Let's continue this most incredible journey about Bitachon. Okay, let's summarize. So far, we've said that we're going to break down this discussion about Bitachon to try to get things in an organized way into 15 different parts. Here are the questions that we've discussed so far. Part one, what is Bitachon? Part two, what is the source for the mitzvah of Bitachon? Part three, how important exactly is Bitachon? Part four, does Bitachon always work? Part five, why must Hashem come through for me in the way that I desire? Part six, does Bitachon have a prerequisite in order to be effective? Part seven, can a sinner apply Bitachon?

Part eight, why were tzaddikim not always saved by their Bitachon? And as we spoke about, we've alluded to the fact that we're going to learn in many Torah sources that the opportunity to rely on Hashem is an absolute guarantee if one does it properly. If one is able to reach a level of absolute sincere reliance on Hashem, Hashem will for sure come through for them in the way that they desire. And that being the case, why is it that so many of our greats, both from previous generations and contemporary great scholars and tzaddikim, were not saved by their Bitachon? Surely they knew about the opportunity of Bitachon. Does that mean that Bitachon does not always work? Or is there some other reason why we find at times tzaddikim chose not to use the opportunity of Bitachon and the like? We will discuss this and more, b'ezrat Hashem, via the Torah sources in this section when we get there.

We now move to part number nine. This seems like almost an uninteresting question, but this is probably one of the most foundational questions about the whole topic of Bitachon. The question is, what is the position of the Chazon Ish about Bittachon? Now again, this might seem uninteresting because why do I particularly need to know about the opinion of the Chazon Ish about Bitachon? And the reason this is included in its own section is because this is perhaps one of the reasons that many have not understood the mitzvah of Bitachon correctly.

The Chazon Ish is one of the greatest of the great contemporary tzaddikim and Torah scholars that we have. And as we will study, there is a passage in one of the sefarim of the Chazon Ish which would seem to indicate the opposite of what many Torah sources teach. And if that would be the case, then one might be led to a conclusion that for whatever reason, we don't follow these Torah opinions.

Now it's very important to learn these Torah passages that the Chazon Ish himself would have learned and also passages that the Chazon Ish himself wrote and compare them to one another to truly understand B’ezrat Hashem with absolute clarity what he meant in this famous passage that people usually come across. Again, it should be clear to you by now that we're going to explore a form of Bitachon where one is so confident that Hashem will come through for them - one is a hundred percent sincere in their reliance on Hashem and the guarantee that we will have is that Hashem will for sure come through in the way that I desire.

Again, I may have many questions. Why is that so? How is that so? Who says so? Etc. And B’ezrat Hashem, we will get to all those sections and discuss this and the relevant Torah sources. However, just by way of introduction, in this section, we will discuss a famous passage written by the Chazon Ish where it seems to indicate that one should not have absolute reliance on Hashem. And the relevancy of understanding this passage correctly is important in the way we're going to draw our conclusion about what the halacha is, of what type of Bitachon we're supposed to apply. Are we allowed to, are we supposed to have such absolute reliance on Hashem for the things that we need and that we desire in the way that we need and the way that we desire? Or if the Chazon Ish seemingly wrote the opposite and again, it's not just one opinion that we would simply ignore.

The Chazon Ish is a very important halachic opinion. Then why does it seem to be implied in one of his passages that one should not practice this absolute confident Bitachon in Hashem? B’ezrat Hashem, as we get to this section, we will explore the exact meaning of the Chazon Ish and with Hashem's help, draw more clarity to our Bitachon.

I hope you're beginning to get excited about this incredible topic of Bitachon. We've been discussing a bit of an introduction to the topics we're going to be discussing to get a bit of an indication of where we'll be heading. I'm sure you're beginning to realize that Bitachon is one of the most important foundations of the entire Torah and all the mitzvos that we have. In fact, the foundation of the entire Torah and mitzvos as we'll see in many Torah sources. And that being the case, it's obviously easy to understand that it's not going to be a journey of one day to master this topic. It's going to be our life's work. But our journey right now, B’ezrat Hashem - with the help of Hashem, is to do our best to clarify this topic in an organized way so that hopefully, with Hashem's help, we can come out with more clarity. And once we do so, then we can have the confidence to apply Bitachon in a practical way and be confident about what we are doing.

The reason that I continuously repeat what we've discussed previously is because it's one thing just to hear the information, but it's something else to truly digest it. And in our fast-paced world, it's very easy to forget the information that we've learned. So revision is of paramount importance. So let's revise what we've said so far.

The Torah sources that we're going to discuss in an orderly, section-by-section way, B’ezrat Hashem, relate to the following questions. In part one, we will discuss what is Bitachon. Part two, what is the source for the mitzvah of Bitachon? Part three, how important is Bitachon? Part four, does Bitachon always work? That means to say, are there any exceptions? Or if I practice this type of Bitachon - confident Bitachon in Hashem, will it for sure work beyond a shadow of a doubt, without any caveats whatsoever? Part five, if I can rely on Hashem with confident Bitachon for the things I desire and I need, why must Hashem come through for me?

