Episode 219 - We Confront Fear, Call Out Influence, And Choose Faith Over Fame

A single Hanukkah flame can steady a shaken week. We open with a clear-eyed look at violence and the whiplash of media narratives, then pull the camera back to ask what we can trust when money rewards outrage and algorithms reward heat over light. Without flinching, we name the forces that buy attention and twist stories, and we answer with something older and stronger: the Maccabee mindset of courage, discipline, and purpose.

From there, we shift into action. Security is not a slogan; it’s people planning, training, and protecting their neighbours. We highlight the leaders who organise real safeguards and unify communities, and we challenge listeners to move from worry to work: fund what keeps people safe, learn the basics of awareness, and back those who stand in the gap. This is where faith meets the street, where responsibility and resilience build the kind of trust that doesn’t crumble when the headlines turn.

At the heart of the conversation is a guided tour through four stages of Emuna and Bitachon—trust that matures from vague dependence to grounded faith. We start with the “infant” stage, where help is felt but not named, and we grow toward recognising a caring source, seeing a wider chain of provision, and facing the risky moment of self-reliance. Culture says it’s all you; reality says effort matters but isn’t the whole story. Hardship can wake us up, but wisdom is to cultivate trust before the fall: small daily prayers, honest reviews, gratitude in wins, humility in losses. That rhythm turns fear into focus and success into stewardship.

If this conversation gave you clarity or courage, tap follow, share it with a friend who needs steady light, and leave a quick review so more people can find a voice that cuts through the noise. Your support keeps the flame bright and the community strong.

Chapters

• 0:16 Opening And Hanukkah Context
• 0:32 A Sobering Warning About Violence
• 0:50 Calling Out Paid Misinformation
• 1:47 The Maccabee Lesson Of Endurance
• 3:10 Wrestling With Desire And Duty
• 3:45 Vigilance And Community Action
• 4:30 Housekeeping And Book Giveaway
• 5:16 Levels Of Trust: The Infant
• 6:21 Recognizing A Caring Source
• 7:58 Understanding Hierarchy And Provision
• 8:48 The Trap Of Self-Reliance
• 10:53 Hard Times And Humility
• 12:10 Start Trust Early, Set Your Path
• 12:26 Closing And Listener Engagement

