Balance of Hishtadlus and Bitachon is Attitude

Since this week is Parashat HaMan, it might be a good time to talk a little bit about the balance that we try to strike in our lives between Bitachon and Hishtadlut. In the Midbar, so it was a different type of balance obviously than we have today, subsisting off of Man, which on the one hand one couldn't make any Hishtadlut to bring it down, one couldn't keep it overnight, a different type of set of circumstances than the one we deal with in our daily lives. So where's the line between Bitachon and Hishtadlut? How should Bitachon express itself in a way that's consistent with the Chiyuv to do Hishtadlut, to take initiative, to invest effort? The question is tricky because the definition of Hishtadlut is that it has to make sense על פי דרך הטבע. Meaning that if I have to make Hishtadlut for a Parnassah, I can't just buy a lottery ticket for the Powerball lottery where the odds are one in three hundred million of winning the lottery. That's not a realistic Hishtadlut. And for that reason, one of the primary, maybe even the primary aspect in balancing Hishtadlut and Bitachon is a question of attitude. It's not always so much what a person does as much as it is the attitude with which he does it. Without Bitachon, so a person has the sense that he's basically in control, that he has to take responsibility because he's in control. So it's gotta be my resourcefulness that's going to and my effort which is going to determine whether I have Parnassah, how much Parnassah I have. It's going to be my again, my resourcefulness, my effort, how healthy I am, how healthy a lifestyle I do or don't live, etc. The attitude basically is an attitude of Kochi Ve'otzem Yadi. It's an attitude that sees not just a correlation but a cause and effect between what a person does and results that are yielded through those efforts. So the relationship that a person sees, if there isn't Bitachon, if there's a secular mindset, is a relationship of cause and effect. When one views what he does, the initiatives that the Torah wants us to take as Hishtadlut, as effort, mandated effort, exertion, but it's combined by, it's framed by Bitachon, so then there isn't the cause and effect necessarily, or not a full cause and effect in the sense that one's Hishtadlut may be a necessary cause, but it's not a sufficient cause. It's necessary because the Torah says that we're not supposed to sit back passively, and once we left the Midbar, we're not supposed to sit back passively and expect the kind of Man on our doorstep. And again, we're not only talking about Parnassah, right, we're just using that as an illustration for Hishtadlut in so many other areas like health, etc. We're not talking exclusively about that, but it's a good and helpful illustration. So we are supposed to, we are supposed to invest effort, and it is a necessary cause in that sense. If a person doesn't invest any effort, so then the Torah says וברכתיך בכל אשר תעשה. So traditionally that's understood to express the person has to do, and then when a person does, so then that provides a Beit kibul, it provides a receptacle for Hakadosh Baruch Hu's Bracha. But it's not וברכתיך בכל אשר תשב עם ידים חבוקות if a person is just sitting with his hands like this, so then, when he could be making effort, so then the bracha doesn't ensue. But there's no sense of again that what a person does is sufficient cause. There's complete understanding that we make effort. Whether or not the effort is going to be successful is totally b'yedei shamayim.

