The news and bitochon - spinoff

freidasima

Sun, Aug 10 2014, 3:30 am

A lot of posters have written how depressing the news today is, whether in EY or abroad, and how they don't know how to cope with it. Others write that one needs bitochon. That is always a concept that I wonder about...so how would YOU define "having bitochon"? What does it meant to you? That everything will work out ok? Ok for you? Ok for klal yisroel? That Hashem knows what he is doing even if what he is doing is to kill you? What does it mean to you?

grace413

Sun, Aug 10 2014, 5:16 am

To me bitachon means that Hashem's plan for the world is proceeding as it should for the ultimate benefit of klal yisrael. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that it is good for any specific individual or family. Why and how Hashem decides what happens to individuals is certainly above my pay grade.

I try to look at the bigger picture. I like to think that I'm grounded in realism but deep down I know that pessimistic as I am, I can't cope with the possibility that we are not in EY to stay, or to have a life where rockets are raining down constantly.

freidasima

Sun, Aug 10 2014, 5:20 am

Grace, if Bitochon is the general plan and you see that in that same general plan you appear to be slated for serious danger or even death, do you believe that even if it goes against everything you are taught, you should try to get out of such danger?

tigerwife

Sun, Aug 10 2014, 5:36 am

Bitachon is trust- trust that whatever happens, good or bad, is just a small detail in the big plan that G-d painted. 'Everything is for the good' is hard to see, because there's no guarantee we'll see the good until Moshiach.
I learned that whenever something happens- to anyone, Jew or not- we need to take it as a sign to better ourselves. Was it the Chofetz Chaim who said that a Jew who is mechallel Shabbos in Paris can be the cause of a tsunami in Thailand? (Or something like that!)

Whatever it is, it's easier said than done. The news is very depressing and scary, but being depressed and scared wont help anything. I think what we can do is just a bit more than what we're used to. Even if you have no political influence or gift of words, you can say an extra kapital of tehillim a day, or be extra kind to someone you don't particularly like. Keep EY and our chayalim in mind when you daven. I believe these little things so make a difference in the big picture.

FranticFrummie

Sun, Aug 10 2014, 5:47 am

I've been reading a lot of Breslov lately. For me, bitachon means that yes, the world is running on Hashem's plan, and we can't see the big picture right now. We have to trust that G-d only wants good for us.

That's the intellectual way of looking at it. Then comes emunah. Bitachon is not enough, because that's all logic and thinking. Emunah is when you truly FEEL THE TRUTH of it deep down in your heart and soul. That's much harder to do.

It's easy to say "G-d runs the world." It's much harder to live your life in a state of joy and peace, knowing that everything that happens to you is for the good.

Rebbe Nachman says "Even when the knife is at your throat, despair is not an option. G-d can make a miracle in an instant!"

grace413

Sun, Aug 10 2014, 5:54 am

freidasima wrote:

I believe in looking both ways before you cross the street but if Hashem has decided that your time is up, that's it. At this point in my life, and yes the fact that I'm older plays a part, I think I'd rather go down with the ship.

Where would I go to get out of danger?

chaiz

Sun, Aug 10 2014, 6:18 am

Freidasima I can try to explain is as we learned, but only if you do not get upset if it is too mystical/anti-rational for you. Emunah is about living that whatever Hashem does is good and truly good, it is just that we do not see it yet and we do not know his ways. Bitachon is a step further, that we know Hashem is a kol yachol and every minute recreating the world so he can change the situation in a minute, even if it seems so impossible. So we have full trust that something will go the way we think it should because Hashem can do it. This does not negate hishtadlus at all. I grew up learning that Eretz Yisroel is the safest place for Jews because that is where Hashem rests his Shechina most, even today in Galus. So it is not hishtadlus to run to the States to be "safer" because in the general sense it is not safer. The army is completely allowed and mandated to defend the Jewish land and is doing a big 'mitzvah' by saving Jewish lives and that is the accepted hishtadlus.