Bitachon/Trust
Bitachon may be one of the most difficult middot to acquire. The Hebrew root for Bitachon is B.T.Ch.) which means to be at ease, to trust and to be confident. In modern Hebrew the( ב.ט.ח. word Bitachon also means security and thus the Misrad HaBitachon is the Defense Ministry and Bituach Leumi is the National Insurance system. In classic Jewish literature the ultimate source of this sense of security is God.
There are compelling reasons why Bitachon is so challenging. For moderns, whose belief in an all-powerful, all-knowing and loving deity has been severely weakened by over two centuries of rationalist, scientific thinking and horrific violence and suffering of two world wars, to simply rely on God to take care of you rings hollow. How can I trust a God who allowed Auschwitz to happen? There is not much stronger a challenge to the idea that we can rely on God than that. However, our post-Holocaust generations were not the first to struggle with Bitachon. Bitachon was also a challenge in Biblical times when Jewish society more readily accepted the idea of an all-powerful God.
Bitachon as a middah does not require that we have absolute trust in an omnipotent God. Like with all middot, there is a continuum and we each get to locate our own souls on the continuum. Some people move through life with an unshakeable belief in God’s goodness and protection. Others are much more anxious and worry fills their days. Neither extreme is necessarily good. Wherever you are on this continuum, working on Bitachon means moving towards balancing trust in a loving God or a benign universe with taking initiative. You never have to believe something you actually don’t believe to grow in Bitachon.
We will start with a very practical issue, our livelihood.
Bitachon and Making a Living – the “Manna Test”
Just days after the Israelites crossed the Reed Sea accompanied by ample Divine pyrotechnics God gives them a test to see if they internalized the faith they professed at the sea. God provides Manna, but only allows the people to take exactly what they need and not save any for the next day. If they do save it, it rots (Exodus 16:4-20).
Why did God choose food as the object of this test? Food is symbolic of our livelihood, our parnassah. Providing for our own material well-being and that of our family has been one of the core sources of anxiety throughout human history. Will we have enough to eat? The feeling of scarcity awakened by this question is closely connected to the Yetzer Hara. An overly developed feeling of scarcity can lead to greed, violence and the worst aspects of human behavior.
The manna test was very carefully crafted. God could have just given every household the amount of Manna it needed to fulfill is daily nutritional requirements. Rather, they needed to work for their food by collecting the manna from the field. This requirement echoes the curse given to Adam in the Garden of Eden, “Cursed be the ground because of you; By toil shall you eat of it...By the sweat of your brow shall you get bread to eat...” (Genesis 3:17-19). Part of being human is that we need to work for our food. But this comes with another challenge. We feel pride in our labor and our ability to make things and support ourselves. The Torah warns us not to say, “My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.” (Deuteronomy 8:17) The Torah is calling on us to do something quite counterintuitive and perhaps paradoxical. We need to use our capability to earn a livelihood (symbolized by collecting the manna). At the same time recognize that it was not just our own capabilities that earned us this livelihood (symbolized by the need to trust that more food will be there tomorrow) and thus, we don’t get to do whatever we want with it (symbolized by the need to not hoard the leftover manna). Tzedakah is one of the mitzvot that trains us to do this. We earn money through our effort, but need to recognize that a portion of those earnings actually belong to the needy.
Bitachon calls on us to be powerful actors in the world, and employ what is called Hishtadlut, human effort. At the same time it reminds us constantly that we are not ultimately in control.
Bitachon may be one of the most difficult middot to acquire. The Hebrew root for Bitachon is B.T.Ch.) which means to be at ease, to trust and to be confident. In modern Hebrew the( ב.ט.ח. word Bitachon also means security and thus the Misrad HaBitachon is the Defense Ministry and Bituach Leumi is the National Insurance system. In classic Jewish literature the ultimate source of this sense of security is God.
There are compelling reasons why Bitachon is so challenging. For moderns, whose belief in an all-powerful, all-knowing and loving deity has been severely weakened by over two centuries of rationalist, scientific thinking and horrific violence and suffering of two world wars, to simply rely on God to take care of you rings hollow. How can I trust a God who allowed Auschwitz to happen? There is not much stronger a challenge to the idea that we can rely on God than that. However, our post-Holocaust generations were not the first to struggle with Bitachon. Bitachon was also a challenge in Biblical times when Jewish society more readily accepted the idea of an all-powerful God.