כל מזונותיו של אדם קצובים מראש השנה ועד יום כיפור

Hakadosh Baruch Hu decides how much parnassa everyone's going to have. It's conditional on our making effort, but whether or not the effort succeeds, to what degree it succeeds, so all that is b'yedei shamayim. And again, that's not something often you won't be able to discern a practical nafka mina, but the nafka mina attitudinally is like day and night. Whether a person recognizes his absolute dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu and therefore yes, I'm doing my best, but I realize what if anything that will yield is a hundred percent b'yedei shamayim. My effort is a necessary cause, but in no way is it sufficient. Everything is b'yedei shamayim in terms of what results will ensue. So that's perhaps the most important and most dramatic part of the balance between bitachon and hishtadlus is attitude, is the attitude to what you do. You can have two people who are on the same subway train going down to the same Midtown office, and one's doing it with a sense of kochi v'otzem yadi and one's doing it with a sense of I'm making hishtadlus and I'm mispallel that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should crown my efforts with success and that I'm mispallel that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should allow my efforts to serve as the conduit for his bracha. Hashem yireh l'levav. We could see these two strap-hangers and not be able to necessarily discern the difference. There are though also practical applications and ramifications of the fact that we view what we do as hishtadlus combined with bitachon as opposed to a sense of I'm in control and I've got to make it happen. The Mishnah Berurah quotes a Yerushalmi there's a siman in Shulchan Aruch it's in the second volume of Mishnah Berurah it's around kuf-nun-ches somewhere around there a very short siman where it says that a person should have a kevius in the morning he should daven and then he should learn and only then should he go out to work. He should try not to have to run from davening directly to work a person should daven learn and then begin his work day. There's Yerushalmi I think the Mishnah Berurah says it's a Yerushalmi in Sotah and that should be a person's kevius ittim. Just to backtrack a minute to provide the background to this Yerushalmi. The mitzvah of Talmud Torah is not only that a person should learn daily, avada it's that, but also that a person should have set times that are put aside that are consecrated for learning. Meaning not only that every day okay every day I'll look in my calendar and I'll try okay so today I don't have any meetings from 10:30 to 11:30 so I'll learn then. And tomorrow it's going to be a busy day so I'll learn from seven to eight. No a person is supposed to have a kevius ittim not just that I'll look to squeeze it in somewhere every day a person is supposed to have set times. Now it is legitimate a person could have his set times on Monday and Wednesday be seven to eight and Tuesday and Thursday it might be eight to nine but it's not supposed to be just that over the course of the day I'll find time. A person is supposed to have a kevius ittim. Obviously then whatever additional time a person can find so a person looks to add to the kevius ittim but there should be a kevius ittim both in the day and at night. Now so let's say back to the context of the Yerushalmi so let's say the Yerushalmi gives the following example. that a person had his kviyas itim. Let's say for argument's sake, he davens at the 6:30 minyan, he's finished davening by 7:15. He learns till 8:15 then he grabs a bite and goes to work. And he hears someone at 7:45 someone tells him if you come right now to a meeting, you might be able to sign up a big client. But he can only meet you right now. He can only meet you right now, he's willing to meet you right now for a breakfast meeting at 7:45 in the morning. That's the Yerushalmi tells him maiseh she-hoyo. And Yerushalmi says and Yerushalmi says this illustrates who's a baal emunah, who's a person who has emunah u-bitachon. So the Yerushalmi says that the reaction of this person and the Yerushalmi is clearly endorsing it, telling us that this is the right reaction is that if it's bashert then I'm supposed to have this income, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu will make it happen not during my kviyas itim. But my kviyas itim I learn every morning. I finish davening 7:15. I learn whatever it is, I learn Chumash, I learn Mishna, I learn Halacha, I learn Gemara, whatever it is, Ein Yaakov, whatever it is, I learn from 7:15 to 8:15. That time is sacred. That time is sacrosanct. And here a person can't say, a person can't sit 24/7 in his rocking chair and say, well if it's bashert then I'll have parnassa, Hakadosh Baruch Hu will give it to me. That's what we just spoke about. But during a person's kviyas itim he is supposed to say that. During the kviyas itim that's what the Mishna Berura quotes a Yerushalmi in Sotah so then our reaction is supposed to be, no I'm sorry I can't make the breakfast meeting, I'm happy to meet him some other time, if he can't make it some other time so be it. Thank you for the lead, but I can't meet from 7:15 to 8:15. One practical application of the fact that again we view our mandated efforts as hishtadlus as opposed to we're in control is we view our efforts as necessary but not necessary and sufficient. There's another one also. The Chovos HaLevavos in Shaar Bitachon tells the following story, presumably it's a factual story. He said that there was a chassid echad who was engaged in who was engaged by sounds like some heathen in a conversation. And the