Part six, does Bitachon have a prerequisite to be effective? A few moments ago, we just alluded to the fact that this type of confident Bitachon has no exceptions, as long as one fulfills the prerequisite for this type of Bitachon to be effective. Because again, if one has not fulfilled the prerequisite for this Bitachon to be effective, then it will not be effective in the way that I desire. Although as mentioned, one will certainly get rewarded immensely for any step one takes forward in Bitachon, both in this world and in the next world, but in terms of the Bitachon working without a shadow of a doubt in the way that I desire, although as we will learn, there are no exceptions to that if one does practice Bitachon with absolute sincerity, however, the precondition is that that Bitachon in Hashem has to be with absolute sincerity.

In part seven, we will discuss, B'ezrat Hashem, can a sinner apply Bitachon? Is the opportunity of Bitachon only for the super righteous? Or even somebody who is tainted by sin, not only from previous sins, but even current sin, can that individual apply Bitachon? And part number eight is that as we're going to learn in many Torah sources, if Bitachon is such a powerful absolute that has no exceptions, that if one is sincerely reliant on Hashem, Hashem will for sure come through for them in the way they desire, so many of the tzaddikim who experienced difficult times, be it financially, with their health, relationships and family, or many other things, why did they not get saved by their Bitachon? Surely they knew about Bitachon. And if that is the case, and Bitachon always works, why did they not get saved by their Bittachon?

I hope that B'ezrat Hashem, as we discuss these questions, more and more questions will come across your minds to help open up this most fascinating and incredible discussion about Bitachon, and B'ezrat Hashem, as we break down each of these sections part by part and discuss the Torah sources, with Hashem's help, we'll come to more clarity and see Hashem's true perspective of what the undistorted truth of the Torah is about Bitachon.

I hope you're getting as excited as I am with regards to Bitachon. I know we are yet to discuss Torah sources inside and gain more clarity on the issues, but hopefully just from seeing the questions, you're getting a bit of an indication of the direction we're going to be taking. Let's revise what we've discussed so far in terms of the 15-part outline of the contents we're going to be discussing.

Part one we're going to be dealing with is the Torah sources on the question of what is Bitachon. Part two, what is the source for the mitzvah of Bitachon? Part three, how important exactly is Bitachon? Part four, does Bitachon always work? Part five, why must Hashem come through for me in the way I desire? And as we discussed, there's a lot to this question and we'll see more in the Torah sources inside B’ezrat Hashem. Part six, does Bitachon have a prerequisite in order to be effective? Again, as discussed and as we will discuss B’ezrat Hashem, there are different types of Bitachon, but one of the types of Bitachon which we're going to be elaborating on is a confident type of Bitachon where Hashem will for sure come through for me in the way that I desire. But what is the prerequisite in order for that to happen?

Part seven, can a sinner apply Bitachon? Is the opportunity to have Bitachon dependent on our deeds? So a person who's doing well spiritually, it can be argued that maybe they can tap into these amazing opportunities of Bitachon to rely on Hashem for the things that they need in such a confident way that Hashem will come through for them. It would seem that Hashem certainly would want to take care of those that do His will, but those that do not, maybe Bitachon is not available to a sinner.

Now regardless of our conclusion, in terms of Bitachon, nobody's advocating to do Aveiros because it's very clear, independent of the discussion of Bitachon, that there are very severe consequences in the next world, and even in this world for our transgressions, and on the positive side for our mitzvos, to the point that many Torah commentaries teach that one moment of suffering in the next world is way worse than 120 years of constant suffering of the worst form that you can imagine in this world.

And likewise, on the positive side, in the next world, of the reward we have the potential to earn for ourselves, experiencing one moment of that is way greater than 120 years of the greatest pleasure we can imagine in this world. So it's super important to emphasize that regardless of our discussion about Bitachon, there's no question there are very real and severe consequences for our actions in this world. However, in terms of the opportunity of Bitachon, sometimes a person might get led down the path that teaches, don't even think about Bitachon until you correct yourself. Whereas we're going to learn what Torah sources teach about this question. Can a sinner apply Bitachon?

Let's move now to part eight. Why were tzaddikim not always saved by their Bitachon? So let's elaborate on this a little bit. If it's so that Torah sources will teach that one can have such confident Bitachon that Hashem will come through for me for anything and everything that I might need and desire for those who rely on Him sincerely with an absolute 100% guarantee, without exceptions and without failure, that Hashem has built it within the nature of the way the world works, that if somebody does practice this absolute confident type of Bitachon with full sincerity, then without a doubt and without exception, Hashem comes through for them. And that being the case, that leads me to think, were there not many very great tzaddikim – way greater than me in terms of their righteousness, in terms of their Torah knowledge, and how come seemingly and apparently bad things happened to them?

We know of many great tzaddikim throughout the generations, earlier generations and contemporary generations, who suffered tremendously in terms of health, in terms of finances and in many other areas. But if we are going to learn that one has an opportunity to rely on Hashem to such a confident extent, that they will for sure receive what they desire, without exception, if their reliance on Hashem is 100% sincere, and if we're also going to learn that not only can one do this, but this is actually commendable and a huge mitzvah to aim to rely on Hashem to this extent. So if that is the case, why is it that many tzaddikim seemingly did not make use of this type of bitachon? Let's explore this further together and b'ezrat Hashem transform our bitachon.