Episode 123 - If You Do God’s Work, He Handles The Rest

If your mind keeps circling the same fears about money, work, and the future, you are not alone, and you are not broken. We sit with a tougher question: what if the constant financial anxiety is not just a budgeting problem, but a trust problem? When we treat livelihood like it depends only on our effort, every setback feels personal. When we build emunah and bitachon, trust in Hashem, we stop living in panic mode and start making clearer choices with a steadier heart. 

We also mark the timing of Shavuot, the Jewish holiday of the giving of the Torah, and talk about why it can be strangely neglected despite being so central. We share the practical invitation to join an all-night Torah learning schedule at a synagogue and explain the idea of “blessed times” where the spiritual theme of the holiday is easier to access. If you have ever searched for Shavuot meaning, Shavuot traditions, or why people stay up learning on Shavuot, this connects the tradition to real life growth. 

From there, we explore Torah as the blueprint of creation and why deep Torah study is described as a path to understanding the world. We tell striking stories about the Chazon Ish and physicians who sought his clarity, not as a slogan, but as a way to think about wisdom, pattern recognition, and da’at. Then we land on a practical spiritual reset for money stress: pray for your needs, but do not only ask for money. Ask for trust, ask for emunah, and even pray for others, because that moves you from transaction to relationship. 

If this conversation helps you breathe a little easier, subscribe, share it with someone who is carrying money stress, and leave a review so more people can find the Trust Factor Podcast.

