Who were the four people who made a deal with Hashem, but asked in the wrong way? How can one use commitment in one's service of Hashem? How can one commit if Hashem, as it were, needs to commit as well? What is the idea behind Hashem saying that the 'wilderness' that the Jews traveled through was not truly a wilderness at all? What is the relationship between the great leaders Moshe, Aharon and Miriam and the miracles that came in their merit - the Manna, the clouds of Glory and the well? How can we use these ideas to search for and employ the Guidance of Hashem in our lives?
In this Bitachon Podcast, we talk about the idea of looking for Hashem's guiding hands in our lives - what are the signs - sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant - that we can look for as we search for our direction in life.
What is the great wealth that stands in the balance when a person is faced with the challenge of giving to charity? What does it mean that Hashem 'stands by the right side of the poor person?' Why is the poor person called an 'ani?' Why do the nations of the world cause us so much pain, and what will be the ultimate result? Why did King David say that he finds himself in the Study Hall of Torah even without having meant to go there? What is the approach we need to take in order to take the steps necessary to get involved with Torah at the proper level?
R' Yonah speaks about how when we have Hope and confidence in Hashem, it strengthens and reinforces itself. He also speaks about the idea of always recognizing that the seemingly negative situations we may be in are also for our best. Finally, we speak about the concept that although a person usually has pain from extended longing for something, when it comes to the longing of the righteous for the help of Hashem, that longing does not create pain.
Why is the illegitimate child punished for the sin his parents committed? How does Hashem promise that He will console this person in the future when Moshiach arrives? What is the idea behind the Shechina (Divine Presence) which accompanies us into exile, and leads us home with redemption? What is the twofold power of the tongue? How are we to have a 'soft tongue' in our relationships with others? How are we to understand when others cause negative events in our lives?
R' Yonah teaches us that we can always have hope, no matter the challenge we face, because we know that Hashem is Compassionate and Kind, and even if we have sinned, Hashem is our Father who wants to forgive us.
What is the concept of Holiness? How does it relate to the Jewish People's specialness and our ability to inhabit the land of Israel? How does it relate to the concept of the forbidden relationships, the concept of Kosher food, and the concept of finding out spiritual information from Kosher sources? How does this connect to the special holiness of the Kohanim-Priests? What is the special nature of the Pure Speech of Hashem? Why are Hashem's commitments different than those of human beings? What do we learn from the fact that the Torah goes out of its way to speak with a positive idiom?
Rabenu Yonah goes into the idea that it makes a lot of sense to place our trust in Hashem, as He is the one who gives us the challenge in the first place - to help us grow and become better - so it is in Him that we can place our trust.
Rabenu Yonah speaks about the hope that is engendered by our Bitachon, and the idea that Hashem is All-Powerful and therefore, he can save us from even the most dire situation. He also speaks of the importance of realizing that all that occurs to us is from Hashem, and the humans who bring it about are just His messengers.
Rabenu Yonah teaches us that with Bitachon and strong commitment to Torah we have special protection, even from the sins of those around us. He also talks about how important it is to know that the challenges and difficulties of our lives serve to purify us from our previous sins.
We continue in the Rabenu Yonah on the topic of trusting Hashem in every area - even the lighter cases that we might think we can 'do it on our own.' This helps us recognize that it's really all Hashem. He also helps us realize that our Bitachon level is tied in to our ability to give tzedakah, and is intimately tied into our level of Yiras Hashem - Fear of Heaven.