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:16

Hello and welcome to the Trust Factor Podcast, the only podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine age old teachings. Happy Hanukkah, everybody. I know a lot of us are still reeling from what happened yesterday in Australia. I want to make a comment over here, not because I'm a prophet, not because I know something you don't, but I want to make something very clear. It's not the first and it's not going to be the last. There may even be more potential events, God forbid, this coming holiday. We are in a time of war, my friends. There are a lot of influencers around the world that have flipped the script, their own script, and have now started to paint a dark, dirty picture of the Jews in the world and the land of Israel. And they're only doing it because it pays, because there are nations around the world who are writing very, very big checks to be able to buy, purchase, and own all of these influencers, a lot of them for sure, who are all chasing after fame and notoriety. Why are they running after fame and notoriety? Because they want the dollars and the power that comes with that. And the easiest, most direct route is if some country that has oil pumping out of the ground, they've got money coming out of the earth. That's how hard they have to work for it. They have to do nothing except to wake up and collect whatever's coming out of the earth, are giving it away in massive quantities to own these people. So they've taken that position. It shouldn't come as a surprise to you, my friends, that we're dealing with this blowback. But yesterday we lit that candle, and that candle represents something powerful. It represents a very small band of Maccabees, of Jews that stepped up and fought the good fight against a massive superpower, against a world empire, the Greek Empire that ran the world at the time. And we won. We came out victorious. And when we lit that candle yesterday, all around the world, it was a reminder to all the good nations of the world and even those who hate us and our detractors, that we are here and that we aren't going anywhere. 3,500 years later, we are still going strong and we're going to continue to go strong. Not because we are better, not because we are smarter, not because we are more capable, but because we were selected, hand chosen by the creator of the world to be his emissary, his representative, to share the light of the menorah, to share the light of the Torah, to share the light of godliness and goodness and how to be a spectacular individual, how to take this world, this mundane material world, and elevate it out of physicality and into spirituality. That's our job. Are we great at it? Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes we do a really, really good job. Are we always good at it? No. We're always challenged by the same things that the rest of the world are challenged by. The materialism, the secularism, the desires, our animalistic desires, because we are half animal, half God. That's how we were created. God blew into us a part of his soul. That is our spiritual component. But we have physicality just like everybody else and just like the animals. And so we have that animalistic desire. We're always doing battle with it. And we've said the greater you are, the greater that battle is. Because you have a larger evil inclination that is always working on you because when he wins, he wins big. So keep moving forward, keep remaining vigilant. God doesn't help anybody who doesn't help themselves. You cannot sit back and rest on your laurels right now. You cannot expect that other people are going to step up and advocate for you or protect you, provide security. None of that. We have to do it ourselves. And thank God we've had people on this podcast like Aaron Hadida from Again Herud Canada, a security company who stepped up at the perfect time. People like Giddy Mammon, who've stepped up and brought Jews together united in one of the largest rallies in the world to support Israel and the Jewish community. We need to get behind them, my friends. We need to support them today, more than ever before in our history. Now, a little bit of housekeeping. Today's Monday, which means I pulled a draw, and we have a new winner for the book. Remember, we have a free book giveaway. Every Sunday there's a draw. Every Monday, the winner is announced. Today, it's a TikTok user. His name is Mark, and his user is Me2078. He's commented a few times, seemed to be a fan of the podcast. Thank you, Mark, for your support. Please reach out. You can do it through the website. Go to the trustfactor.buzzsprout.com. Pick any of the episodes, and at the top you will see that there is a link to send us a text. Send me your information, and we will get out your copy of the book, Emuna, by Rev David Saperman, a spectacular book and an amazing read. That takes care of our housekeeping. We're getting back into it and we're talking about the different levels of Emuna and Bitachon. How do we build our trust in our creator? What are the levels? And there's no coincidence that he starts off with an infant and he says, a child in his earliest stages of infancy relies on the nursing of his mother. The child does not yet realize that he has a mother who feeds him. He's only aware of the specific source of milk. That's it. When a child comes into this world, my friends, just like most of us, when we're starting out in our relationship with our creator, we don't know. We don't know. We just we have this sense. We know that help is coming from somewhere. We know that there is something at our back. We don't know what it is. We can't put our finger on it. We know there is a higher power, but we don't know the details surrounding it. That's it. That's the same thing over here. He's bringing an example of an infant that knows that when it hears its mother's voice or when it feels the mother's skin, it prepares to start to eat. That's its source of life. That's all it knows. What's number two? When his perception improves, he expands his reliance to the entirety of his mother. Now suddenly he recognizes wait a second, this is an individual over here. This is a person who I can interact with. Since he sees how dedicated she is to him, he cries, she comes running. He has to change a diaper, he cries, she comes and takes care of it. He has somebody who's going to take care of all of his needs. That is a whole other level of awareness, of recognizing that's a huge step. It might sound like a little bit, but it's a massive step to get to the point where you recognize that there is an entity that is there, that is focused on you. And now suddenly anytime you need something, you call out. And when you call out, he responds. That is a huge, huge step. Going from not knowing or just feeling to suddenly recognizing, wait a second, cause and effect. I cried, I ate, I cried, it got better. I complained, I pleaded, it got it improved. My situation improved. That is a massive, massive discovery. Let's get into number three. When a child grows somewhat older, so that his perception improves further, and he sees that his mother's ability to care for him is actually a credit to his father who supports her. Since his father's protection of him is superior, since he observes that his mother herself relies on his father, he concludes that his father is more capable of assuring his security than his mother. Very, very interesting. I'm gonna interpret that to understand that a child starts to understand that there are multiple people who are responsible and that there is a hierarchy of command. In other words, there is a hierarchy of power. That while my mother feeds me, she relies on my father. My father goes out and he works, he's gone all day long, I don't see him, he comes home in the evening, eventually the child, as he grows, starts to put two and two together and recognize that the mother is reliant, certainly in the early stages, on the father to be able to maintain and support the family so that she could take care of him in a calm and collected and loving, caring way. And he starts to put that together. So he's starting to understand that there is a chain of command, that there are people who other people rely on. That is number three. Number four, when he grows older yet and his body gains strength so that it becomes feasible for him to have his own strategy for acquiring his sustenance, he's now becoming independent, he can now fend for himself by engaging in skilled labor or commerce or the like, he transfers his trust to his own strength and strategy. He perceives that he no longer needs to be dependent on his father or his mother, but thinks that his success depends on his own abilities. This is a very big transition and it's a critical stage in somebody's life. A very critical stage because if somebody hasn't done the requisite analysis of their life and of this world and of creation, which hopefully you have done by the time you start to become an independent individual who works for a living. I know certainly in my life, there were many times where I stepped back and I analyzed creation and I analyzed my life. Why am I here? Why is this world here? Why was it all created? What's the bigger purpose? I know you've all done this before, and I could tell you that the more you do this, the better off you will be to stop and assess what is going on, why am I here? Why is everybody here? What should I be doing? What is my greater purpose? When you do that, hopefully you've done that by the time you start in your earning years. If you haven't done that, then you run the risk. You run a great risk of thinking that it's kohive otsimiadiha, salia tahilaze, that it is me, it's my strength, it's my wisdom, it's my prowess, it's my genius, it's my education. All these things have contributed to why I got this job, why I'm earning so much, why things are just falling into place. It happens so often, especially in today's generation. We're living in a generation of entitled individuals. They don't stop to assess and they think that it's all them and that everything is just perfect because of who they are, and nothing to do with any outside forces or variables, certainly nothing to do with the creator. That only comes later on in life. Oftentimes it comes when difficulties come along, when challenges and tribulations come along, when you lose your job, when you can't pay the bill, when you can't pay the mortgage, when suddenly you're not making enough, when the collectors are coming and there isn't enough to give, and you have to decide between feeding your family or feeding the tax collector. Suddenly things become difficult. Suddenly the stress goes through the roof. And oftentimes, and for good reason, that's when people start to reach out for help because they start to realize they have the actualization that it doesn't all start and stop with me. I just give my effort. I'm no smarter than my friend. I see my friends working, they're putting in a hard day's work, they're committed, they're smart, they're educated. I'm no better, stronger, or smarter than they are. I'm facing difficulties, life's a little bit difficult, and I need assistance, and they'll ask for assistance, and that is when the opportunity presents itself. The key, my friends, is not to wait too long. You don't have to wait until times get tough. You don't have to wait until it hurts, and you shouldn't wait. That's the whole trick to this life is don't wait until it's too late. You don't have to get to those difficult, dark places in order to reach out and start fostering an amazing relationship with your creator. Start today. Start early on in your life when things are good and everything is rolling and God's helping you get on your feet. Start to recognize and acknowledge that it's him and that he's there early on in your life, and you will set the tone for the rest of your life. Thank you for spending time with us on the Trust Factor Podcast. If you've heard something today that moved you, save this episode and share it with someone who might need to hear it. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming conversations that challenge, empower, and uplift. And if you're on social media, connect with us. Leave your thoughts, drop a quote that resonated with you. Hashtag the TrustFactor Podcast. Until next time, keep growing in your trust and keep living with purpose. I'm Jesse Revivo, and this has been the Trust Factor Podcast. Thanks for listening.