SuperNatural Emunah & Bitachon Stories of Our Sages by Rabbi Yaron Reuven

0:10one of the Baalei HaMussar, a talmid of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, used to test his bitachon in Hashem on a regular basis, to constantly demonstrate how there's no such thing as natural. So, one day he's sitting in a train station, waiting for the train. Another Jew sits next to him and asks, "Oh, are you going to go on the next train?" "Yeah," he replies. "Where's your ticket?" the other Jew asks. "I don't have one," he responds.

1:29He says, I told you, Be'ezrat Hashem, only Be'ezrat Hashem this time came by you. Next time, it will be a different crazy person. Meaning that Hashem makes the supernatural look natural. One of the times that he went into the woods, he told himself, there's no way that Hashem is not going to allow me to learn Torah. I'm gonna go into the woods and Hashem is gonna make light in the woods for me to learn Torah. This is a very famous story from about a hundred, a little over 120, 140 years ago. He went into the woods; everybody knew he was going into the woods, going into, staying there with nothing, just his books, no candle, no nothing. He went to test his emunah (faith) and bitachon (trust) in Hashem. Hashem is going to make light for him, just like He did during Maaseh Bereshit (the Creation). Hashem says, "Let there be light." He's going to make light for me. How it's not my business. He went into the woods. Little by little, night came. There's no light coming. Little by little, the darkness came. No light is coming. No light is coming. But he's trying to read; he could still read the words, could still read the words, could still read the words. Eventually, it got to a point where it was so dark, he couldn't read the words. So he reached back just to see, maybe there's something behind him and...

2:53And a hand gave him a candle. He took the candle and continued learning Torah for the rest of the night. And he brought the candle back with him. And the same little candle was lit for 25-30 years. People saw the candle. For years, it was lit, never went off. He said, "Yes, it's the candle from the forest. Remember I told you guys?" He goes, "Yeah, yeah." Anytime somebody has bitachon problems, you go to him, just look at the candle. Just look at the candle. Why? A hand came from Shamayim and gave him a candle. Because he believed it could be. He didn't believe in the natural. He didn't believe there's anything such as natural. There's only Hashem. There's only Hashem. Once a person realizes there's only Hashem, it becomes easier to serve Hashem. It becomes easier to believe in Hashem. And you stop relying on yourself. If we're stressed for five minutes over money issues, that means we have no emunah in Hashem. The Gemara in Masechet Berachot says that if a person has food today, But if he is worried about what he's going to eat tomorrow, that simply means he has no emunah (faith) in Hashem. He's ketan emunah. He has a little emunah, a little baby emunah. Why? Hashem gave you food today. Did He ask for your permission or your help to give you food today? No, He gave it to you though, right? So why are you questioning how He's going to do it tomorrow? Why? Because it doesn't make sense to you? Because there's no money in the bank?

4:16because all the shops are closed, it doesn't seem natural for them to give you food tomorrow. What makes it seem natural today? What makes it seem natural that all of your teeth are exactly in the perfect place where they should be? In reality, if your front teeth were on the side, and your side or back teeth—the molars—were in the front, do you know that the only way for you to chew food and swallow it would be if you ate like a sheep with your neck up? Why? Because if your front teeth were in the back, the only way for you to break things down and cut them initially would be if you brought them to the back. And the only way for you to chew and eat them is in the front. This means that all the food would fall out of your mouth all the time, which further implies that you would need to keep your head tilted constantly. Meaning that every single part of the creation itself is so perfect, but we don't ask questions about it. We don't ask questions of why we have two little spheres, we call them eyes, and they can record everything naturally. They clean themselves without any help, and they work all the time, and we don't ask; it's all natural for us. The reality is, Rabotai, that the supernatural for the people who learn Torah and fulfill mitzvot is the same thing as natural.

5:32In the Gemara in Masechet Ta'anit, we see there's a story about a person by the name of Nachum Ish Gamzu, famously known as Gamzu LeTova, where everything that would happen in the world, he would say, "This too is for the good," no matter what would happen. One time there was a decree by the goyim to hurt Am Yisrael, and the rabbi said to Nachum Ish Gamzu, "You deal with miracles, why don't you go bribe this Caesar and give him some jewels, give him some money, and if there are miracles that are needed, because it's a very, very dangerous journey, you'll be the one that's safe to carry all this." And that's what Nachum Ish Gamzu did. Bar HaMasechet Ta'anit, page 21a, says, he took a case full of gold and jewels and started going. you deal with miracles, why don't you go bribe this Caesar and give him some jewels, give him some money, and if there are miracles that are needed, because it's a very, very dangerous journey, you'll be the one that's safe to carry all this. And that's what Nachum Ish Gamzu did. Baba Masechet Ta'anit, page 21a, says he took a case full of gold and jewels and started going. the way right outside the city, stopped at a motel, and he slept there. In the morning, he took his case and went to the castle, waited his turn, and showed up. When his turn came, the king said, "Yes, how can I help you?" He says, "I'm representing the Jewish people. We had a decree...