heathen says to this chassid echad, he says so what do you believe? He had his whole polytheistic scheme, whatever, so he says what do you believe? So he says no, I believe in ה׳ אלקינו ה׳ אחד who's Borei Shamayim Vaaretz, who's Kol Yachol, who's almighty, who's mashgiach al hakol, who exercises the divine providence over everything. So then this heathen pushes back and says well that's a very nice drasha but your lifestyle contradicts it. So the chassid says what do you mean? He says well your lifestyle is that you're involved in, I guess in today's business we would call it import export. That you travel overseas, you go over long ocean voyages to get merchandise and then you bring the merchandise back and you sell it. So in medieval times that was a perilous, perilous way to earn a living. So many, so many people died in ocean voyages, right? The Rambam's younger brother famously his brother who to whom he was so attached and who supported the Rambam died in that fashion. So he says if you believe in an almighty Ribbono Shel Olam so but you think that he can't find a way for you to have parnassa without your risking your life to try to earn parnassa? And the Chovos HaLevavos says that the chassid קיבל את התוכחה משמים that he accepted that rebuke and changed and discontinued that business and started finding parnassa locally. So obviously that story sort of needs to be plugged into, you know, the modern metzius. I don't think anyone would say that you can't take an overseas flight. As part of a business trip today. That's sort of not the contemporary application of hilchos haflagas. But the principle is certainly one again when plugged into our metzius which remains very relevant. Let's say a person is looking for for a job so he's sending out resumes for applying in in for different positions. So in the job listings that he hears of or or if he's contacted by a headhunter so there are some positions which are in communities where there's no frum infrastructure. Hardly any Jews, zero frum infrastructure. If you go out there there's no chinuch for the children, a woman has to travel eight hours to get to the mikvah vechulu vechulu. There isn't a proper shul to to davven in etc. So lechora that would be a type of analog to what Rabbeinu Bachaye is telling us in Chovos HaLevavos. If I believe no that my efforts unilaterally single-handedly determine whether I'll have parnassah I don't know so then when you're fishing you've got to throw as many lines into the water as possible and where you get a bite that's the one that you that's the one that you'll haul in. If a person believes Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to make a hishtadlus that's how Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants the world to run but he's the one who's going to send the parnassah so I can't believe that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants me again obviously it's a different discussion when a person goes out for reasons of kiruv etc. That's a different shmues entirely but just if it would be for purposes of parnassah I can't believe Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants me to go out there where there's mamash no Torah infrastructure mamash no Torah community such a midbar for parnassah. It's like like the chassid was told you believe in an almighty Ribbono shel Olam do you really believe he wants you to resort to that in your your effort to make a living. So lechora that would be another again concrete way in which the sort of the secular path of kochi ve'otzem yadi and the religious path of bitachon combined with hishtadlus hishtadlus combined with bitachon diverge. Maybe one other one other practical nafka mina. Sometimes a person can be weighing let's say how does a person sometimes a person can be weighing again there are two could be that there are more examples than this but two that come easily and quickly to mind. Let's say a person is weighing whether to go into chinuch or let's say a person is weighing whether to remain in chutz la'aretz or to live in Eretz Yisrael. Okay so he he's thinking about chinuch so he gets some information so he finds out you know that they tell him what the the average salary of of a mechanech is and then they tell him sort of how much money you need to live on and the figures don't quite tally. He tries to figure it this way that way it doesn't quite doesn't quite add up. Or let's say you can have the same thing when a person is contemplating going to Eretz Yisrael. Eretz Yisrael also is this tremendous mesirus nefesh. There too a person sort of finds out okay well tell me how much money do you need to live and then tell me what what the salary base is. Sometimes there's there's a shortfall. So obviously again one is not totally waiving and dispensing with practicality because that's what hishtadlus means that means practicality. But a person should should he's going to have the salary base in chinuch but he can't quite cross all the t's and dot all the i's as to how that that shortfall's going to be met how that gap's going to be closed. A person's going to have a salary base in Eretz Yisrael but again he can't quite cross the t's dot the i's that there's a gap there. So there again that's a difference between whether or not what we're doing is hishtadlus with bitachon or whether or not a person is no that I'm in control. I have to make things happen. Hev shelucho d'makom, hev shelucho d'makom. L'mayseh, on paper, it's takkeh hard to see how it works, but in reality, it does work. In reality there are people in chinuch and in reality there are people living in Eretz Yisrael and if either or both of those are the right option for