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 163 - If goodness isn’t reward, what is it for
A flimsy roof, a bigger view. We step into the sukkah to practise trust, step out with clearer priorities, and rethink the old script about reward and punishment. Instead of a cosmic scoreboard, we explore consequence: how doing good aligns your life with good, how habits shape peace long before outcomes arrive, and why the next world is described as kindness rather than wages. The conversation moves from holiday prep to heart posture, tying ancient wisdom to daily choices that actually stick.
Along the way, we unpack what it means to be among the “treasured”—not more loved, but living in a way that lets a loving Parent take pride. Think of it as the front-page test for the soul: would you sign your name to this choice before the One who sees the why beneath your what? We share a practical anchor in Shiviti Hashem lenegdi tamid, a mindset that changes how we handle money, work, and relationships. Maimonides offers encouragement for the rest of us: the moment you start weighing your deeds and aiming for more mitzvot than missteps, you’ve already tilted toward righteousness.
We also tackle a nuanced call to detach from unnecessary pleasure without retreating from the world. This is not about escape or asceticism; it’s about right-sizing comfort so love of the Creator leads. Use what you have with intention, let go of what owns you, and serve in ways that make God proud. Sukkot becomes training for a life that’s lighter, braver, and more awake—where consequence teaches, kindness crowns, and thin walls make strong trust.
If this spoke to you, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s building their own sukkah—literal or figurative—and leave a review to help others find the show. What one comfort are you ready to loosen so your trust can grow?
Until next time, have a spectacular day!
Good morning everybody and welcome to the Trust Factor, the podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine age old teachings. The Sukkha is up. We're ready for the holiday. Just a little bit more decorating that needs to happen. And then we're all in. I hope you guys are ready as well. I hope you have either built a sukkah or will be sitting in a sukkah throughout this holiday. It's a wonderful, wonderful holiday. It's an opportunity to reconnect on a level where you separate from the material. And I'm about to talk about that actually a little bit. Hopefully we'll have time to get into it. But the idea of leaving the confines of this secure home made of bricks and mortar and framing and roofs and air conditioning and heating and all the creature comforts we could ever have in moving into this rickety shed where we are supposed to spend as much of our time in. And what's the idea? That we're recognizing that God runs this world and that we don't rely on the material and we want to connect back to the spiritual. That is one of many of the reasons why we sit in a sukkha. Yesterday we talked about the concept of not doing the mitzvahs for the sake of receiving a reward, and we said that there's this whole dichotomy between do we do the mitzvahs to get a reward? And is there a concept of reward and punishment or is it actually consequence, negative and positive consequence? And my theory on it, which is more of a hypothesis based on all the information we've learned here and information I've learnt in the past, suggests that it is consequence. That at the end of the day, the reason we're doing these good things is because we want a good life. We want God to bring the world back to the way that it was before Adam and Eve sinned. And the only way for him to do that is through our actions. We have to correct. He can't do it. It was Adam and Eve that sinned. It is us who are faulty, and we need to improve. That is our job. Every time we come around, it's to be able to gain higher and higher levels of spirituality, to it perfect more and more the character that we have. That's our purpose in this world. Every single one of us is to become the best version of who we are. And when we do that, when we're successful, which is done by the way by doing the mitzvahs and avoiding the averas, do the good and avoid the bad. When you do that, the net effect of that is good. When you do good, you get good. It's a simple proposition. And so that is really what happens. We do the mitzvahs is good, we get good. It's not reward, it's a positive consequence. It is the net positive effect of your actions. Now he continues in a similar vein, but he kind of takes it to a whole other level. And he's talking about what your mindset should be in order to be able to do this to the highest extent possible. What does he say? Let's read. We now present the explanation of how trust applies regarding the seventh category. What's the seventh category? This is the category of supreme reward bestowed in the world to come as a kindness from God upon those who are his chosen and treasured ones. There's a lot in that statement. He's first of all saying it's a kindness. Again, it's not related back to our deeds because our deeds are for us. We elevate this world. We take it to a whole other level so that we can benefit in this world. It is incumbent upon us. It is not optional. Therefore, the reward that we're going to get comes strictly as a kindness from God. A loving father who wants you to be happy and wants to give you all of the goodness, but it needs to be deserving. And therefore, you need to be part of his chosen and treasured ones. How is that the case? We know if we have children, we know some kids are better than others. Some kids behave better than others. God forbid you have a child who's a problem child and they're always getting into trouble and they're always causing you grief, right? Doesn't mean you love them any less. It means that they're not the treasured ones. The treasured ones are the ones who make you feel as though you've done a good job that give you pride when you look at them and you see them giving back to the world and doing the good things that the world requires of them, and you see them acting in a way that is righteous, that gives you an amazing feeling of pride, those become the