Perek Gimel

א watch יצר- ינצר-

מ''ד בני- speaking in the name of ה'. He’s saying that you are as dear to me as a child is to his
father. He’s warning that you shouldn’t forget His תורה.

מלבי''ם לימוד התורה =תורתי אל תשכח and קיום המצוות =מצותי יצר לבך.
What is included in a man’s חיוב of לימוד התורה? Even דינים that will never be done by
some people, like מצות הקרבנות. Why would a man learn these הלכות? There is a מצוה of לימוד התורה- ''והיגית בו יומם ולילה''. One has to learn לשמע, not necessarily to come out with any הלכות.
What else is included in ''תורתי''? The stories in the תורה that are the cornerstones of our אמונה, for example we get the יסוד of נבואה from our אבות and the יסוד of יצ''ם from the מכות. We are warned not to forget them. We should learn and remember until we come to a point that we won’t forget. By the מצות, it’s not enough to know them, we also have to keep them.

(Not inside) What is the ל' of ''לבך''?
1. The לב is the command center of the body and it rules over all the אורים.
2. ''רחמנא ליבא באי''- ה' wants the כונה that’s in our hearts.

All מצות can be divided into three parts:
1. חובות האורים- done with the body, for example:
a. צדקה
b. לולב
2. חובות הלבבות-
a. יראת ה'
b. גדלות ה'
c. אמונה
d. חשבון הנפש
e. ''לא תחמד''
3. חובות האורים and חובות הלבבות together- a prime example would be תפילה.

By חובות האורים, you don’t need כונה the whole time to be יוצא, just initially. But like this you aren’t doing it the right way. Really, the right way would be to have כונה the whole time. חובות האורים and חובות הלבבות together needs to be backed up by כונת הלב. We know that ''תפילה בלי כונה כגוף בלי נשמה''- it’s like a peel without the fruit inside. משל- servant who prepares food for the king, but leaves. נמשל- תפילה can be compared to the food, and we send our lips to serve Him. ה' wants our hearts and our minds. חובות הלבבות is an area in עבודת ה' that is often overlooked. They are really חיובים and must be learnt so that we could do them properly. -משל servant with field duties and house duties. נמשל- the field duties are equal to חובות האורים and the house duties are equal to חובות הלבבות.

ב This פסוק is a תוצאה of פסוק א. If you keep פסוק א, they you’ll have ארך ימים, שנות חיים
and שלום.

מצודת דוד -ושנות חיים The years that a person lives will be quality years when good things will happen.

גר''א -שלום שלום is the כלי that holds all the other ברכות in place. Without שלום, there is no point in ארך ימים or שנות חיים. ארך ימים and שנות חיים are תוצאות of קייום המצוות. שלום is the תוצאה of לימוד התורה. שלום is that which holds all the other ברכות in place, so we can say that שלום is equal to all the other ברכות. שלום is a fitting result from לימוד התורה which is equal to all the other מצוות.

The תורה and the מצוות are מלמד זכות on someone, so that ה' gives him ארך ימים and שנות חיים.

We can’t always see how פסוק ב is a תוצאה of פסוק א because we don’t know the חשבונות of ה'.

ג מצודת דוד -אל יעזבך Don’t allow yourself to be without them.

ג קשרם-קשר אותם
גרגרתיך- הצואר שלך

מצודת דוד -קשרם You should constantly talk about them and think about them.

