The 5 "W"s of Bitachon

Today's article features the 5 "W" questions as they relate to Bitachon. There is a Bitachon story all the way at the end . . .

• Who?

  Trust in God can be practiced by anyone, regardless of age, culture, or religious observance (see also Following the Recipe for a Delicious Life). Bitachon is available to all, and best of all, it is free!

  Though Bitachon does not come with a price tag, it does require effort and focus. It also helps to already possess belief in God, though I suppose it is possible to acquire belief and trust simultaneously. See Would You Trust The Tooth Fairy for more on acquiring belief in God.

• What?

  The standard translation of Bitachon is “trust in God”. What does it really mean to trust in Hashem? What exactly is it that I am trusting about?

  • Bitachon is the understanding that everything that happens is orchestrated by Hashem. There is no such thing as a coincidence.

  • Furthermore, Bitachon is the trust that all that Hashem does is ultimately for the best, even when it looks bad at the moment.

  • Hashem is “Almighty” - He has the power to carry out whatever He wishes.

See Bitachon: What it isn't, What it is for a more detailed discussion of Bitachon.

• When?

  Bitachon is one of the 6 constant mitzvos. As such, it applies at all times, and in all sorts of situations.

  When things go well, we recognize Hashem as the source of good. We know that our continued success or desirable situation is all from God.

  In hard times, we turn to Hashem for help. We know the outcome is in His hands.

• Where?

  You can practice Bitachon wherever you are. In fact, whether you find yourself in the doctor’s waiting room, sitting in traffic, or at the supermarket checkout counter, you always have an opportunity to exercise your Bitachon muscles. It does not require any materials or equipment, so you can “do Bitachon” wherever you go! (See Weight Lifting: Practical Bitachon).

• Why?

  There are many reasons to work on increasing your Bitachon. Here are a few:

  1. Peace of Mind

     God is in charge, so you don’t need to worry. (See Feeling Stressed? See How Bitachon Can Help).

  2. Freedom to do the right thing

     Trusting in Hashem, rather than any mortal, allows you to do what is right. You don’t have to worry about flattering someone - Hashem, and not that person, is really in charge.

  3. Focus on what really matters

     Bitachon allows you to release your focus from physical matters and concentrate on developing a relationship with your Creator. Hashem will take care of your physical needs (with appropriate human effort), and you can direct your efforts toward service of God.

  4. Develop an appropriate relationship with money.

     When you realize that your money is from Hashem, you relate to it differently. If you think it is all due to your own efforts, you will think you can spend it as you like. But when you recognize that your wealth is from Hashem, you need to use it according to the rules that He prescibes.

     A rich man will use his wealth appropriately and a poor man will recognize that his poverty also comes from God.

  5. Achieve satisfaction with what you have

     Since you know that whatever you have is exactly what God determined that you need, you can be happy with that and not feel lacking for more.

Bitachon Example:

(This story is fictional, but it could be real!)

Dan has a high strung temperament. He does not easily tolerate when things don’t go as expected. His knee-jerk reaction is to explode and to blame others.

One day, Dan realized that his outbursts were destroying many of his relationships. These included not only his immediate family, but friends and co-workers as well.

Dan made some effort to control his temper, but sometimes it was just so hard to hold it in. Other people were just so stupid sometimes! His flare-ups were still occurring pretty regularly, despite his efforts.

While reading the Jewish newspaper, he “chanced” upon an article that changed his life. The article seemed to be speaking directly to him. It explained that getting angry is like idol-worship. When a person gets angry, he is denying that Hashem is in charge and is running the world.

Conversely, when a person truly believes that everything that happens is from Hashem, he will not be angry. He knows that God is running the show. God knows what he is doing and has the person’s best interest in mind. This is true even if the source of a person’s anger is another person. The other person, guilty of wrong as he may be, is still a messenger from Hashem.

Wow, this lent a whole different perspective for Dan. Instead of holding onto bottled up anger and trying not to explode, here was a method for not getting angry in the first place! How revolutionary!

Check back next week to find out the “How” of Bitachon, and the end of Dan’s story!