Should You Worry About Food Shortages?

0:14People are completely oblivious to the amount of miracles that happen every single second that you breathe. The fact that there's enough air in the world for all of us to breathe is unbelievable. It really is. Think about it. A few generations ago, there were fewer people than today. And a few generations before that, there were fewer people than then. And so on and so forth. But yet, no matter how much the world grows in population, whether it's 1 billion, 2 billion, 3 billion, there is always precisely the right amount of oxygen in the world.

1:17Meaning that no matter how much the world has grown in population, HaKadosh Baruch Hu systematically and methodically, with His infinite wisdom, made sure there's always the right amount of air. No one is... No one. Everyone has the right amount of air. Everyone has it. No problem. That's a miracle. The fact that you can eat, no matter how many people, people always worry about, oh, there's not going to be enough food, coronavirus. Who starved to death? You know who starved to death? People in hospitals. Because of some wicked nurses that are racist or against people, or just sick-minded. One guy, one Jewish guy, died in a nursing home. But he left a letter that was found in his pocket. His son found it. He saw the letter. He says, my son, I want you to know, I didn't die from coronavirus. I died because they starved me for three days. The starvation killed me, not coronavirus. This was a Din from Shamayim. The suffering is going to help him in the next life. Surely it's depressing, surely it's horrible, but Rabotai.

2:33No matter how many people complain and cry about it, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, if He wants to give us food, He'll give us food. If He doesn't want to give us food, He's not going to give us food. People worry, "No, I'm going to store up, I'm going to buy everything, I'm going to eat this, I'm going to do that." You don't have to worry about anything. If you're going to starve, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what's going to happen. If HaKadosh Baruch Hu decides that a person is going to starve, you're going to starve. If HaKadosh Baruch Hu decides you're not going to starve, you're not going to starve. What's the proof of bitachon? Time of Elisha and Avi. There was a famine in the world. There was famine. You know what famine is? Famine means there is no food. Not that you can't buy it on Amazon. There's no food. One family, ten people, one potato, if they're rich. If they're rich. My grandfather, may Hashem bless him, He had a family, and he not only had his family but also his kids, my mom and her sisters—I think there were seven or eight among them—plus the parents, making ten people in total, plus the grandparents. He came home with one egg. He gave the egg, saying, "Here. Here's the egg for the kids." Eight kids were meant to eat one egg. And he gave one egg to his wife, to my safta. One egg.

3:53She said, "Okay." She said, "Eat it. Eat it. Because you know, you have to take care of the kids, pregnant and so on. No, take it. Okay, okay. Eat it." "Okay, okay, okay." She needed it. What did she do? She gave it to her parents. Fast another day. That's famine every time. There's no food. We complain, "I don't have the right granola bars in the house. What am I going to eat? Cereal again? What do I have? Cocoa Flakes, Cocoa Flakes, Tuki Flakes, eight different flakes of cereals. Ah, cereal again? Did you buy milk? Yeah, yeah, it's fresh. Chalav Yisrael? Okay, fine." They complain because they don't have the right granola bar. They complain because they don't have the right this. That's what we complain about. At the time of Elisha HaNavi, there was no food, period. Then the prophet said, that's it. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says there's going to be food. So much food that tomorrow there's going to be so much food.

5:05that the value of food will drop by 99%, meaning there's going to be so much of it that it's going to be like sand. You're going to go from no food at all, where to buy a potato, you have to give a house. Either a house or a potato. Now it's going to go the opposite. There's going to be enough food that it's going to be like sand. Now, one of the gedolim over there, one of the politicians, started laughing at Elisha HaNavi. Come on, new prophet. Listen, I understand you're a holy person and everything, but don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit? What did you learn from Rabbi Reuven? Exaggerating a little bit. Okay, let's say you're right, and let's say something comes tomorrow. A few people are going to get some potatoes, but no, it's going to go down. You have to add the extra oomph, the screaming. You have to say it 99% down. No, come on, Misha. Elisha HaNavi looks at him and he says, "Rasha, you don't believe in Hashem. And because of that, you're going to see the food, but you're not going to benefit from it. Why? You don't have emunah in Hashem." The next day, this politician is walking outside the camp. He starts seeing the two people that were kicked out of the camp because they had tzaraat.

6:31They're running towards the camp. They're not allowed to come to the camp, but they're running towards the camp. Come, come, come. What do you want? The enemy just disappeared. The enemy that was surrounding the city disappeared, and they left everything there. There's a huge amount of food. The people heard it, and they all started running around. They ran over this politician. He saw the food, but he didn't benefit from it. Why? No emunah in Hashem. have no emunah in Hashem. So it's important that we know in the Torah there are many places. In the Chumash alone, there's no less than ten places where HaKadosh Baruch Hu rebukes the people for not having emunah in Him. Why? Because emunah is part of the ideology. People are worried so much about starving and this and that. The reality is HaKadosh Baruch Hu decides all of this. He decides what parnasah you have. This is one of our ten remembrances. Every day you have to remember HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives parnasah. This doesn't mean you should just live on a miracle and just say, no, I'm just going to, you know, I have what? I have one piece of bread? No, Hashem's going to send me man. No, no one's saying to do that. You know, you do your hishtadlut, you go to the store, you be normal and so on, but don't go crazy. ...should just live on a miracle and say, "No, I'm just going to rely on Hashem. I have one piece of bread? Hashem will send me manna." No one is advocating for that. You need to do your hishtadlut, go to the store, be normal, and so on, but don't go crazy.

7:45And if you're feeling overwhelmed, then at the very least, work on your emunah. Say, okay, I'm still feeling overwhelmed. I still don't have strong emunah; my emunah is still in its infancy. I'm still stockpiling enough food to last for ten years in my house. Fine, okay, but at the very least, what I've learned from this is that I need to work on my emunah. So hopefully, next time I'll buy less. You can be realistic with yourself. You don't have to punish yourself for not having emunah, but be realistic in working on it. Anyway, Rabotai Haikarim, the food that people eat, they enjoy, and Chazon Ish says they're oblivious to how many miracles have to take place in order for all of this food to be digested, to turn into blood, to turn into vitamins, to turn into different things that you need in order for this machine to work. And when a person understands the forces that are working for him, all of these different things that HaKadosh Baruch Hu instilled into the body, any normal person should do teshuva immediately.

9:43Thank you.