ר' יונה sheet חסד includes most מידות טובות. אמת includes מעלות in a person’s דעות and שכליות. חסד is to put all of your energy and desires into another’s happiness. A true בעל חסד is someone who is דורש שלמם וטובתם- wants other to be happy and is anxious to do what’s best for them. We usually define someone as a בעל חסד if they do חסדים for others. But that alone isn’t such a big deal- you don’t have to go against your nature because by a Jew, his nature is to be a גומל חסד and likes to be on the giving end. Such a person is an עשות חסד. But a real בעל חסד is someone with אהבת חסד- this is a much higher level. Why? By nature, we want ourselves to have and others not to have and to be above. When we don’t have and be happy for others and want them to have good, this goes against our nature and is much harder. When someone is a true בעל חסד, the bad מידות that are in a person’s nature are removed from him, such as:
1. אכזריות- opposite of this because he wants harm for others.
2. כילות- stinginess- he has a hard time giving things up because he doesn’t want good for others. This doesn’t mean he’s a miser, but many of us can be like this. We often have a hard time giving to those that aren’t close to us. But as soon as a בעל חסד feels that each person is an extension of himself, he doesn’t have a hard time giving.
3. שנאה- he hates people and doesn’t want good for them. Sometimes, there’s something about someone that you just can’t stand. But a בעל חסד sees everyone as an extension of himself, so he doesn’t hate people.
4. קנעה- he’s jealous of something someone has, but a בעל חסד sees everyone as an extension of himself so he isn’t jealous.
5. תאוה- he’s self centered and doesn’t care for the good of others.
6. גאוה- he feels that he’s better than anyone else.
Someone who is an אוהב חסד will inevitably do חסד, (but someone who does חסד isn’t necessarily an אוהב חסד). He will do גמ''ח even if he doesn’t have money for צדקה. He will do ביקור חולים, ניחום אבילים…
ה' demands from us to try to be an אוהב חסד. How can one become an אוהב חסד? The חיצוניות is מעורר the פנימיות. So why doesn’t help us to become an אוהב חסד if we do חסדים? Because we must realize that there’s a פנימיות and try to be מכון to want to help others, and not do it because of ulterior motives.
Why was the II בית destroyed if they had תורה and גמ''ח? Because they had שנאת חינם. So even though they had גמ''ח, there wasn’t an אהבה for people, so there was no אהבת חסד. We need to be מתקן it.

אמת isn’t considered something bad to be good or good to be bad. The בעל אמת isn’t scared to say that something is bad or good. He doesn’t flatter people and has קנאות- zealousness to stand up for good.
חניפה- flattery is a form of שקר, but it’s also an אסור within itself. It’s one of the כתות that can’t be מקבל פני השכינה. The four כתות:
1. חניפים
2. שקרנים
3. בעלי ל''ה
4. לצים
So what’s חניפה? Flattering someone who’s doing an עבירה by telling them that is was right or fine. During the תקופה before II בית, the Romans appointed a goyish king over the Jews- אגריפס. He tried to be מקיים the מצוות and once did הקהל and read the פסוק that said that ב''י shouldn’t have a goyish king, and he started to cry. ב''י were scared of the repercussions so they told him that it’s fine because he’s considered to be ''אחינו''. By doing this, not only weren’t they giving תוכחה but they were also being מחזק his resolve to be חוטא.
If one’s in a position to give תוכחה and doesn’t, that’s also considered חניפה. If you’re sitting among people who are doing something wrong, and you know that they won’t listen to your תוכחה, you have to do something because otherwise people will think you’re expressing your approval. So either give תוכחה or get up and leave.
A בעל אמת is willing to go against the flow, but it’s very difficult. Story- Rabbi Brown and מחיצה.
Someone who is a בעל אמת is happy when צדיקים receive כבוד and when רשעים are lowered because it’s אמת, and even thought he knows, he’s happy that everyone else should see.
A בעל אמת, at the time when he’s judging won’t show favoritism and he’ll give an honest verdict. We pass judgment all the time on other people. We shouldn’t show favoritism to ourselves or someone close to us. We tend to judge with a double standard- we judge others very quickly, but when it comes to judging ourselves, we come up with excuses to justify our actions.
A בעל אמת is מודה על האמת- admits. It’s a difficult thing to do, but it’s אמת. We tend to say that we’re never going to convince the other person so he should just forget it, but that isn’t אמת. When someone gives us מוסר, we should accept it. A בעל אמת has a firm commitment to אמת, so he’s open to hear.
A בעל אמת is someone who isn’t מקבל ל''ה and doesn’t believe everything he hears, lest he believes something untrue. A בעל אמת checks out to see if a rumor or story is true before he believes its and repeats it.
Someone who’s a true בעל אמת will turn away from crooked דעות and השקפות that may be displayed under the banner of Yiddishkeit. A בעל אמת will investigate in order to see what’s the אמת, because he’s scared to let שקר come into his heart. He won’t let go until he comes to the truth.