treasured ones. The other ones, you're always working to try to get them to even step up, even partially, to do some of those things. Most of the time, they're just causing you grief and anxiety. It's the same thing, my friends. God has children, we're all his children. Some are busy doing his work, occupying their time making this world a better place, and doing things that he can look back at and say, ah, that I'm proud of. That's why I brought them into the world. And others are doing the exact opposite. They're destroying the world. We have people who are wicked and evil in this world. They're also his children. Just because they behave badly doesn't mean they're not children of God. Of course they are. But they're behaving badly. God looks at them and says, What can I do to get these people to wake up? And in truth, he can't do much because he gave us free will. You know who can do something about it? You and I. We have the ability to look at the people who are not behaving properly, who are conducting themselves in a way that is not only detrimental to themselves, but to the rest of the world, like we said with the analogy of the cruise ship and the guy drilling the hole in the floor. We have an obligation to them and to ourselves and to God to be able to help these people to live a godly life. Let's read on. He says, it's not the reward that we're gonna get is not in accordance to the measure of their deeds, but with an abundance of goodness that is immeasurable. You can't even begin to weigh out. Never mind to be able to do the mitzvahs in this world that are gonna lead to amazing reward or amazing consequence. The reward that comes in the next world is not even a consequence. It is just spectacular goodness that is immeasurable because it's not directly connected back to the amount of good that you've done in this world. There is no amount that you can do that would warrant that kind of a olamaba of a next world. But if you're living a life, a godly life, and you're trying your best to help yourself and your family and your community, God sees the way that you function. Then in the next world, he opens up his treasury and says, Now you're entitled to all of this, not because of the amount, but because of the choice that you made to live that type of life. Now he gets into it. The appropriate manner of relying on God regarding this special reward is that first one should engage in the means of spiritual growth that can bring him to the levels of the pious ones who are worthy of receiving this special reward from God in his kindness. In other words, what I just said, you have to live a pious life. You have to live a life of godliness, Torah, worrying about other people, worrying about your brothers and sisters, and making sure that you're constantly weighing your actions. There's a verse in Hebrew that I use often, and I live by this verse. And if you've been to synagogue, you've seen it on the top of the ark where the Torah is kept, oftentimes in many synagogues, it says, Shiviti Hashem and Negdit Tamid. I always consider Hashem before I do something. What does that mean? When I was in the finance business many, many moons ago, I was being trained by people who were in the industry for a very long time. And one of the tests that they used to suggest to us whether or not we should do what we and what we plan to do in terms of investing our clients' money. One of the measures by which we had to decide whether or not to move forward on was called the front page test, which means if this action that you did with your client's money made it on the front page of the newspaper, would you be comfortable with it? Would you be able to justify your position and feel good about it? Or would you be ashamed and embarrassed and want to run and hide? It's the same idea, except we're not worried about the corrupt media. We're worried about the master of the universe. We're worried about God and his beautiful Torah. And if we could sit back and look and assess our actions and be happy with the choices that we've made and think to ourselves, God would be pleased if I led this type of a lifestyle when I make a decision, whether it's for my family or for my business, if I make a decision, I always consider God before I make that decision. If you're living that life, my friends, I can almost guarantee you you fit into this category. It's done, it's a done deal. If you're you know, Rambam Maimonides mentions, you know, we just got out of Yom Kippur, and in there we've learned as children that we have to weigh our mitzvas and our averas, our sins and our good deeds, and we have to put them on a scale, so to speak, and we have to make sure that we have more good deeds than we have bad deeds, and we have to constantly be measuring them. Maimonides says, just by virtue of the fact that you have that in your mind, that you're actually trying to consider that you should have more mitzvahs, he says you are already considered righteous. Already. Just by virtue of you having done the accounting in your mind, or wanting to do the accounting, you are righteous. It's a similar idea. Just by virtue of the fact that you're considering God before the decisions that you make, you, my friend, are living a godly life. You, my friend, are going to be part of the chosen and treasured ones. And it says one should practice the traits of those who exercise abstinence, who despise unnecessary pleasures of this world. He should thus banish from his heart his love of this world and his preferences for it, and replace it with the love of the Creator. With this love he should seek to dedicate himself to serving God, to delight in preoccupying his thoughts with God, and to detach himself from matters of this world and its inhabitants. That's a mouthful, my friends. There's a lot to unpack over there. This ain't Buddhism. We're not searching for nirvana. We don't separate from the world and find the highest peak and sit up there and meditate. That's not what we do. So, what is he talking about over here? That, my friends, we'll discuss on Thursday. Have an amazing hug. Have an amazing day. Wish you all a hugsukkot sameach. It should be a meaningful one for you. And we'll connect again on Thursday. Have an amazing day.
