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 91 - Building Divine Connections: Teaching Our Children God's Presence
Have you ever wondered if our focus on religious practices might be overshadowing something more fundamental? While teaching our children the commandments, prayers, and rituals that define our faith, we often miss teaching them how to build a genuine relationship with the Creator.
Today's reflection centers on a profound insight shared by rabbis worldwide: if you're going to give parents in this generation one book to focus on, it would be "The Gate of Trust" (Shaar Habitachon). Why? Because our next generation struggles to establish authentic connections with God based on faith and trust rather than mere obligation. I share a striking story about an Orthodox Jewish teacher who, when asked by a student "How do I know there's a God?", had no answer ready—highlighting a critical gap in our spiritual education approach.
My own journey taught me an important lesson: spiritual growth should never come at the expense of our families. When we advance on our path alone, we risk alienating those closest to us. True growth happens when we bring our spouses and children alongside us, making adjustments to ensure everyone develops together. I offer two complementary approaches to building a divine relationship: the intellectual path of recognizing God through the perfection of creation (just look at the complexity of a human brain or eye!), and the emotional path of developing interactions where you ask, God delivers, and you respond with gratitude.
One of my most treasured moments of connection came when I showed my eight-year-old daughter a maple seed with its natural "propeller" design—a perfect teaching tool about divine intelligence in creation. These everyday wonders create opportunities for our children to recognize God's presence. Remember the principle: "Open up for me a hole the size of a needle and I will open up for you a hole the size of an auditorium." The key is taking that first step toward God, and He will reciprocate by coming closer to you. How will you build that relationship today?
Good morning everybody, and welcome to the Trust Factor, where your success is guaranteed as long as you implement the divine age-old teachings. My friends, this morning a friend of mine reminded me of the importance of the book that we are reading, which is the Gate of Trust, shahr Habitachon, that important rabbis around the world have suggested that if you're going to give any parent in this generation a book to focus on, it would be this one. And the reason that that is so, my friends, is because our next generation and this is not a new phenomenon, but our next generation has always had a difficult time establishing a relationship with their creator that is based on ideas of faith and trust. Oftentimes we are so busy teaching our children how to do the things that they need to do that make them Jewish, whether it's whatever the mitzvahs are keeping the commandments, prayer, charity, doing these wonderful deeds. I'm not detracting from these deeds. They're very important. Some of them are clearly what define us as being Jews. But I think it is more important and clearly I'm not alone. It is much more important to teach a child that they can have a relationship with their creator, a real relationship, not something that's theoretical, not that he exists in a different realm and we are in this realm and there's nothing that connects us or that God forbid. He created us and dropped us into this world and said sink or swim, good luck, we'll see you after 120 years. That's not how this world was built and that's not the way that he wants to operate. He wants very much to have a relationship with us, but we are limited. We're just human beings. We're limited in our capacity for our own growth, all the more so when it comes to our children.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes, it's very difficult to teach our children things, especially when it comes to ideas of Torah, because children have a natural defense mechanism, a natural wall that gets put up when it comes to the things that their parents tell them. They always think that there's an ulterior motive. So if you don't know how to do it, if you don't know how to have that conversation with your child, how to explain to them how to have a relationship with their creator, the good news is today there are so many options. They can go online and they can go to Torah anytime. They can go to Chazak. There are dozens of websites that are full of Torah and some of the best speakers in the world. Find one, find two, find three really good speakers that you connect with. And the odds are that if you connect with these speakers, or your spouse connects with these speakers, then your children are going to connect with them also, because they are spinoffs of you. Remember that. So if you can't like I know in my life, for example, rabbi Wallerstein may his memory be blessed was a tremendous impact.
Speaker 1:He spent his life teaching kids in yeshiva. For me, he just fit naturally and as a result of that, I played it for my children, and now my kids are fans of Rabbi Wallerstein. His name is Rabbi Zachariah Wallerstein. You can find him on TorahAnytimecom. There are many amazing rabbis out there that have unbelievable abilities to connect and get these ideas across in a way that makes them real and practical.
Speaker 1:And it's incumbent upon us, my friends. We're obligated to teach our children. We talked about this not long ago. We said very clearly that some of the reasons why he's holding back the goodness is because we're not careful in sharing it with our children. We're not careful in making sure that our households are growing with us.
Speaker 1:It's not good enough for you to grow alone. It's not. It can actually have devastating effects If you're on a path of growth and righteousness and godliness, and you're doing all these things that you have never done before in order to grow and to be a better person, to be a better father, to be a better spouse, to be a better child. What ends up happening oftentimes is the exact opposite. As much as you're trying to do the right thing, you're doing it at the expense of everybody else. You're not worried about your spouse's growth or your children's growth and, my friends, it ends up driving a wedge between you and them. It's not healthy and it happened to me.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you this because it happened in my life where God thank God, I didn't get to the point where they were alienated, but I recognized early on in my growth very early on, thank God, that it's not just about me and that I need to bring them along. And as a result of that, I had to make changes in terms of where I'm praying and which synagogue I'm associated with and the community that we were associated with. And because I made those changes, my wife was able to grow and my children were able to grow and, thank God, we grew as a family, but in the beginning, I was the one who was blazing the trail. I was the one who was moving forward, but thank God I realized early on that I have a risk of leaving everybody in the dust. So remember that it's very important.
