Behukotai
Leviticus 26:3 – 27:34
Jeremiah 16:19-17:14
I need to read this article over as soon as I have finished writing it. I need to learn how to take my own advice. This does not come easily to me.
Rabban Gamliel, the son of Rabbi Yehudah the Prince, said, “Be careful of the government; for they draw near to a person only for their own needs; they appear as friends when it benefits them, but they do not stand by a person when he is under pressure” (Avot 2:3).
We deal with the government, Rabban Gamliel implies, because we must, but we should not trust its leaders.
When their interests coincide with ours, they help us. When our interests diverge, they desert us.
The cynical rabbi steels us to accept this situation without much bitterness. People in power typically behave this way.
If we feel betrayed, we reveal our own naiveté.
When we have troubles, we worry. I do, anyway. Sometimes I engage in useful worry, obsessing about the options, the possibilities, looking for some action that might work out better than the future I can foresee. Sometimes I engage in useless worry, experiencing anxiety without thinking. And typically, I worry about what threatens me far more vigorously than I worry about what threatens someone else.
A natural phenomenon, Rabban Gamliel would say. For this reason we have to work to become trusting.
Often, when worrying, we search for someone to help us out; indeed, sometimes people do help. Rabban Gamliel has doubts about how deeply we can count on assistance, especially from those with the power to render assistance. Relying on people sets us up for disappointment.
If we could, I mean if I could, remove my sense of trust in people and place it elsewhere, I would free myself from much anxiety and worry.
“Thus says God, ‘Cursed is the man who trusts people, puts his reliance on flesh, and from God turns his heart. He will be like a thornbush in the desert, he will not see when good comes, he dwells in the parched parts of the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.
Blessed is the man who trusts in God, and God will be his security. He will be like a tree transplanted by the water, which sends its roots into the brook; it will not see when heat comes, its leaf is fresh, in the year of drought it will not worry, it will not leave off from producing fruit'” (Jeremiah 17:5-8).
A dry land, Israel. When the rains come, the trees flourish, all except the thornbush in the desert, that always barely survives.
When the rains fail, the trees shrivel or die, all except those that grow by the rivers. Those who learn to trust in God, like the tree planted by the waters, glow with health, even in bad times.
Rabbi Eliezer Papo (1785-1828), in his popular book of advice, the Pele Yoetz, wrote: “Trust in God does not mean that you expect God to fulfill all your needs and wishes and to protect you from all harm. This kind of faith will not endure.
The main element of trust is to believe that all that God does is for the good. People do not know what is ultimately good for them. Therefore, accept all that God gives you with happiness” (Rabbi Mark Angel’s translation, “The Essential Pele Yoetz,” 73).
Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav put the greatest emphasis on this sort of faith: “It is true that we do have to concern ourselves with the means. But we must not make the mistake of confusing the means with the ultimate cause and put our faith in the intermediary.
We must have faith in God alone” (Lekutei Moharan 6, quoted in Avraham Greenbaum, Advice, 12).
I have seen people with this sort of faith approach crises with quiet confidence. They accept defeat graciously and victory with magnanimity. It seems possible to learn this characteristic. I still have to work at it.