The מעלות of חסד and אמת are so great that we can’t even comprehend the greatness of someone who reaches שלמות in these מעלות. Someone who is at the other extreme is among the רשעים who are despised in the eyes of ה'- ''אדם בליעל איש און... שנא ה' ''. With everything that we do, were moving one step closer to שלמות and one more step away from the opposite extreme.
שלמה talks about these מידות so that our עבודת ה' should be desired and accepted by ה'. Two פסוקים to prove this:
1. ''חדשיכם ומועדיכם שנאה נפשי''- as long as כלל ישראל don’t get rid of certain faults, ה' hates when they come to the בהמ''ק.
2. ''נירו לכם ניר ואל תזרעו אל קוצים''- it’s useless to plant seeds on top of thorns. First, remove the thorns, then you can plant beautiful seeds.

ר' יונה -קשרם על גרגרתיךWhy is it important for us to talk about these מידות?
1. It helps him and he can have a constant reminder to be נזהר in these מידות- when you hear yourself talking, it makes an impression.
2. Other people can also learn from you, even if you aren’t שלם. They’ll learn to praise and think highly of בעלי אמת- someone who’s always praising good מידות and putting down bad מידות.
3. ''מצרף לכסף וכור לזהב ואיש לפי מהללו''-in order to test gold and silver’s purity, put it through a furnace. In order to test the essence of a person, see what he praises and what he constantly talks about.

-כתבם על לח לבך this is the עבודה of ''וידעת הום והשיבותה אל לבבך''. This is lifetime goal. Why is it necessary to write it in our heart? Because it’s our heart that is responsible for our actions. We have to take what is in our mind and put it in our heart, because without putting it in our heart we won’t get anywhere. Possibly the longest journey of our life is the journey from the head to the heart. How do we do this?

מכתב 1. Repetition- if you repeat something out loud enough times, you can’t help it but it’ll
מאליהו have an influence because repetition goes into your subconscious. Make yourself a
Sentence about what you want to get into your heart and it’ll help.
2. כח ציור- imagination. When you hear or see something, it doesn’t affect your subconscious, but if you imagine it, it’ll penetrate. You should picture the עונש and it will stop you from doing a חטא.

ד פסוק ד is תוצאה of פסוק ג.

מ''ד -ומצא חן through the מידות of חסד and אמת, we’ll find favor and it will be known before
ה' and others that he has שכל טוב.

ר' יונה ומצא חן → חסד
and גר''א שכל טוב → אמת
Someone who is a בעל חסד will find חן in the eyes of ה' and others and someone who is a
בעל אמת will find אמת in the eyes of ה' and other people.

ר' יונה Why will a בעל חסד find חן in the eyes of ה'? ''כל המרחם על הבריות הבריות מרחמין עליו מן
השמים''- when ה' sees us treating His children with compassion, it’s מעורר a tremendous amount of רחמים from ה'. It’s like a key that unlocks good for us in שמים. Why will a בעל חסד find חן in the eyes of other people? A בעל חסד wants to always help others, so it’s
obvious that he will find favor in the eyes of others.

גר''א -חן it comes from the שרש of חינם because חן is a מתנת חינם from ה'. We always see a ל' of מצא before חן because someone who has חן isn’t deserving of it, it was just found. A
בעל חסד gives others more than they deserve, so ה' sometimes gives him more than he deserves. חן is inner qualities that shine forth to the outside. Not everyone who is a בעל חסד gets חן- it is very rare and given out randomly, but ה' likes to give it to בעלי חסד. It may seem that it’s a reward for a בעל חסד and not a מתנת חינם. It can be compared to someone paying $100 for a gorgeous diamond- it’s really a מתנה. ה' also likes to give חן to ענוים- ''לענוים יתן חן''. Besides for חן, מידות טובות also cause have a person to have a shine.

