Shaar HaBitachon Lesson 42 with Rabbi Shais Taub

tonight we are continuing with chapter six of shadow talking and chapter six presented seven flaws seven problems with the world view that urban refers to as the pledge taker attitude the person who wants collateral from hashem the person who tells hashem i need you to guarantee me up front that you're giving me what i want before i'm able to trust you and we've gone through three i believe three of the seven issues so tonight shem we will uh complete four five six and seven and that should uh bring us to the end of this chapter um over the next few nights we should be able to finish chapter seven it's a short chapter and um that will bring us hashem to the uh to the conclusion of shadow talking okay so let's look inside the text and the fourth problem with this attitude when somebody takes collateral from another human being he does so for one of three reasons and we're going to see if these reasons apply to hashem achas maybe the person will become poor and he won't be able to repay the loan you're wealthy today but i don't know what's going to happen maybe the market's going to tank and you had all your money tied up in stocks i don't know so i need collateral in case you become poor tomorrow bahashain is the second reason shema yikpaits yaday al-mashiyash at slave allah maybe he's going to become tight-fisted with what he has and he's not going in other words he didn't lose his money he still has his money but you know what he decides sometimes better you know not to pay your debts so at least if i have the collateral i'll tell them okay fine don't pay your debt i'm keeping your collateral the hashlicious and the third reason third reason is maybe the guy will die or maybe he'll go off the grid and you won't be able to find the guy take out a bunch of loans and disappear so if he does that at least i'll have his collateral the hamas kane refused so collateral is a cure for these ills for these three issues but if people were safe from these three risks in their relationship with others it would undoubtedly be shameful for them to demand a pledge but since we know in human relationships these three things could happen the guy could become poor the guy could decide to be a jerk and not pay you or he could die or disappear since those things do happen so that's the reality most people if you're gonna especially they don't know you they're gonna they're gonna take uh collateral that's just the way that it's done however hashem those three issues don't apply to him yes i say so it's even more unbecoming more shameful to take collateral from him in other words we said if those three issues didn't apply with people and you still took collateral from people it would be pretty shameful hashem it doesn't apply to him so it's even more shameful has already told us about hashem hashem says i have all the silver i have all the gold what are you worried he's going to become poor he's going to hashem's going to go bankrupt the um also it says riches and honor come from you so what are you concerned hashem's going to lose his money he's got all the money hashem's going to become stingy trust me he's not thinking that he's going to make a profit this year by by not paying you what do you think he's going to disappear he's going to die or disappear so to ask hashem to give you a mosh coin to give you payment up front is uh he calls it a good night i mean it's really it's it's it's shameful it's uh how would you do how would you describe how do you do a translate genai and the fifth reason why this attitude toward hashem doesn't make sense one who takes a pledge from his fellow will feel secure with it since he expects to collect from it and benefit either directly from it from the collateral itself or from its exchange in value meaning he could sell it liquidate it but as to one as to he who thinks that he will be secure from all worldly concerns if the creator provides him in in advance with all his needs i now say his argument is false why because he is not secure with the money that's left with him why not if hashem would all the paranosa you need for a lifetime hashem would give it to you up front imagine the day before your hasanah you someone would all of a sudden put 20 million dollars in your bank account to figure out this is what you need until the day you die you need 20 million dollars to to marry off all your kids who aren't born yet because the day before your constant and you have 20 million dollars adjusted for inflation 50 million dollars don't want to freak out the examiner you have to make 50 million dollars between now and yeah it probably will be with inflation anyways but all that money was just deposited boom in your account the night before your hasanah still wouldn't make you secure he can't be sure of holding on to his money because disaster may strike him and separate him from it as it says in theta at a young age it will leave him so even if hashem would put all the money in your account i don't know maybe uh there'll be a revolution and there'll be no fdic and it was okay that's what it called fdic okay fine so don't give me money in the account give me jules okay maybe robbers will come in and steal your jewels whatever form you have the assets in there's no security things happen things can happen okay so even if you'd be get get all your panosa delivered up front you're still not guaranteed anything unless you believe in hashem but then if you believed in hashem you wouldn't need it all up front anyways would you aha um furthermore his argument that he will attain peace of mind by achieving what he desires of material wealth cause of the circus mayhem it is a lie and betrays ignorance of what he wishes to attain why he after she is [Music] because on the contrary the wealth could become a major cause of worry and anxiety kamehameha the more possessions the more worry so not only would it not help you to have less anxiety if you had 50 million in the bank the night before yokhasana it would actually give you more worry by the way it's interesting to note that um the rebbe once spoke about this at a fabregan about marbel marbadaiga is it like unavoidable there's nothing that can be done about it you know because the because i'll say it like it's environmental marijuana the only way out of it is to be poor ah no there's a way of turning marbin into a positive what's the positive that if you're blessed with a lot of wealth then you could worry about making sure you're giving enough to daca and spending your money in the best way and that's a positive daiga because the problem with daiga is that not daiga itself it's what we worry about we worry about stuff that's out of our control hakobi deshame everything's in the hands of heaven except for once all of heaven so if you're worrying about the way the world is treating you well you can't control the way the world treats you so you're worrying in a very like totally improduct unproductive way but if you're worried about how you're treating the world well that you have a you have complete control over you have complete control over whether you are doing the right thing so that's a good thing to worry about not only it's good i mean you have to worry about that because oh yeah i'm not i'm not worried about whether or not i'm living up to my uh my mission in life well if you're not worried about it then you're not doing it so that's actually a good thing to worry and it's not real it's not worry like we think of worry like in a toxic way where you because that when you worry about stuff that's out of your control there's no resolution but if you worry about stuff that is under your control yeah then there's a resolution because then you're like you go take care of it and you do it so that's marvin the host in a positive way okay now let's look at the sixth ish