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 63 - Divine Trust Doesn't Mean Sitting Still
What happens when your unwavering faith collides with life's harshest realities? The Trust Factor dives deep into a profound spiritual paradox that affects us all.
Walking through life with complete trust in divine providence creates a rare state where nothing can shake you - what we might call being "unfazeable." It's like being backed by the most powerful force imaginable, where material concerns dissolve and spiritual certainty prevails. Yet when confronted with serious illness or challenges, can we simply rely on faith alone?
This episode reveals why even those with the strongest spiritual foundation must still take practical action. We've drifted progressively further from Mount Sinai - that singular moment when divine wisdom entered human history directly. Each generation faces new challenges, and ours contends with unprecedented distractions. The rise of "influencers" who destroy valuable possessions for clicks represents just one symptom of our disconnection from timeless wisdom.
Through a powerful story about a rabbi and professor on an airplane, we explore contrasting worldviews about generational wisdom. Religious traditions teach reverence for elders who stand closer to divine truth, while secular society promotes the false idea that newer generations inherently surpass previous ones in wisdom. The evidence suggests otherwise as we waste countless hours scrolling through "absolutely useless information."
Finding balance between faith and action represents the spiritual maturity our times demand. God created a world requiring human effort rather than constant miracles. We must pursue medical treatment and practical solutions while maintaining profound trust in divine guidance. This balanced approach honors both our responsibility and our faith.
Listen now to discover how ancient wisdom provides exactly what we need to navigate our distracted modern landscape. Share this episode with someone struggling to balance faith with practical action in their own life.
Good morning everyone and welcome to the Trust Factor, guaranteeing you success in life using divine age-old wisdom. My friends, we are continuing to talk about this concept that we need to flush out just a little bit more. You lived your whole life building your emunah. You've worked on yourself, you've walked with God, you've allowed him into your life and you've been working on developing your faith and your trust in your creator. And it's taken you 20, 30 years, whatever it is. You've worked on it and you've achieved great, great levels of success in your trust in God. And then, suddenly, out of the clear blue, you get a diagnosis. Doctor tells you it's not good news, it's going to be a tough go. The road ahead is tough, yeah. He tells you that the treatment is going to be difficult and that it's going to be long and very trying on you and you're going to be going from doctor to doctor and specialist to specialist and so on and so forth. But you know, you've worked on yourself for 20, 30, 40 years and you've developed such an unbelievable recognition of God's hands in your life that you know that you're flying on a high when it comes to your emunah and your bitachon, your trust and your faith, and nothing phases you. Nothing phases you, my friends. That's exactly what happens. By the way, the more you learn to have faith and trust in God, the more you walk in his ways. The more you allow him into your life, the more he comes into your life. And so what ends up happening is, if that happens often enough and for long enough, then what happens is you end up being unfazeable. If that's even a word, you cannot be moved. There are very few things on planet Earth and in this lifetime that will cause you to be upset, frustrated, mad, jealous all the other negative character traits that we talked about in the early days. All those go out the window because you're literally walking around with the strongest military on planet Earth backing you up. You're literally walking around with elon musk as your father. You lack nothing. You've got all the money in the world, you've got all the health, you've got all the, all the power. You've got everything that you need is at your fingertips.
Speaker 1:You imagine what it's like walking around contemplating to buy something if you're elon musk's son. Do you stop to think for a second? Do you get phased that you're not going to be able to pay the rent, that you're not going to be able to make a mortgage payment, whatever it may be? Is the word no an option when it comes to purchasing something in the material world? If you're Elon Musk's son, the answer is no, of course not. Nothing phases you when you've lived a life that way where you've incorporated him into your life and he's come into your life and managed things for you and you've seen it, you've dialed in to be able to acknowledge his handiwork. You walk around untouchable.
Speaker 1:Now back to the question. You get the diagnosis. Are you allowed to stay at home and say God, the same way you run the show. Same way you've run my life up until now and provided for me and I've never lacked. Run the show. Same way. You've run my life up until now and provided for me and I've never lacked. You're also going to provide me the cure. I'm going to stay at home and you're going to take care of me. The cure is going to come from the heavens. Are you allowed to do that? And the answer, my friends, is a resounding no. You're not allowed.
Speaker 1:Maybe once upon a time not maybe really once upon a time our sages, those who were living a life of complete Torah and mitzvahs. Their entire existence was based on Torah. These are people who had prophecy. These are people who spoke to God. Literally these people we could have said that about, and in fact that's what they did Instead of going to see a doctor. Shara B'tachon tells us that they went to see prophets and they were healed through prophets because prophets could tell them what it was that they were doing wrong. They had a direct connection back. Today, we cannot do that. Why? Because we have simply drifted too far away from Mount Sinai. It's just been too long. That's the bottom line. There's been too much time between when we received the Torah and today, our generation. And, as you know, as you look around, as you could see clear as day, we are surrounded by challenges that past generations never had to deal with.
