want to get rid of anxiety. You want to get rid of depression. You want to get rid of fear and jealousy and all the negative attributes. This is the secret. We are unlocking it Now.
Speaker 0:I'm talking theory. It's another thing to put all these things into practice. So you have to constantly work on yourselves. We all have to. When I'm talking over here I'm talking more to myself than I'm talking to anybody who's listening that we have to constantly work on ourselves to become better and stronger, to improve our relationship and our level of trust that we have in our creator. Once we've done that and this becomes real, it's no longer theory, it becomes practice. Suddenly we live a life of calm, a life of happiness and peace and tranquility, and life becomes spectacular.
Speaker 0:It doesn't matter how seemingly bad things are, it doesn't matter what's falling apart around you. You are sitting with a smile on your face and if somebody sees you, they would think you're crazy. They would say what's wrong with this person? He's got nothing. They've got nothing. Their life is falling apart around them. This happened, then that happened, and if it was me you wouldn't be able to lift me off the floor. And yet you see these people and they're constantly okay. Nothing is phasing them. They've got a smile on their face. They roll through life. They recognize that everything is perfect.
Speaker 0:That is, in my opinion, that is the pinnacle of all the benefits of trust in God. The Sharia B'techon, the gate of trust, brings that as the first of the worldly benefits of trusting God. What's the second, very similar line of thinking and reasoning over here, but obviously you can apply it in different scenarios. He says that the benefit, the second benefit regarding the matters of the material world is, which means that one relies on God to provide his income locally so that he enjoys relief from having to travel on distant journeys. Very interesting concept. We know a lot of people you know. Obviously, the world has become very small.
Speaker 0:Between internet and travel throughout COVID, we've all learned that we can have meetings across the world in the comfort of our own home or at our office, and rarely, seldomly, do we have to get up and travel, but it's still a very important part of business. A lot of people find themselves and I know many people like this who are always traveling, either locally, traveling two, three, four hour drives to be able to do their jobs, where they're visiting stores, or they're visiting restaurants or whatever it is, whatever industry they're in, that they need to travel very far distances. Now they have to be in a car all day long, or worse, they need to be on a plane traveling across countries, across continents. That takes a toll on an individual. When we do our blessing after a meal, when we bench after we've eaten bread, one of the things that we bless our host with as part of the blessing is that they should have a source of income that is close to their home. That's a bonus, guys. That is a huge, huge bonus.
Speaker 0:We can all spend much time talking about all of the downside of traveling for business. Number one when you're in a car, you're cooped up, you're sitting in the same position, sometimes for hours and hours on end. Same thing in an airplane, hours and hours on end. What is the risk associated with that? We know there are medical risks associated with staying in the same position Thrombosis, right. You get clots in your legs, god forbid.
Speaker 0:You can have all kinds of problems, and the older you are and the longer you've been doing it for, the more difficult it becomes to be able to deal with these issues as they arise Constantly. Eating the things that you're not used to eating. Your diet is constantly changing, depending on what's being served or what you've prepared, or whatever it may be. Your diet is constantly changing and it's never consistent because you're always on the move. There are so many challenges, also in an airplane, just flying at altitude in a pressurized cabin on a consistent basis. It plays with your system, it messes with everything. I don't know about you guys, but when I fly a long distance, my entire digestive system changes entirely and I deal with all kinds of issues whenever I get to where it is that I'm going.
Speaker 0:So there are so many nevermind the time zone issues. You know, flying from one time zone to another. Now your body has to acclimatize to an entirely different time zone and sometimes it's a drastic change six to 12 hours sometimes where your body has a circadian rhythm. We have a natural rhythm associated with life that we know when we go to sleep and we know when we wake up, and you don't know how critical sleep is. Proper quality and quantity of sleep is one of the most critical things that we can give ourselves to remain physically and emotionally healthy, and when you're traveling those kinds of distances it takes a serious toll, especially with time zone changes.
Speaker 0:Right, good luck. Good luck to those people to try and be able to adjust and have a proper, normal circadian rhythm. Normally those people are completely messed up. Their times are all over the place. They can barely sleep a solid six, seven, eight hours it rarely happens and so they adjust to being able to have catnaps or to be able to not have a proper quality of sleep, and that's not healthy. That is devastating for the body, especially if somebody is getting sick or is dealing with an illness. Sleep is therapy. Sleep is literally part of a cure for so many illnesses.
Speaker 0:And if you're not getting it, I read recently that proper sleep, a proper amount of sleep which, by the way, maimonides Rambam says is anywhere between six and eight hours. If you're strong and you don't need a lot of sleep, six hours is your number. If you're generally weak and you need some more sleep, eight is your number. But anything that you sleep over your required amount of time plays against you. So, for example, if you've slept 10 hours, but generally you're a strong person, so you only need six hours and you've slept 10, those four hours feel like you've slept four hours less, which means it feels like you've only slept two hours, so you're walking around like a zombie. You've overslept. You need the right quantity and quality of sleep. There is no substitute to be able to help you with that.
Speaker 0:So if you're not getting proper sleep because you're traveling, it is going to take its toll on you, nevermind all the other benefits aside from the health, that you're spending time away from your family, time away from your community. Sometimes you got to be away for Shabbat or for holidays. Right, that is difficult. Nobody wants to do that. You want to be with loved ones, with friends and family. It's a very challenging thing to do and if you find yourself having to travel for work to be able to earn a living, if you find yourself in that situation, then unfortunately it may work for you from a financial perspective.
Speaker 0:But the aim, the goal, is to pray to Daven, that your parnasah, your income should remain local, that it shouldn't take its toll on you, not physically and not emotionally. That, my friends, is the second world benefit of having trust in God. We're going to touch on it again tomorrow and then we'll move on to the third. There are five of each. We finished off the five spiritual, now we're finishing off the five material benefits and hopefully tomorrow I'll have a minute or two of the ethics of the fathers to wrap up our class with. I hope you have a wonderful day and we'll speak again tomorrow.