ר' יונה Someone who is a בעל אמת will be known for his שכל טוב- people will respect him. When we stand up for the אמת, in the long run we will be respected for it.

גר''א שכל טוב= הצלחה. Someone who has שכל טוב will be מצליח in what he tries to do. This is not a שכר, rather a תוצאה.

מאירי This פסוק is a צווי- commands us to do מעשים in a way that will find favor in the eyes of both ה' and other people. There is another פסוק with a similar צווי- ''והייתם נקיים מה' ומישראל''- when ראובן, גד, חצי שבט מנשה came before משה and asked to settle מעבר לירדן, משה said that they had to fight first so that it shouldn’t seem like they only wanted to settle there so that they wouldn’t have to fight, and then they’ll be נקיים. It isn’t enough that ה' knows that our actions are done for the right reason, others must know too.

An עיר הנדחת would be an example of this. An עיר הנדחת is a city where everyone serves ע''ז. Everyone must be killed and the spoils must be burnt. It seems that בעל תשחית is being done, but it’s more important that people should understand the reason why it was done was (to justify a wrongdoing, and not to get spoils) than to do בעל תשחית because it could cause a חלול ה'. Also, if people see you doing something wrong, they might copy. Story- ר' משה and tea. In our society, everyone contributes. If you do something that appears to be wrong, the esteem of that thing will be lowered in the eyes of society. If there’s no way to justify an action that seems wrong but is really right, rather don’t do it. If we see someone doing something wrong, we have to be דן לכף זכות, but we also can’t put ourselves into a situation where others will have to be ךן us לכף זכות.

But we can’t take this concept too far, that everything we do is done in the hope of finding favor in the eyes of others. A גנב is someone who steals secretly. A גזלן is someone who commits an armed robbery publicly. A גנב is scared only of ה'. A גזלן isn’t scared ה' or others. A גנב is worse because he’s concerned about what others think about him, but not what ה' thinks about him. We see the severity of a גנב that he has to pay back four times. Even if we’re doing everything right, we can still be like a גנב if we’re doing it because of what others will think about us. Sometimes, there’s a conflict between finding favor in the eyes of ה' and finding favor in the eyes of other people. Obviously, we have to find favor in the eyes of ה', but someone who lives their whole life to impress other people will have a very difficult time when faced with this נסיון. Story- Rabbi Rosenberg and the O-U. We have to always keep in mind and ask ourselves- what would ה' think about it? If He wouldn’t approve, don’t do it.

The idea of being such an approval seeker connects to בטחון- an approval seeker thinks that people run the world and if he makes the right impression on the right people, he’ll get places. This shows a total lack of בטחון.

ה בטח- צריך לבטח
בכל לבך- בלב שלם, בלי שום ספק
תשען- תסמך

מ''ד -אל תשען when you plan something out so carefully and use your חכמה, don’t think that it’ll automatically work out because everything is dependant on ה', not on חכמה.

ר' יונה sheet The שלמות of בטחון is that a person believes only in ה' and not in his own strengths, שכל or other people, therefore the פסוק says, ''ואל בינתך אל תשען''. Why does the פסוק specify not to rely only on חכמה? One can’t rely on anything accept for ה'!
1. Because it’s a mistake that’s most commonly made- people feel that חכמה is something that could be relied on. Don’t make that mistake!
2. It also includes not to trust in anything else. A person thinks that he could trust in other things because his שכל tells him. Don’t trust your שכל when it tells you to rely on other things because everything is dependant on יד ה' and not on anything else. There are פסוקים that come to prove that nothing is dependant on anything other than ה':
a. ''משיב חכמים אחור ודעתם יסכל''- ה' can and sometimes does take away a person’s חכמה. חכמה isn’t in your control. Sometimes, everything just flies out of your brain- shows that חכמה is in ה'’s control.
b. ''רבות מחשבות בלב איש ועצת ה' היא תקום''- a person makes plans and strategies and thinks that things will turn out according to his plans. Really, everything works out according to ה'’s plans.
c. ''אם ה' לא יבנה בית שוא עמלו בוניו בו''- you could work on building a house for days, but if ה' doesn’t want it to stand it won’t.
d. ''כי כל מעשינו הבל''- all our actions are nothing and are for nothing. Actions are nothing in that it’s not our actions that’ll determine what’ll happen to us- ה' does.
e. ''כי לא לקלים המרוץ...''- a race isn’t necessarily won by the fastest person. Whoever ה' wants to win will win- it’s totally in His hands.
f. ''לאדם מערכי לב ומה' מענה לשון''- a person plans out what he’s going to say and how he’s going to say it, but it’s up to ה' how his words will come out. ר' יונה learns out a קו''ח from here- if even our speech isn’t up to us, how could we think that our actions are in our control?