Speaker 1:Past generations did not have to deal with this concept of influencers. By the way, influencers this whole concept of having these people running around making themselves look like circus animals, people doing ridiculous things online, spending untold fortunes to destroy valuable artifacts just to be able to get clicks and likes this whole concept of influencers is relatively new, my friends. We didn't have them. Certainly. We had people who we looked up to. We had people who we idolized. We had celebrities, whoever it may be, but today they also have celebrities. The only difference is now you have exponentially more, because everybody and their uncle calls themselves an influencer and nine times out of 10, they're influencing you with everything that is broken and corrupt. They are telling you to do all these things that most of humanity would not or should not do, like buying a $300,000 or $400,000 Ferrari and driving it through a forest, taking it off-road and destroying it, just so that people can watch your channel and click and give you likes, so that you can make even more money, so that you can afford 10 more of those Ferraris. That's what we're teaching this generation. By the way, that was a big contributing factor when it came to me starting this podcast.
Speaker 1:We all have an obligation, my friends, to teach and to learn. That is everybody's obligation. Now you may say but I don't have all the content. I haven't learned that much. It doesn't stop you from teaching. It says that you learn the Hebrew alphabet. You have an obligation to teach the Aleph Beit. Whatever you know and have learned, you have an obligation to teach. So all I had to do was look around and see these people taking the next generation and destroying the fabric, their moral fabric, and think to myself look at what a struggle we have. All this crazy ideology that runs counter to human productivity and human morality is being spread in a way that it has never been spread before in human history. What's the outcome going to be, my friends, I don't know, but I can assure you it's not going to be good. I can guarantee you that the negative effect is going to be tremendous. When it comes to all of this woke progressive ideologies that are not rooted in human success, they have not accounted not one iota in carrying humanity through the ages and through our difficult times. That was a big variable in me starting this podcast series.
Speaker 1:Now I want to finish off with an illustration that I think will help to put this into perspective. There was a story that's been told many times. The veracity of the story and the truthfulness of it, I have no idea. It could just be an analogy allegory. It might be an actual, true story. I've heard it so many times. The principles behind it are true and I've seen them play out many times before and in many different situations. The story is that two individuals are on a plane let's call it New York to Israel, a long flight, and on that flight one individual is a very well-respected and esteemed rabbi and the other is a well-respected and esteemed professor, college professor. They're sitting on a plane right next to each other. They both happen to also have children sitting somewhere else on the airplane.
Speaker 1:Throughout the flight, the rabbi's son continually comes forward and checks on the welfare and the well-being of his father. Abba, are you all right? Dad, are you okay? Can I get you a pillow? Did you eat something? Can I get you something else from the stewardess? Can I find something else to make you more comfortable? Checking in literally every 15, 20 minutes, hour, whatever it is, the rabbi's son comes over to check in on the father, or sometimes just to have a conversation. How are you? What's happening? Did you read anything? Can I get you something to read? Whatever? It is constantly checking in with the well-being of his father.
Speaker 1:At one point, the professor sitting next to him looks over and says what's the deal? What's going on? Are you okay? Are you dying or something? And the rab he comes over every hour and he's checking in on you as if you couldn't do these things for yourself. My son, in the meantime, is nowhere to be seen. We're hours into this flight and I haven't seen him. Not only has he asked, he hasn't asked me for anything, he hasn't even made an appearance.
Speaker 1:So what gives? Tell me what's the story, what's wrong, what's the deal with you? You're lacking something, not capable, you're handicapped. And the rabbi says absolutely not. To the contrary, let me explain to you the difference between the way that I raise my children and the way that society raises yours. And he explains that in our society, in religiosity, we are told and we understand the idea that the further we are from Mount Sinai, from the giving of the Torah, from the time, the one and only event in human history where God spoke and where all world religions agree and confirm that God spoke out loud to the Jewish nation, the one time in history where he gave us the Torah, that was the pivotal moment. We were on high. Our children understand that the further we get away from that occurrence, the further we are from reality, from the truth, from holiness, and so our older generations, our parents and our grandparents and if we're fortunate enough to have great-grandparents, they're closer to that event, they are closer to the truth, and so we have to revere them, we have to respect them and we have to honor them. The generation that we're living in today, in secularism, has been told and believes that, because we are that much farther away from Mount Sinai, because we have advanced so much in human technology and information and capabilities, that because of all that, our generation is better and stronger and wiser than our parents and our grandparents and our great grandparents.
Speaker 1:My friends, you do the math, you figure it out and I could tell you. All you need to do is look back at those influencers. All you need to do is turn on technology. All you need to do is look at your children and look at yourself sitting on a tablet, on a little box in your hand, scrolling away, burning countless hours on what? Absolutely useless information. My friends, you tell me who was right the rabbi or the professor.
Speaker 1:The answer to the previous question about whether or not we can stay home and wait for God to send us our healing from the heavens, or if we have an obligation to go out and get treatment and do the things that we need to do, the answer is two different things. Number one God didn't create a world of miracles. He did not create a world where we could sit back and ask and rely on open miracles. Certainly, they happen, especially in the medical industry. We know that they happen from time to time, but we are not living in a world of miracles, where we're living in a world of actions. But now you think for yourselves, my friends will this generation ever be at that level to be able to sit home and have that much trust and faith in their creator? All we have to do, my friends, is consider the challenges facing this generation and contrast them with the challenges that previous generations face, and I think there is absolutely no comparison. Have yourselves a spectacular day.
