3Trust in Hashem and do good; [then you will] live in the land and be nourished by [your] faith.72

4Take delight [in good things, relying] on Hashem, and He will give you what your heart asks for.4

5Turn your way over to Hashem; trust in Him, and He will do [what you need].41

3Turn your deeds over to Hashem, and your plans will be established.

20One who considers a matter wisely will find good, and one who trusts in Hashem is fortunate.4

21Many are the thoughts in a man’s heart, but it is the counsel of Hashem that will stand.2

“To a man belong the plans of the heart, but from Hashem comes the answer of the tongue” (Mishlei 16:1): to let you know that everything is from the hand of Hashem, not from man: not the thought of the heart, and not the speech of the tongue; as it says, “but from Hashem comes the answer of the tongue.”

For emunah is like the tree, and bitachon like the fruit; and the fruit is a sign of the tree, or of the plant, that grew that fruit. But the tree or the plant is not a sign of the fruit, for there are trees that do not bear fruit, and many plants as well. But there is no fruit without a tree or a plant. And just as piety points to wisdom, for it cannot be unless [the person] was wise, as it says, “An ignorant man is not pious, and a boor does not fear sin” (Avos 2:5); but wisdom is not a sign of piety, for a person may be wise and yet wicked.

So too bitachon and emunah: everyone who trusts believes, since a person trusts only in one who he believes has the power to fulfill his request. But not everyone who believes trusts. For at times he fears lest sin cause [harm], or that he has already received [the reward] for his good deeds in the possessions the Creator made for him; and since he finds himself a sinner and a transgressor against the kindnesses of the Creator, he cannot bring himself to trust in Him that He will save him from his trouble, or give him his heart’s wish and his desire. And so he will make efforts, by the ordinary way of the world, to be saved from his trouble, or to attain what he asks and seeks.

Were it not for the fear lest sin cause [harm], making efforts to be saved even by the ordinary way of the world would be a lack in his emunah; for it is written, “I have not seen a tzaddik forsaken, or his children begging bread” (Tehillim 37:25). And even Hillel and Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa and their fellows, who were very poor, with very little money, were not forsaken, since they never acquired possessions. For the word “forsaking” applies only to one who was supported and afterward forsaken; but one who was never supported is not forsaken. And there is no forsaking for nothing, without sin and without iniquity. Therefore one who is sure of himself that he has never sinned cannot be afraid. But one who is afraid because of sin may be afraid that trouble will come upon him on account of that sin.

And one who knows himself to be a tzaddik, but has in mind what is said, “You should have helped Me” (Shabbos 89a): his heart is toward Heaven, and he does well; this is no lack in emunah. And so with one who fears lest sin cause [harm], since he believes that the power is in His hand.

But because he knows that there is no favoritism before Him, and that HaKadosh Baruch Hu can keep His promise in one respect and collect His debt in another, he therefore fears lest sin cause him not to be saved from his trouble. Like Yaakov Avinu, alav hashalom, to whom Hashem promised, saying, “Here I am with you” (Bereishis 28:15); and he was afraid of Esav, as it is written, “Yaakov was very afraid, etc.” (Bereishis 32:8). He sent a gift ahead [to Esav] and divided his servants into two camps, and he was afraid lest sin cause [harm]. And so we find with David, who believed he would see the goodness of Hashem (Tehillim 27:13), and was afraid lest sin cause [harm]; as Chazal said: Why are there dots over [the word] לולא? Because he was afraid lest sin cause [harm] (Berachos 4a).

So one who believes may be afraid lest sin cause [harm], but one who trusts is not afraid lest sin cause [harm], as David said, “He will not be afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in Hashem” (Tehillim 112:7); and in another pasuk he says, “In Hashem I have trusted; I will not be afraid” (Tehillim 56:5, 12). And this pasuk, that is, “In Hashem I have trusted,” does not contradict the words of our Rabbis, peace be upon them; for this was said of this world, and “Were it not that I believed” was said of the World to Come. So it has been made clear that everyone who trusts believes, but not everyone who believes trusts; and this is according to the saying “lest sin cause.”

But according to the plain sense of the pasuk, even if Yaakov was not distressed lest sin cause [harm], but [only] because of the way of the world, that is, because of the great force that was with Esav, as it says, “And four hundred men are with him” (Bereishis 32:7), his trust in the Creator was not lacking; that is, [as to] whether he should fear that Esav would harm him. For so HaKadosh Baruch Hu had said, “Here I am with you, and I will guard you” (Bereishis 28:15), meaning him and his children; for one whose children die in his lifetime would not be called guarded. And the proof of this is from what [Chazal] said on the matter of “For I will go down to my son, mourning, to the grave” (Bereishis 37:35): HaKadosh Baruch Hu had handed him a sign, etc.

But the rest of the people who were with him, and the sheep and the cattle, were possessions he had acquired; and it was possible that some of them would be lost, and in part of them “for I will not leave you” would [still] be fulfilled. And this is why he said, “The camp that is left will escape” (Bereishis 32:9), which means: perforce it will escape; that is, the Omnipresent has already promised me, and said to me, “For I will not leave you” (Bereishis 28:15): at any rate the camp that is left will escape. And this resembles what [Chazal] said about the episode of the spies: “I will strike them with pestilence and destroy them” (Bamidbar 14:12); Moshe said before Him, What will You do about Your oath? He said, “And I will make you into a great nation” (ibid.). Here too, “if Esav comes to the one camp and strikes it,” perforce “the camp that is left will escape.” So Yaakov trusted in what He had said to him, “Here I am with you”; but because of the one camp he sent the gift ahead.