ר' בחיי sheet A wealthy person or a fast person shouldn’t think that it’s because of his talent- ''כי לא
לקלים המרוץ ולא לגבורים המלחמה וגם לא לחכמים לחם וגם לא לנבונים עשר וגם לא ליודעים חן כי עח ופגע יקרה את כלם''- ה' set up the world that it looks likes the fastest win the race, but we see enough exemptions to realize that it isn’t like that. A person shouldn’t put
his hope in his השתדלות, he should place his hope in ה'. ''אף לאלקים דומי נסשי כי ממט תקותי'' – only hope to ה' because the only hope is from ה' and not from השתדלות.

In theory, we agree and believe it, but do we live our lives like that? No. The primary reason for this is because ה' set up the world according to cause and effect. Usually, if you put in effort, you get the desired effect. It seems to us that because one works he gets פרנסה. If we want the desired result, we’ll do the cause. ה' is THE CAUSE- סיבת כל הסיבות. The מכתב מאליהו gives two משלים:
1. משל- the dog fetches the stick in order to get the meat. To the dog, it seems that fetching the stick sends forth meat, but really it’s the owner. נמשל- things we do seem to bring us the desired results. Really, this is a narrow perspective- we have to see that ה' is in control.
2. משל- a man is looking into a room through a keyhole. He sees a pen written on its own. Really if he would just open the door, he would see that someone is controlling the pen. נמשל- our perspective of this world is necessarily limited. From our limited perspective, we think that medicine heals a person, that work brings פרנסה… - really it’s ה'. We have to open the door= get בטחון, and see that everything is ביד ה'.

When we do השתדלות, we thing that it’s doing something. משל- a child on a ride where a car runs on its own, but the child thinks that by turning the wheel they’re moving the car. נמשל- the connections between our השתדלות and what actually happens in no different than the child thinking that he’s controlling the car. Let’s say that the amusement park made a rule that the ride operator can’t start the ride until each child spins the wheel three times- ה' made a גזירה that things don’t happen without השתדלות. We have to do the necessary השתדלות to set the ride in motion. How much money a person makes was נגזר on ר''ה and that’s how much money he is going to make, no matter how much השתדלות he puts in.

Why do we have to do השתדלות? משל- a man has a millionaire friend. He sees this man’s son working in a store. He comes up with many reasons why this boy is working, but know that it isn’t for money. נמשל- ''לי הכסף ולי הזהב''- ה' tells His children that if they want money, they have to work for it. Every single aspect of every single bit of our lives is completely in His control. ה' tells us that if we want something, He will give it to us in the normal way. But know that the reason it works isn’t because of our effort.

If ה' controls everything, why do we have to do השתדלות? Because of the חטא of אדם הראשון. It used to be that there was no טבע in this world, but then אדם was חוטא and a set of curses came upon this world. Among them was the curse of ''בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם''. This was the introduction of טבע into the world. When ה' gives a punishment, it’s not נקמה, rather it’s מכ''מ. Our job is to be מתקן- the חטא of אדם הראשון was in a tiny way showing a lack of belief in יחוד ה'. To be מתקן it, we have to believe that ה' is the only power. We were thrust into a world of טבע and we must see past the טבע and see the יד ה'. If we do this, we can be מתקן the חטא of אדם הראשון. משל- a person is told to break a barrel but not to let the wine spill. This is a very difficult נסיון.