you, you shouldn't, shouldn't, shouldn't chas v'shalom be deterred by a balance sheet. It'll work. How does it work? I don't know. Hev shelucho d'makom, hev shelucho d'makom. Maybe someone in chinuch again, not that you have to know this, not that you have to create your package. Maybe, maybe someone in chinuch does, does, does tutoring on, on the side. Maybe, maybe, maybe he has a summer job in a camp that gives him free camp for all his kids and because of that it knocks off significant expenses that other people have. There's so many different packages and combinations that Hakadosh Baruch Hu creates, a person doesn't even have to know necessarily what his is going to be. Maybe he's going to meet, meet a woman who wants to work at least part-time and and with the supplement of her salary it's going to work. You shouldn't marry for money, that's not, you shouldn't choose who to marry based on that. Hev shelucho d'makom, hev shelucho d'makom. So again just to review what we've talked about until now, the difference again between a secular mindset of kochi v'otzem yadi in taking human initiative and the religious mindset of chiyuv hishtadlus in taking initiative, so the difference there's always a difference in attitude and that difference in attitude is absolutely critical. Absolutely critical. A person should recognize it's not kochi v'otzem yadi, I'm dependent upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu even to be able to make the hishtadlus. על אחת כמה וכמה for when the hishtadlus is, is going to be safe. You know it can become a nisayon. That sense of that one's trust should be in Hakadosh Baruch Hu can become a nisayon. There is the, there's a Gemara in the first perek of Taanis. The Gemara says that אין הברכה מצויה אלא בדבר הסמוי מן העין. That bracha is only to be found in what's hidden from the eye, right? Samuy lashon of suma rachmana litzlan a blind person, אין הברכה מצויה אלא בדבר הסמוי מן העין. And the Gemara takkeh talks about that if a person goes out to his field and has yet to calculate how much has been yielded, so you can still davven that it should be a successful crop and and that but as soon as you have everything piled up and you know how many bushels you have, you can't davven because אין הברכה מצויה אלא בדבר הסמוי מן העין. What does that mean? It means that when a person doesn't know exactly what he has, so then a person again has this sense of vulnerability and dependence. When I know that I have 20 bank accounts and each one has the maximum that you can have and the deposit is still federally insured, it becomes a big nisayon. And I know that the net value of my house is so many millions of dollars and and the net value of other holdings I have is so many million dollars, it becomes a very, very, very big nisayon to realize that that doesn't ensure or guarantee anything. There's no such thing as anything which is totally insured, totally guaranteed, I don't care what it says on the, the guarantee from the bank. Banks fail also. It doesn't, there is no such thing. But we should be aware that if we shouldn't be looking for wealth, it has its nisyonos, very big nisyonos. If Hakadosh Baruch Hu sends it then a person should use it for the mitzvos that it allows a person to do. He should use it for that, for that purpose, and should be aware of that that it poses a big challenge because once it's not samuy min ha'ayin, once I can look at my bank statement and and look at all those, all those zeros, it becomes a... which is protecting me. And again the practical nafka mina is in terms of the kevi'as itim, not to let a business opportunity intrude upon my kevi'as itim, in terms of that there are limits on hishtadlus that kochi v'otzem yadi wouldn't recognize. Again, the Chovos HaLevavos's story of the assumed danger and we gave one perhaps modern analog to that, there certainly can be others. And then finally that hishtadlus means there has to be a natural base, there has to be, you have to allow for that conduit. You don't have to be able to cross every T and dot every I, you don't have to figure out if a person's cut out for chinuch, how he's going to manage every last expense. You don't have to figure that out if a person is going to Eretz Yisrael. Similarly, when it comes to, maybe just to talk a little bit about this balance between bitachon and hishtadlus specifically in the area of health. So there's no area in which the chiyuv hishtadlus is greater than it is in terms of health. Right? Mechallelin Shabbos, mechallelin Shabbos de'oraissa for safek sakana. Safek sakana. There's a realistic, not just statistical, one in a million is not safek sakana, not a statistical, statistical safek. No, there's a real possibility. There's a real possibility. The odds are very, very good in the person's favor, but there is a real possibility that, no, this could be something that could jeopardize a person's life, we'll mechalel Shabbos as much as is necessary to take care of that person. The Gemara says that a person shouldn't, when confronted with a situation of pikuach nefesh, a person has to know what to do. They're not supposed to have to stop to ask shailos then, because every second can be absolutely, absolutely vital. But there too, there too, a person recognizes that what we'll accomplish with all our hishtadlus, as zealous as it has to be and as zealous as it will be, a person has to recognize that Ribono Shel Olam is רופא כל עמו ישראל and that it doesn't, we absolutely look for the best doctors and when necessary a person is mechalel Shabbos, but there too we recognize that what our efforts will yield is bi-yedei shamayim. Okay, I don't know if there are any questions in this area?