Speaker 1:Even in the Orthodox world there is a very important member of our community. His name is Rabbi David Saberman, very, very important and righteous individual. He's written many books and he spent a whole life in education and you know the disciplining and educating of Jewish children, orthodox children. And I remember he told me a story I happened to be there listening about how he heard that an Orthodox school in Toronto with Orthodox teachers. One of those teachers came barreling out of his classroom and running down to the principal's office beside himself, seemingly very perturbed, and when he sat with the principal to explain what was going on, he told the principal that he was asked a question by a child and he didn't have the answer. And he was so shaken by the fact that he didn't have any answers that he picked up and ran down to the principal's office to ask him what he should say. What was the question? The question a child I don't know how old, but a grade school child asked his teacher, his rabbi Orthodox Jewish rabbi was how do I know that there's a God and the rabbi didn't have an answer for them.
Speaker 1:To educate the educators, to teach people these concepts about having a real relationship with your creator, one of give and take, where you see his hand in your life every day, where you do his will and he does yours. Guys, it's real, I'm not making it up. I've been living this for 20 years. I can tell you firsthand and I can tell you from all the people I interact with who've done the same he's waiting for a relationship. It's in your best interest to have that relationship. How do you do it? I've said it before and I'll say it again there are two ways to really harness a relationship with God.
Speaker 1:Number one is to look practically, to look at the material, to look at the world around us and to quantify his existence. In other words, to look at the material, to look at the world around us and to quantify his existence. In other words, to say there's no way that this perfection could have come randomly. There's no way that some random explosion could have ended up creating such sophistication and such perfection. There is simply no way. Just look at a human brain or a human eye and a whole conversation comes to an end, my friends, if you have half a brain and you're being honest with yourself, there are people all day long trying to steer people in the wrong direction and inject doubt into their minds. But it doesn't take much. Just take a few minutes and contemplate a human brain or a human eye, do a basic amount of research on it, my friends, and you will come to a conclusion very quickly that there is no such thing as happenstance and coincidence and an explosion that created this world. Then you can establish that, okay, this, there is a creator, there was a beautiful creation. Therefore, there has to be a creator and you can build a relationship that way.
Speaker 1:The other way to do it is to have an emotional relationship, to connect on an emotional level, where you have interactions with him, where you ask, he delivers, you acknowledge and are grateful for it, and then you have a spectacular relationship. You do his work and he does yours. The best way to do it, my friends, is the way that appeals to you. We're not all the same. Some people need to connect intellectually, some people need to connect intellectually, some people need to connect emotionally. Whatever works for you is great. In my life, it's a combination. It's the same principle I've brought to you in the past through Rambam Maimonides, which is a life of balance, a life that has a little bit of both or a lot of both. I'm connected to God. I have a two-way relationship with him of give and take. He does my work, I do his. It's not always perfect, but that's what I strive for. It's made my life exponentially better. I can't explain to you how much better it's made my life. And at the same time, I love. I love studying his creation, I love seeing the brilliance in this world and pointing out. The other day I'll give you an example A few weeks ago I was sitting down with my eight-year-old daughter in our backyard and we were looking at the little seed pods that come down from.
Speaker 1:I believe they're maple trees. You know what I'm talking about. These are the ones that as a kid, you took them and you threw them up in the air and they have a propeller. They're basically one big propeller and they come gliding down beautifully and gently and I showed it to my eight-year-old and I said you know what this is? And she had no idea and I explained to her what it is. I said inside here and I opened it up and I showed her a seed, the seed that's sitting in the pot at the base of that propeller. I said this is a seed. And inside that seed, if you open it up, which we did, I said, in there is the genetic programming to tell the tree how to come about to make a brand new maple tree from this tiny little seed. I said you see, that big giant tree over there, it came from this tiny little seed and in here is the programming to make another one, and another one, and another one, and we don't have to do anything. And God, in his love and brilliance, gave this seed, which fell from 100 feet high, potentially 50 to 100 feet high, came down, not crashing down, but came down lovingly, with a propeller, its own custom-made propeller.
Speaker 1:Guys, I mean, that's just one small thing that I happen to reflect on. Take the time, reflect on the beauty and the wonder of his creation and you will be floored by it, and then you will develop and you will improve upon your relationship, you will get closer to him, he will come closer to you. But the caveat is, my friends, this is the caveat, remember we said open up for me a hole the size of a needle and I will open up for you a hole the size of an auditorium. But what's the key? You have to take the first step. You come closer to him and then he reciprocates. May that be your day today and every single day. Have an amazing day, my friends.