The מסילת ישרים says that one thing that stops a person from מידת החסידות is worries in עניני עוה''ז. What stops those worries? Having בטחון- completely relying on ה' because you know that you have nothing to worry about. ה' gives you what He decided with or without your השתדלות. But,מועיל אלא שהשתדלות מוכרח'' ''לא שהשתדלות- it doesn’t help but rather it’s necessary. השתדלות is a tax. After you have paid the necessary tax, now you’ll get what you need. So who pays extra taxes? No one! So just fill your חיוב and you’ll be finished with it, because you’ll only get what ה' wanted.

What is the minimum amount of השתדלות? There’s a כלל that the amount that you’re required to do is dependant on your מדרגה in בטחון. Someone who is still just learning בטחון has to do what the world considers normal השתדלות. What’s considered more than normal השתדלות? If you live normally but want to live luxuriously, work more hours or change professions. In this case, you won’t gain anything but you’ll lose time for עבודת ה'. We don’t want to be on the level of just learning השתדלות; assuming that we are on a higher level and keep telling ourselves that it’s not our work that’s doing this but rather ה', then our השתדלות that is necessary is minimized.

How do we know if we’re ready for that? Ask yourself, “What would happen if I didn’t do this השתדלות and I didn’t achieve my goal? Would I regret that I didn’t do it or would I accept it?” If you wouldn’t regret it then you’re on that level. But if you’re not on that level yet, don’t minimize your השתדלות so that you won’t be regretful of a מצוה. The highest level is not really anyone’s level today but it’s total, one hundred percent trust in ה' and one doesn’t need to do any השתדלות.

חובות הלבבות If you do too much השתדלות and rely too much on it, then ה' will leave you and won’tbe משגיח on you. He’ll leave you in the hands of your own השתדלות. That’s the worst situation to be in in life. What about someone who thinks that he could rely on both his בטחון and his השתדלות? One can’t trust in both ה' and his השתדלות. If he does, he’ll lose the little amount of בטחון that he does have.

We also have a special weapon- תפילה. If we concentrate on what we were saying, we would realize that it isn’t השתדלות, rather ה' that gives us all of our needs. For example, if someone was sick and they said ''רפאנו'', they would realize that ה' is the One who heals.

What is בטחון? A בעל בטחון is tranquil and knows in his heart that he can rely on ה', that everything that ה' does for him is for his good. The basis for this is
1. ה'’s יכולת
2. ה' knows that which is good for us.

משך חכמה Tells us that we have to believe that:
1. ה' is constantly looking out for His creations and giving us everything that we need. He is also looking to protect us from any lacks such as sickness or misfortune.
2. He has the ability to do good.
3. He knows everything that’s inside of us and what’s good for us.
What comes out from here then is that ה' is looking our for our good and feels our good more than we ourselves do. A person will have מנוחת הנפש and won’t do more השתדלות than necessary because he knows that ה' will give him what’s good for him. If we don’t get what we want, obviously it’s not for our good.

Seven qualities that if a person has, you can trust him completely:
1. If a person cares about you and loves you, he is מרחם on you.
2. He doesn’t forget about you for a second- he’s constantly looking out for you and looking to see what good he can do for you.
3. Has the ability to do whatever is good for you.
4. Has to know what’s good for you on a fundamental level, not just on a superficial level.
5. Has to be with you from when you’re born until the day you die.
6. No one can do anything to you besides for this entity.
7. This entity has to be the ultimate בעל חסד- not only on those who are deserving but also on those who aren’t deserving.
No person has all seven qualities, only ה' does. It’s impossible that something can happen to you that’s bad. Everything is covered by one of the seven qualities. We have to internalize all these principles and once we have integrated them, we’ll be able to submit to ה' completely. ''כוס ישועות אשא ובשם ה' אקרא'', ''צרה ויגון אמצא ובשם ה' אקרא'' because we know that everything that ה' does is good for me.