and the sixth reason why this pledge taking attitude is no good one who takes a pledge from his fellow if he had been certain that his fellow would pay him back earlier than the agreed upon time and would out of sheer kindness reward him for waiting for his money with twice the sum that was owed to him don't ask how that is done if it's rebus there's a way of doing it as amato anyways let's say you knew this guy not only is not going to run off with my money that i loaned him he's going to pay me back early and he's going to pay me back he's going to get he's going to give me a gift on top of it not rebus but a gift on top of it i say bashum pon him you would not take collateral from such a guy would you take collateral from that guy this guy is good you know you want to do business with him he's generous you always end out coming out ahead when you do uh business with this guy so why would you uh burden him by taking collateral from him and as for the creator may he be exalted whose benevolence in great favor present present and past are known to us who is known to requite acts of charity and obedience with reward that cannot be imagined kamisha kosovo like it says no i have seen a god beside yours what god has prepared for those that wait for him talking about the reward in aiden yes namaste i say it's even more disgraceful then to take a pledge from such a person so hashem we know gives us gifts and he rewards us disproportionately and the reward in the world to come is beyond beyond beyond beyond to the extent that it's described as no eye has seen it not only you know that it's a great reward it's greater than our capacity to even fathom reward all right the hash v and the seventh issue with this pledge pledge-taking attitude he who takes a pledge from his fellow does so only if he is able to supply the latter with the goods for which he takes the pledge as security aval hamamashkin love but one who takes security from hashem or who would demand security from hashem a pledge from hashem in the form of advanced favors enlargement it's not even certain he's going to be able to pay hashem back for what he already owes how much more so for a new thing that he owes in other words he thinks that he's the lender and hashem is the borrower and therefore he needs collateral from hashem but it's actually the reverse and now by taking collateral from hashem he's going to end up indebted to hashem with a debt he's not even able to pay stavis only is able to pay hashem back through hashem's help it wouldn't be for hashem's help we wouldn't even be able to pay back hashem it's hashem helps us to pay back our ship [Music] like one of the pious said in one of his praises is even the intelligent person who knows you does not glory in his own accomplishment but in your name and in your mercy because you prepared his heart to know you so even the one thing you could brag about which is knowing hashem because that's within your power to work on that being rich being poor you know strong healthy handsome tall you know those you have no control over that hashem gives that to you or doesn't give it to you right so there's no reason to brag about that the one thing you can brag about is that you know hashem because that's what you're given free will to do is to know hashem but even that the wise person knows i only accomplished because hashem let me that's what he for through you will all the descendants of israel be found worthy and in you will they glory saying we glory in god continually and give thanks to your name forever which means that even when you accomplish the things that is within your that are within your free choice to accomplish even that hashem helped you how much more so stuff that you don't have control over isn't that wild like even the stuff that you have to accomplish on your own because hashem gave you free will to do it even that stuff he's really helping you it's crazy stuff that we have no free will over hashem's completely doing like we have no free will over being rich so if you become rich not because you did it hashem did it for you but even the stuff that you have to do on your own like become a mensch i should have helped you be a match never ends in evidence it's like what you think about when you really think about the degree of dependency we have it's like i guess it's not mind-blowing because what else would you expect he's infinite we're finite he created us we're constantly dependent on him for our existence so obviously we're dependent upon him for anything we achieve but yeah it's important to reflect on that once in a while um okay i'm going to share something with you i got this from kayenu you know that our text is provided to us generously by hyena and uh this chart was in the hyena this sums up the seven flaws and asking for a divine pledge before serving hashem so just to recap chapter six flaw number one a servant does not take a pledge from his master right and we were saying you think that you're a worker you're not even a worker you're a servant number two you don't know how much you need right we've said we're saying before how much do you really need you have no idea what that number is so you're asking for for for an open-ended number in that case you know you might as well just skip the whole business and just have to be talking in the first place because you really don't know how much you need anyway three you don't take a pledge from someone to whom you are owing right that'll be kind of preposterous right give me a pledge what are you talking about he's been giving you a pledge the whole time four you take a pledge from someone who cannot guarantee repayment now that's we just did that tonight right but hashem doesn't have those problems five the divine pledge can become the source of your worries right even if you had all the money doesn't mean you're gonna hold on to it to the contrary you're gonna have to worry about holding on to it six there's no need for a pledge when you will undoubtedly be repaid more than your output so relax okay he's he's very generous he's very good he's exactly who you want to be doing business with you know don't don't don't make don't act i won't say well you know whatever it's kind of like a new york thing i'm not saying all shopkeepers in new york but they make you feel like it's a they're doing you a favor by selling you something so that they can make a living right so you make somebody feel like you're doing them a favor by doing business with them right you make hashem feel like you're doing him a favor by doing business with him like come on convince me give me give me a mashkane he's doing you a favor because he's very generous and he always makes sure that everyone he does business with comes out way ahead okay seven you don't even know if you can supply that for which you're asking the pledge yeah so it's just better not to uh not to keep racking up the uh the debt just adding and adding and adding don't ask for moshkin you're better off okay all right all right and so that's that's the chart those are the seven flaws of the pledge taking attitude and that's the end of chapter six don't be a pledge taker what does that mean bottom line don't be a pledge taker that means don't set preconditions on your relationship with hashem don't tell hashem that when you're going to see the money in the bank then you're going to start serving just start serving now he's taking care of you in the best possible way already now even if it doesn't look like that okay trust me he's taking care of you perfectly right now so you can just start serving him you can just start serving you don't have to wait you don't have to say until he does this and this and this then i don't want to start serving just start serving him the best you can right now that's it that's the bottom line okay chapter seven tomorrow night