Transcript

Worry Versus Trust In God

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If you want to worry about your finances because you think you could do well in work and in business and you could earn more money here, there and the other place, then go for it. However, if you're busy doing my work, if you're busy doing the things that I want you to do, and not the other things that are part of the livelihood that are necessities, that means I need to take care of those things because you're taking care of the things that I want you to do. So Hosham says, I got this. You don't have to worry about the finances. You don't have to worry about your boss. You don't have to worry about the relationships. Just do the things I tell you to do, and you will live a life of easy street. You will live a life where you take care of the good things, and the good things that come as a result of that will come to you. And in the meantime, I'll take care of all your other problems. Who wouldn't want that? Sign me up. The trust factor is a ticket to a better life. The trust factor shows you how to get through the night. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Trust Factor Podcast. I hope you had a great Victoria Day weekend. In Canada, it was a long weekend. So yesterday we were off. We've got a shortened week this week. And this coming Thursday night is the holiday of Shavuot. You know, I remember my rabbi once taught that there are mitzvahs that have with them a blessing. They have a bracha. And there are mitzvahs that don't have a bracha. What's an example of a mitzvah that has bracha associated with it? The example of mezuzah. If you're a Jew and you buy a house, one of the first things that you do is put a mezuzah on your door. There are almost no Jewish families in the world unless they are anti-religion that don't have a mezuzah on their door. That means that that mitzvah of putting up a mezuzah is blessed. Most Jews do it. Passover, eating uh matza on Passover or having a seder. Those are blessed. And then you have mitzvahs that are very seldom kept. And one of them is the holiday of Shavuot, observing the holiday of Shawuat. But it doesn't make any sense. It's one that's a real head scratcher. Why? Because that is the holiday that commemorates, of all things, the giving of the Torah. It's what made us the Jewish nation in the first place. It is the only divine document on planet Earth. It's when Hashem came and gave us his amazing instruction manual. Is there anything more important? Is there anything bigger than that? Obviously not. And so how is it that a holiday like that doesn't have blessing? I don't know. I simply don't know. I know that as a secular Jew for over 30 years of my life, I had no idea what Shavuot was, what it commemorated. I never celebrated it until I started to become more observant, until I started to learn. And then on top of that, even when you do keep it, a lot of people have no idea why we do things like eating cheesecake, dairy, that kind of stuff. All things to be learned. The idea is this coming Thursday night, my friends, is an all-nighter. If you want the opportunity to learn, there's no better opportunity. Find yourself a synagogue that's going to do an all-night learning. A lot of them start at around midnight and they go straight through to the morning. Some of them will start earlier on and then go into the wee hours in the morning and then go to sleep for a little while and come back for morning prayers. Find a synagogue that has a real awesome schedule for learning and plug into it. It's an amazing. Remember what I said before with regards to the holidays and the times, right? That God blesses the times. What does it mean by the times? It means that very thing that associated with the holiday, the theme of the holiday, there is additional power in the environment, in the air that God puts in to allow us to grow in that area. So if this holiday commemorates the Torah and you want to grow in your learning of Torah, then find that synagogue and get out there and be a part of it, especially this coming Thursday night. Let's get into it. We're going to be done with Pirkhawot right after this, because we're done counting the Elmar as of Shavuot. Let's get into something very interesting. It says, reading the blueprint. What is that? What's the blueprint? The blueprint is the Torah. It says that when God created the world, before He created it, he needed blueprints. He needed the papers, all of the architectural drawings, so to speak, all the engineers' drawings of what to do and what not to do. And in the spiritual realm, those drawings, those blueprints, were the Torah. And they are what God looked into before he created the world. He used the Torah as a blueprint to be able to create the world. So I want to read to you a couple of stories and the ideas behind that. It says, since the Torah is the blueprint of creation, which we learn in Jewish mysticism, one who goes into the depths of Torah can understand all the phenomena of the world. Where is this coming from? You remember the other day I told you that Rabbi Meir said that one who learns Torah, for the sake of learning Torah, not for any ulterior motive, one of the things that they are blessed with is that all of the secrets of the Torah are revealed to him. You remember I read that to you the other day. So it's going into it over here in depth. And it says that the Chazanish, who was a Torah giant in his time, he was the Halachic authority of the time, spent virtually all his life in a small apartment studying Torah, day and night. Yet his knowledge of medicine wasn't a doctor, but yet his knowledge of medicine and the human anatomy was astonishing. How? How does that happen? How does somebody who never spent a day in medical school have such knowledge? Until he died, his advice in health-related matters was sought by patients, their families, and even highly respected doctors. There are many documented instances of his diagnoses and counsel. Even today, there are Torah giants who are not doctors. They are Torah giants. And as a result of that, they have knowledge of medicine that doctors haven't got a clue. You wonder how? You only have to begin to learn to understand how. A young boy in Israel underwent heart surgery, but he did not regain consciousness after the surgery. The doctor said that if he remained unconscious for another 24 hours, all hope would be lost. After hearing the details of the case, the Chazanish said that the doctor's ominous prognosis would be true only after 72 hours. Not 24 hours. The boy awoke after 24 hours, but before 72 hours. Asked to explain how he knew, the Chazanish replied, I knew it from a Mishnah in Masachit Ohalot. No one but the Chazunish had seen the connection between that Mishnah and medicine. When you open up the Gemara and sit and learn, while there may be tidbits that are directly related to medicine, oftentimes things are learnt out from other things. That's one of the ways that we learn out Torah, is that we learn one thing in a completely different area from somewhere else, unrelated. But we are taught to be able to put two and two together. That's called dat. That's a form of wisdom that if you have it, you are holding on the highest level of wisdom. A renowned Israeli neurosurgeon, another story, true story, Dr. Hardan Ashkenazi, recalled that he was once in doubt as to whether surgery could be performed on a critically ill patient. Had a patient, and it was questionable, can we save this patient through surgery? He received a note from who? The Chazonish, in which he described two possible reasons for the uncertainty and requested to be informed which of them it was. In other words, the Chazonish came and said, I understand that you're not sure whether or not surgery could save this individual. Here are the two possible reasons that I think is what you're contemplating. Tell me which one of them I'm right about. That very day I related his message to a group of physicians and said, See how he summarized the possibilities