Our עבודה in בטחון-את עצמו לרשותו'' ''וימסר- submitting ourselves to ה'’s control. This is very hard because everyone wants to feel that they’re in control of their lives. בטחון means to realize that everything is being controlled by ה' who only wants that which is good for us. ה' controls everyone, even those that don’t submit. Every breath is dependant on ה'- ''על חיינו המסורים בידך''. What difference does it make if we submit or not- ה' is controlling anyway?!
1. When we do succeed in submitting, it brings a feeling of tremendous מנוחת הנפש. The difference between one who submits and one who doesn’t is a life of מנוחת הנפש or a life of stress. As long as someone feels that he’s in the driver’s seat, every obstacle makes him worried and scared. If you know that ה' is in the driver’s seat and you’re just the passenger, you don’t have to worry.
2. When someone submits, ה' will lead him with extra special השגחה פרטית because ''ה' צלך''.

Often, בטחון can bring about ישועות because of the extra השגחה פרטית he has. Sources:
1. ''הבוטח בה' חסד יסובבני'' –תהלים
2. ''ובוטח בה' ישוגב'' –משלי. ר' יונה says that ישוגב מן הצרה שכר הבטחון- אע''פ שהצרה ראוי' לבוא עליו ישוגב מן הצרה בשבר הבטחון
3. אוה''ח in בשלח- ב''י find themselves in a difficult situation. They davened to ה' and ה' told משה not to daven, but to go into the ים סוף. Why did ה' say not to daven? Sometimes, a person can be in such a strong צרה that even with תפילות he can’t be helped because of the testimony against him. Only בטחון will help.

When a yid is in a difficult situation, בטחון dictates that he should:
1. Think that it’s from ה'. If it’s from ה' it must be good for him. Sometimes, depending on the level of the situation, this alone might be enough. Sometimes the reason a person is put in a situation is to test him to see how he handles it.
2. A person hopes and prays to ה'. He asks ה' that it should be good in a way that he can see that it’s good= ישועה. Also included is trusting that ה' could bring about the ישועה in an instant. In a difficult situation, one must be afraid of ה' and of his חטאים- by יעקב, it says ''וירא יעקב מאד''- he was afraid because of his חטאים. Despite this, we have to have בטחון though.

Why תפילה?
1. The world is often set up in a way where ה' has something that’s waiting for you, but you have to daven, like by אדם.
2. We daven for ourselves- to strengthen our בטחון, to remind and drill into ourselves that everything is from ה'.
3. If we believe that a צרה is good for us, why are we davening that it should be taken away? AS a result of our תפילה and בטחון, sometimes we will then have achieved the point of our צרה.

When in a צרה, one should always daven, but תפילה must come with an amendment- if as a result of my shortsightedness and foolishness, please don’t give me what isn’t good for me. What You with Your ultimate בחירה choose for me is far better than what I could choose for myself.

The final מדרגה in בטחון is to leave ourselves in ה'’s hands, just like דוד said in תהלים, ''אם לא שוויתי ודוממתי נפשי כגמל עלי אמו''- I imagine myself as a nursing infant in its mother’s arms. Why is this the ultimate symbol of בטחון? Because he is secure and has nothing to worry about. We have to feel secure in ה'’s arms and accept that everything that he gives us is for our good.

ו דעהו- דע אותו
יישר ארחתיך- יעשה שדרכים שלך יהי ישרים

ח''זל tell us about this פסוק that one of the חכמים asked, ''איזהי פרשה קטנה שכל גופי
התורה תלוין בה?''. The קיום of the whole תורה is dependant on our קיום of this פסוק.

ר' יונה sheet How does it connect to בטחון? Any endeavor of yours, you have to remember and have
תקוה toward ה' that he’ll help you because it isn’t in your hands. What does this פסוק come to add? There could be someone who has בטחון- he has reached שלמות in פסוק ה- a very high level. Something could still be missing though- when it comes to little details, he doesn’t think about בטחון. This פסוק is telling us בכל דרכיך- in every detail of everything that you’re doing, no matter how small, you have to have בטחון.