Bitachon as a middah does not require that we have absolute trust in an omnipotent God. Like with all middot, there is a continuum and we each get to locate our own souls on the continuum. Some people move through life with an unshakeable belief in God’s goodness and protection. Others are much more anxious and worry fills their days. Neither extreme is necessarily good. Wherever you are on this continuum, working on Bitachon means moving towards balancing trust in a loving God or a benign universe with taking initiative. You never have to believe something you actually don’t believe to grow in Bitachon.
We will start with a very practical issue, our livelihood.
Bitachon and Making a Living – the “Manna Test”
Just days after the Israelites crossed the Reed Sea accompanied by ample Divine pyrotechnics God gives them a test to see if they internalized the faith they professed at the sea. God provides Manna, but only allows the people to take exactly what they need and not save any for the next day. If they do save it, it rots (Exodus 16:4-20).
Why did God choose food as the object of this test? Food is symbolic of our livelihood, our parnassah. Providing for our own material well-being and that of our family has been one of the core sources of anxiety throughout human history. Will we have enough to eat? The feeling of scarcity awakened by this question is closely connected to the Yetzer Hara. An overly developed feeling of scarcity can lead to greed, violence and the worst aspects of human behavior.
The manna test was very carefully crafted. God could have just given every household the amount of Manna it needed to fulfill is daily nutritional requirements. Rather, they needed to work for their food by collecting the manna from the field. This requirement echoes the curse given to Adam in the Garden of Eden, “Cursed be the ground because of you; By toil shall you eat of it...By the sweat of your brow shall you get bread to eat...” (Genesis 3:17-19). Part of being human is that we need to work for our food. But this comes with another challenge. We feel pride in our labor and our ability to make things and support ourselves. The Torah warns us not to say, “My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.” (Deuteronomy 8:17) The Torah is calling on us to do something quite counterintuitive and perhaps paradoxical. We need to use our capability to earn a livelihood (symbolized by collecting the manna). At the same time recognize that it was not just our own capabilities that earned us this livelihood (symbolized by the need to trust that more food will be there tomorrow) and thus, we don’t get to do whatever we want with it (symbolized by the need to not hoard the leftover manna). Tzedakah is one of the mitzvot that trains us to do this. We earn money through our effort, but need to recognize that a portion of those earnings actually belong to the needy.
Bitachon calls on us to be powerful actors in the world, and employ what is called Hishtadlut, human effort. At the same time it reminds us constantly that we are not ultimately in control.
- Where are you on the continuum of trust and control?
- In what ways do try to control things too much? What is the impact on yourself and others? In what ways do you take too much credit for your successes or failures?
- In which any areas of your life do you think you have too much trust and might assume more initiative?
The Three As of Acceptance
We often think of Acceptance as tolerating something, putting up with it, resigning yourself to it, sucking it up, grinning and bearing it.
Acceptance involves three stages: Allowing, Acknowledging and Accommodating.
Acknowledging means to acknowledge the difficult thoughts, feelings, emotions or memories that are showing up for you right now in the present moment. This involves non- judgmentally noticing and naming - here's the not good enough story, reason giving, predicting the worst, worrying, anxiety, fear of failure, painful memories about the past. Acknowledging physical sensations -here's tightness in my stomach, here's my sweaty palms...
Allowing means allowing these difficult thoughts feelings and memories to be here (even though I do not like them, do not want them, do not approve of them). I don't like it, I don't want it, I'm going to allow it. I'm going to allow it to be here so that I can put my energy and attention into doing things that are meaningful and life enhancing.
Accommodating: Not merely acknowledging or allowing. I'm going to accommodate them. To open up and make room for them. To allow them to freely come and go, to move through me without getting into a fight with them or getting swept away by them.
We often think of Acceptance as tolerating something, putting up with it, resigning yourself to it, sucking it up, grinning and bearing it.
Acceptance involves three stages: Allowing, Acknowledging and Accommodating.
Acknowledging means to acknowledge the difficult thoughts, feelings, emotions or memories that are showing up for you right now in the present moment. This involves non- judgmentally noticing and naming - here's the not good enough story, reason giving, predicting the worst, worrying, anxiety, fear of failure, painful memories about the past. Acknowledging physical sensations -here's tightness in my stomach, here's my sweaty palms...
Allowing means allowing these difficult thoughts feelings and memories to be here (even though I do not like them, do not want them, do not approve of them). I don't like it, I don't want it, I'm going to allow it. I'm going to allow it to be here so that I can put my energy and attention into doing things that are meaningful and life enhancing.
Accommodating: Not merely acknowledging or allowing. I'm going to accommodate them. To open up and make room for them. To allow them to freely come and go, to move through me without getting into a fight with them or getting swept away by them.