6:52That was going to increase our taxes and do a lot of bad things for us. But we want the king to have some mercy on us, so to respect the honor of the king, we brought you this present. So everybody's looking—there are hundreds of people there. What do they have, the Jewish people? He opens the case, the chest, and you see it's full of sand. It's full of sand. So he looks at this and says, "This is what you bring me?" You brought me sand? You knew you were bringing me sand? He goes, oh yeah, I checked the case in the morning and it had sand in it, and I'm bringing it to you. Meaning that he knew there was sand in it. Even though originally there was gold in it, now it's sand. But he said, if Hashem turned the gold into sand, this too is for the good. So the king wanted to kill him. But right before he gave the decree, Eliyahu HaNavi dressed up as one of his soldiers and said, "Oh no, your highness, this is a Jew. Maybe the sand is like the sand of their forefather, Avraham." He responded, "What sand is this?" Eliyahu HaNavi continued, "Avraham beat four kings. He defeated four nations with sand." The king said, "Okay, let's check it." They took the sand, threw it out the window, and it all turned into spears.

8:12Wow, what a gift. Thank you for the gift. Nachum Ish Gam Zu, make sure you fill an even bigger chest for him full of diamonds and jewels. I don't need the diamonds and jewels. Give it to them. I need the sand. I need the sand. Now, Nachum Ish Gam Zu knew there was sand there, and he knew that it originally started with gold. But why didn't it disturb him? Because he knew that both the sand and the gold came from Hashem. If it comes from Hashem... It has to be good, even if it's bad initially, even if it hurts a little bit at first. The same Gemara talks about Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa. Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa's daughter came to him and said, "Abba, I made a mistake with the oil for Shabbat. Instead of buying oil, I bought vinegar. So we won't be able to have candles for Shabbat."

9:12He says to his daughter, "Biti, my daughter, why are you worried? Just light the candles with vinegar. The same God who decided that oil will light candles can decide that vinegar will light candles as well." Meaning, to him it's the same thing. Just like He decided that oil is going to work, now He's going to decide that this will work. What's going to make it work? You have to have emunah (faith) that He's going to do it. All of these people reached such a level of holiness and purity where literally the natural and the supernatural became the same thing to them. Because they took the Torah not just seriously, but they took the zehirut, the carefulness that you must have with the Torah, even more carefully than any one of us can even imagine. The same Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa one time saw that outside of his house, outside of the fence, there was a boy peeking through the fence. And he said, "What are you doing?" He says, "Oh, I'm just looking at the beautiful girl inside." He saw inside, "What is he looking at? He's looking at Rabbi Chanina's daughter." ...saw that outside of his house, outside of the fence, there was a boy peeking through the fence. And he said, "What are you doing?" The boy replied, "Oh, I'm just looking at the beautiful girl inside." He realized what the boy was looking at. The boy was looking at Rabbi Chanina's daughter.

10:31Rabbi Hanina came inside his house and he told his daughter, "My bat, you're making a michshol (stumbling block) for Am Yisrael. Go back to the dust you came from," and she died on the spot. Why did he take such drastic action against his own daughter? Why didn't he simply tell her to close the window? Why didn't he advise her, "Listen, some man is looking at you; you need to be more careful"? Why is it her fault if some man chooses to gaze inappropriately? How is this her responsibility? Because Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa knew it's better for a person to die than for him to cause Am Yisrael to sin. It's better for Am Yisrael to die, to never have children, to never get married, to never have any future, to never have anything in the world, than to make Am Yisrael look at someone inappropriately for one second. One second, one time, when a person is such a makpid, so careful with the Torah to such an extent, meaning he's careful with Am Yisrael to make sure that he doesn't lead them to sin. He's careful with himself to make sure he doesn't sin. He's careful with his family to make sure they all know what to do and not to sin. He's careful with all of the sins, even more so than the mitzvot. Then that means he has Yirat Shamayim. Once you have Yirat Shamayim, David HaMelech tells us in Tehillim, Hashem gives the secrets to the ones that fear Him.

11:52What secrets everything, everything, and anything you want