When someone is in a big, risky situation, he knows that he needs ה'’s help and turns to Him. Whey don’t we ask ה' to help with the small things?
1. ע''פ טבע it works out.
2. Very often, we don’t care if it works out or not, and why should we bother ה' with such small things? Some also feel that if they ask for help with small things, they’ll use up their זכותים that they want for the bigger things.
משל- rich man and poor man- ''השלך על ה'...''. Who do you think is doing all the small things and taking care of details? He does it anyway, so we should acknowledge that we need ה'’s help. When it comes to small things, you don’t have to worry about using up your זכותים. If ה' has to change טבע for you, then you could worry. When you turn to ה', you get more זכותים. This פסוק tells us that we have to learn to turn to ה', even by small things. There is no such thing as something happening on its own- it’s חסד ה'.
Since this is true down to the smallest action, we are מחויב to turn to ה'. When it’s a question of whether or not we should turn to ה', it turns into something much bigger. Whether or not your cake flops isn’t such a big deal, but whether or not you turn to ה' is a big deal. By not acknowledging ה', you’re shortchanging your עבודת ה'. If you did turn to ה' before, it doesn’t matter because it’s a small thing but it does matter because you strengthened your בטחון and you get tremendous שכר.
This פסוק is the key of our בטחון and therefore the key to our entire קיום המצוות- שכל גופי התורה תלוין בה. Our entire relationship with ה' is dependant on this פסוק- a constant hint to remember ה'. It’s a high מדרגה, but it’s not so hard to do.
If you’re מקיים the first half of the פסוק, the second half will be fulfilled- there’s a much greater chance that you’ll succeed when you remember that it’s only through ה' that you’ll be successful.
Two practical ways to bring it into our lives:
1. שפתי חיים recommends three times a day to turn to ה' with a small request. If it does work out, realize that it’s from ה' and thank Him.
2. Think about what you’re saying when you say ב''ה, בע''ה, ע''ה.

מ''ד -בכל דרכיך In everything that you do, ask yourself how it’ll bring a benefit to your עבודת
ה', and you’ll be מצליח.

רמב''ם It shouldn’t be in a person’s heart that he’s working to make money or eating because he’s hungry, rather he’s doing everything so that he’ll be able to serve ה'. The highest level is that everything you do should be לשם שמים. A person who does this, it comes out that he’s constantly serving ה' no matter what he’s doing- ''וכל מעשיך יהיו לש''ש''.

מאירי ''ואהבת את ה' אלקיך בכל לבביך''- with your יצה'ר and your יצר הטוב. How does someone do this? Things which we think would be in the domain of the יצה'ר, have כונה that you’re doing it לש''ש and it’s like you’re serving ה' with his יצר הטוב.

ח''ח A person who’s מקים this will get שכר for the גשמיות. Why? משל- Master has to pay his servant for travel time. נמשל- if we have the right כונה, we’re actively serving ה' so we get שכר.

We tend to think that life is divided into two:
1. רוחניות- עבודת ה'
2. Everything else.
This פסוק is telling us that we have to have one goal in life and everything falls under that category- עבודת ה'. We don’t’ have to think the whole time that we’re going in the way of ה' so long as our goal is עבודת ה' and you don’t get sidetracked. Also make sure that it doesn’t go against the רצון ה'.
In life, two people can be doing the exact same thing however one will be doing עבודת ה' and one won’t.
Someone that ה' blessed him with שכל should use it by getting into his heart that ה' sent us on a mission in this world- to be מקים his תורה and מצוות- dot the רצון ה'. The highest level in עבודת ה' is someone who doesn’t make a move unless it gets him to his goal. He’ll get the ultimate joy in עוה''ב. משל- we’re like a servant of ה'. If we are faithful, we will be thinking about the mission the whole time. נמשל- At the end of one’s life, he should be able to say that he carried out his mission faithfully.

I’m missing a little bit at the end… I’ll have it a lil l8r, im just running out… if u want it, call me and I’ll gladly fax it 2 u.. my number is 362.5844. Good Luck studying and enjoy!!