Rebuilding Trust: A Jewish Response

(5) Thus said the Eternal: Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who makes mere flesh one's strength, and turns one's thoughts from the Eternal. (6) That person shall be like a bush in the desert, which does not sense the coming of good: it is set in the scorched places of the wilderness, in a barren land without inhabitant. (7) Blessed is the one who trusts in the Eternal, whose trust is the Eternal alone. (8) That person shall be like a tree planted by waters, sending forth its roots by a stream: it does not sense the coming of heat, its leaves are ever fresh; it has no care in a year of drought, it does not cease to yield fruit.

Trust is peace of mind of the one who trusts. That one relies in his heart that the one he trusts in will do what is good and proper for him on the matter he has trusted him with, according to his ability and his understanding of what will further his good. But the main factor, which leads one to trust in the one trusted, and without which trust cannot exist, is for one's heart to be confident that the one trusted will keep his word and will do what he pledged, and that he will also think to do what is good for him even on what he did not pledge out of pure generosity and kindness.

There are seven factors which make it possible for one to trust in another:

(1) Compassion, pity and love. When someone knows that his friend has compassion and pity for him, he will trust in him and be at peace with regard to troubling him with all of his matters.

(2) To know that his friend, besides loving him, is not forgetful or lazy in taking care of his needs. Rather, he knows that his friend is active and resolved to do it. Because if all of this is not clear, one's trust in him will not be complete, since one knows of his forgetfulness and laziness in attending to his needs. But, when the one he trusts combines these two traits, great compassion for him and full attendance to his matters, he will trust in him without a doubt.

(3) He is strong. He will not be defeated in whatever he desires, and nothing can prevent him from doing the request of the one who trusts him. Because if he is weak, one cannot fully trust in him, even though it is clear that he is compassionate and active, due to the many occasions in which he failed doing things. When one combines these three traits, trusting in him will be more fitting.

(4) That the one he trusts knows what is beneficial for him, both for his inner and outer life and also that none of the ways which benefit him or further his welfare are hidden to him. Because, if he does not know all of this, one will not be at peace in entrusting himself to him. But if he combines the knowledge of the ways which are beneficial to him, the ability to implement them, great attendance to them, and compassion for him, his trust will certainly be strengthened.

(5) That the one he trusts is under the exclusive care of him from the beginning of his existence, his development, babyhood, childhood, youth, adulthood, old age until the end of his days. And when all this is clear to the truster, he is obligated to be at peace on his friend, and to rely on him, because of the many past benefits he already received from his friend and the constant favors he still presently receives. And this will obligate strengthening one's trust in him.

(6) All matters of the truster are entirely in the hands of the one he trusts, and no one else can hurt him, help him, benefit him, or protect him from harm, as a slave chained down in a prison is entirely in the hands of his master. If the truster were in the hands of the one he trusts in this manner, it would be more fitting to trust in him.

(7) That the person he trusts is absolutely generous and kind to those deserving and to those who are not deserving, and that his generosity and kindness is continuous, never ending and without interruption.

Whoever combines these traits, in addition to all of the previous traits has completed all the conditions that deserve trust, and would obligate the person who knows this to trust in him, to be at peace internally and externally, in his heart and in his limbs, and to give himself up to him and accept his decrees and judge him favorably in all his judgments and actions.

When we investigate these seven conditions, we will not find them at all in the created beings, but we find them all in the Creator. He is compassionate to His creations as written "The Eternal is merciful and gracious" (Psalms 103:8), and "Now should I not take pity on Nineveh, the great city" (Jonah 4:11).

Trust in the LORD for ever and ever, For in the LORD, you have an everlasting Rock.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in the great.

Those who know Your name trust You,
for You do not abandon those who turn to You, O LORD.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And do not rely on your own understanding.

(18) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your neighbor as you love yourself: I am the Lord.

(8) But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Turn back, each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me! (9) May the LORD grant that each of you find security in the house of a husband!” And she kissed them farewell. They broke into weeping (10) and said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” (11) But Naomi replied, “Turn back, my daughters! Why should you go with me? Have I any more sons in my body who might be husbands for you? (12) Turn back, my daughters, for I am too old to be married. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I were married tonight and I also bore sons, (13) should you wait for them to grow up? Should you on their account debar yourselves from marriage? Oh no, my daughters! My lot is far more bitter than yours, for the hand of the LORD has struck out against me.” (14) They broke into weeping again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law farewell. But Ruth clung to her. (15) So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods. Go follow your sister-in-law.” (16) But Ruth replied, “Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. (17) Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus and more may the LORD do to me^-b if anything but death parts me from you.”

And with my soul and my body [too], the Lord is with me, I shall not fear.

Fear Adonoy, [you] His holy ones, for those who fear Him suffer no deprivation. Young lions may feel want and hunger, but those who seek Adonoy, will not be deprived of any good thing. Give thanks to Adonoy, for He is good, for His kindness endures forever. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living being. Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord, so that Lord is one's security. I was young and I have grown old, yet I have never seen a righteous man forsaken, nor his children begging for bread. Adonoy will give strength to His people, Adonoy will bless His people with peace.

And return in mercy to Jerusalem, Your city, and dwell therein as You have spoken; and rebuild it soon, in our days, as an everlasting structure, and may You speedily establish the throne of David therein. Blessed are You, O Lord, Builder of Jerusalem.

And standing beside him was G-d, who said, “I am the Lord, the G-d of your father Abraham’s [house] and the G-d of Isaac’s [house]: the ground on which you are lying I will assign to you and to your offspring.

Jacob then made a vow, saying, “If G-d remains with me, protecting me on this journey that I am making, and giving me bread to eat and clothing to wear,

and I return safe to my father’s house—The Lord shall be my G-d.

(7) Then he took the record of the covenant and read it aloud to the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will faithfully do- Na'aseh Ve'Nishmah (נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָֽע)!”

(9)You stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your G-d—your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, (10)your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer— (11)to enter into the covenant of the Lord your G-d, which the Lord your G-d is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; (12)to the end that G-d may establish you this day as G-d's people and be your G-d, as G-d promised you and swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.(13)I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, (14)but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the Lord our G-d and with those who are not with us here this day.

The Sages interpreted this verse homiletically: Do not read your children [banayikh], but your builders [bonayikh]. Torah scholars are those who build peace for their generation. As it is stated: “Those who love Your Torah have great peace; there is no stumbling block for them” (Psalms 119:165); and “May there be peace within your walls, prosperity within your palaces” (Psalms 122:7), because: “For the sake of my brothers and friends, I shall say: Peace be within you. For the sake of the House of the Lord, our God, I will seek your good” (Psalms 122:8–9), and “May the Lord give strength to G-d's people; the Lord will bless G-d's people with peace” (Psalms 29:11).