in a few concise sentences? Any of us would have needed pages to write what he expressed so succinctly. The Chazonish, in his wisdom, took all of the medical jargon and all of the possibilities and everybody's way of understanding something and put it into two simple, concise sentences. It's been many years since the passing of the Chazonish. The doctor once said, yet when faced with difficulties, this is a medical doctor. I still often think, if only I could discuss this with the Chazonish. Even today, my friends, we have Torah giants. Torah giants understand everything. Why? Because Torah is life. And life includes medicine. Life includes legals. Life includes food. Life includes sleep. Life includes everything: businesses, partnerships, relationships, spouses, children, parenting. All of those things are discussed. And that's why oftentimes in many communities, especially among the Chassids, they have a Rebbe, and their tradition is to do everything at the behest of their Rebbe, that they will call their rabbi for everything. And oftentimes the rabbi, especially in a large Chassid community, doesn't even know who the individual is. Yet they'll call the person who serves the rabbi, ask the question. The question will get to the rabbi, and the rabbi will give an answer for that individual. And that is what they will go with. You understand that it's got nothing to do with the individual sometimes. Sometimes it's just give me the facts and let me plumb the Torah because I'm a Torah scholar and I can learn out your response, your the answer to your question through some of my learning. I've seen it personally in many situations. That wraps it up for Pierre Kevot. Let's get back into the Garden of Amuna. Okay, my friends, this is it. I'm gonna read to you a few paragraphs right now. I want you to understand that these paragraphs are just gold. They're just they wrap everything up in a perfect little bow. And if we just took this stuff to heart, our lives would change dramatically. It says that those who desire to solve their financial crises, all of their problems, all of their worries. And today, it doesn't mean that you have to be a pauper, somebody who has no money in order to have financial difficulties. It could be, and oftentimes it is somebody who has too much money. And the reason they have difficulties is because they've got so many things going on that they need so many resources just to help them manage their money. And they've got all these additional worries. But somebody who wants to solve their financial problems should learn to trust the creator, knowing that he is the one who provides for us. When that becomes part of your programming, your financial problems, your anxieties go out the window. One's trust in Hashem is the main conduit for income. He's drawing a connection to say that if you work on your Amunah, if you work on your trust in Hashem, then it automatically creates an increase in income. Afterwards, a person should pray for his every need. You have to ask for Hashem to give you the things that you want. The Talmud says that when a person turns to creator at the time of his suffering, his livelihood is enhanced. I want to add to that. One of the most powerful techniques that you could employ when you pray for yourself is to also pray for other people. It's important to pray for yourself, there's no question. But when you are praying for your brothers and sisters, when you're praying for Hashem's other children, then he sees that your heart and your head is in the right place and you become worthy of that of which you are praying for. And so not only do you enhance the potential for the people you're praying for, but you also enhance it that much more for yourself. And it's not just money, it's also health. You want to live a long, healthy life. Pray for people who are dealing with health trouble. And Hashem will see that your head is in the right place and give you that health as well. Know full well that those who desire to perform a spiritual root treatment, in other words, a root canal for their financial problems, should not ask for money at all in their prayers. You hear this? Instead, they should ask the creator for emuna and trust. Why? When we pray for money, we're praying for a band-aid. You're praying for a quick, immediate solution to one of your problems. It's a temporary solution. Like a patch on a torn pair of jeans, he says. Prayers for money won't solve financial core financial difficulties. Unless we reinforce our trust in the Creator, one financial crisis will lead to another. Very simple. You're asking for an interim solution. Give me money to pay for X. Allow me the finances to be able to get through this challenge. And if He gives it to you, you know what's going to happen? The next time you're faced with a similar dilemma, you're going to rush back and ask for more money. Just like a kid, just like a petulant child goes to the parent and says, I need money. I need to buy X, Y, and Z. Give me money and begs and pleads for money. Gets that money, goes and buys whatever they want. And the next time they want, they come back and ask for money. That's not a relationship. That's a bank. That's a that's a transaction. You don't want to be in a transactional relationship with your creator. On the contrary, it says, unless we reinforce our trust in Hashem, one financial crisis will lead to another, just like a bank, a transaction. But by strengthening Amunah and trust in him, our income problems will be over. The creator wants us to learn to trust him. And once we do, he doesn't need to prod us with financial tribulations. With Amuna and trust, we merit a pleasant and sufficient livelihood for our entire lives. The whole reason that you're put in the situation where you find yourself asking for money more and more again and again is because it's all a test. He wants to know are you plugged in? Do you know who I am? Do you understand that I run the world? And that includes your life. And I can choose to make things come very easily to you. I can choose to give you zero financial problems. And if you're occupying your time, worrying about the things that I want you to do and not the things that you want to do, then I will take care of all of your worldly needs, including your livelihood, so that you never have to ask. You never have to be distracted by financial difficulties and concerns and stresses because those take you away from studying his Torah and doing his mitzvahs. That's what he wants you occupied with. He wants you spending your days and nights doing the good things that bring amazing energy into this world. And if all you're doing is wrapped up dealing with your stress and anxiety over money and health and relationship problems and all the other things that come along with living a life that doesn't include God, then you're too busy taking care of all that kind of stuff. You don't need me. Hashem says, if you're worrying about it, then I don't need to worry about it. You got it. If you want to worry about your finances because you think you could do well in work and in business and you could earn more money here, there, and the other place, then go for it. That's the way you want to go, go for it. However, if you're busy doing my work, if you're busy doing the things that I want you to do, and not the other things that are part of the livelihood that are necessities, that means I need to take care of those things because you're taking care of the things that I want you to do. So Hoshem says, I got this. You don't have to worry about the finances. You don't have to worry about your boss. You don't have to worry about the relationships. Just do the things I tell you to do, and you will live a life of easy street. You will live a life where you take care of the good things, and the good things that come as a result of that will come to you. And in the meantime, I'll take care of all your other problems. Who wouldn't want that? Sign me up. I'll speak to you guys tomorrow. 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.