And Yaakov did not divide his wives and his children into two camps, only the people who were with him and the livestock that was his, as it says, “And he divided the people who were with him, and the sheep, the cattle and the camels, into two camps” (Bereishis 32:8). Since he did not divide them, we learn that he was not afraid that Esav would strike them; for had he been afraid, he would have divided them, along with the rest of the people and the livestock, into two camps. And what he said, “Lest he come and strike me, mother with children” (Bereishis 32:12), he said with regard to the people who were with him. And this is why he set next to it, “And You said, ‘I will surely do good with you’” (Bereishis 32:13); and he did not need to say, “and I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth.” But since he came to mention the promise that the possessions would be guarded, for the sake of the one camp, that it not be lost, and asked for mercy on them, he mentioned the children as well, although he did not need to pray for them, since he had already been promised that they would be guarded.

It is also possible to say that Yaakov Avinu intended, in sending the gift ahead and in dividing them into two camps, to provide a place for the help and rescue that comes to him from Heaven, so as not to put a burden before the Creator, according to the plain sense of the saying “You should have helped Me.” And it is written, “And he sells some of his holding” (Vayikra 25:25): and not all of his holding; the Torah has taught proper conduct, that a person should leave himself one field. And it is written, “And Elisha said to her, ‘What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?’” (Melachim II 4:2).

And since it is not necessary that everyone who believes trusts, though it is possible, while everyone who trusts believes without doubt, therefore Scripture always warns about bitachon more than about emunah.

And these two things, bitachon and emunah, it mentioned together in one pasuk, as it says, “Trust in Hashem and do good; dwell in the land and tend emunah” (Tehillim 37:3). It warned about bitachon first, and afterward about the good deed, to make known that the bitachon is that one trust in Him that He will help him do His mitzvos. Had it said, “Do good and trust in Hashem,” I would have said that this bitachon that it warned about was said of the reward for the good deed, and not of the needs of this world, in which he needs [Him] to help him and support him: that is, the means and the circumstances that prepare the good deed. That is why it said first, “Trust in Hashem,” meaning, that He will help and support him to do His will and His mitzvos; and afterward it said, “and do good,” meaning, pursue the mitzvos and make efforts to do them, and do not be slack in doing good because of your limited ability, for He will support you and help you. This is the explanation of “Trust in Hashem and do good.” And this is his intent in putting the command of bitachon before the command of the good deed.

And this explanation is better than saying that this bitachon was said of the reward for the good deed. For there is no difference between one who trusts in Him that He will repay him with good for a mitzvah he did, and one who trusts in Him that He will grant his request for a prayer he prayed before Him with all his heart and all his soul; and this is a thing that recalls sin, as Chazal said, “Three things recall a person’s sins, and these are: a leaning wall, and examining one’s prayer” (Berachos 55a): that is, he examines his prayer and says that he prayed a complete prayer, and it is fitting that his request be granted him from Heaven. And Antigonos of Socho already spoke of this to his students: “Do not be like servants who serve the master on condition of receiving a reward” (Avos 1:3); that is, when you serve Him, do not let your trust in Him be to receive the reward at once; for if so, you bring it on yourselves that your sins are recalled, like one who examines his prayer. But one who gives a sela to charity so that his son will live, or so that he will merit the life of the World to Come (Pesachim 8a), is not included in this. For from the outset, when he did this mitzvah, in which he is free to give less or more, and he did it for that purpose, he is not like one who eats matzah on the eve of Pesach, or buys a lulav for himself, or keeps Shabbos, and the like, about which Scripture said, “Trust in Hashem and do good.”

Furthermore, it is impossible in any way to explain “Trust in Hashem” as about the reward of a mitzvah, either in this world or in the World to Come, since it had not yet warned him about the deed; how then would it warn him to trust in Him that He will repay him with good? And after mentioning bitachon, which is the effect, it mentioned emunah, which is the cause, and said, “Dwell in the land and tend emunah.”

Further, it said, “Trust in Hashem and do good,” meaning: even if you have no [good] deeds in your hand, and you know yourself to be wicked, nevertheless trust in Hashem, for He is merciful and will have mercy on you, as it says, “And His mercy is on all His works” (Tehillim 145:9), meaning tzaddikim and wicked. And [Chazal] said, When a person is in pain, what does the Shechinah say? “I am in pain from My head; I am in pain from My arm” (Mishnah Sanhedrin 6:5). That is why it said first, “Trust in Hashem”: that is, whether you are a tzaddik or wicked, trust in Hashem. And afterward it said, “and do good”: that is, although He is merciful and gracious, do not let your inclination assure you that you will not see harm; for the Creator is long-suffering, but collects what is His. And if He forgives you once, twice and three times, as it is written, “Behold, G-d does all these things two, three times with a man” (Iyov 33:29), afterward He will exact payment from you. And so, when you see that He has mercy on you and fulfills your requests, then you must do good.

And this pasuk adds to that which the previous pasuk said initially, “trust in Hashem with all your heart.” For there is a person who trusts in Hashem in a general way, and believes that everything is in the hand of Heaven, and trusts in Him, and does not trust in another man or in his own strength or sechel, yet does not return the matter of bitachon to his heart with respect to particulars; that is to say, in every individual deed that he performs. For this reason [Shlomo] said: “in all your ways know Him,” the explanation being: in each particular of your deeds, in every way and every action, remember Him and return to your heart that you possess no strength or capability in that particular deed, and it is not in your hand, but rather in the hand of Hashem, and hang upon Him your hope and your expectation for the chesed of Hashem Yisborach. (Avos 2:12)

And concerning this matter David HaMelech alav hashalom said, “I hoped to Hashem, my soul hoped; my soul [is directed] toward Hashem.” (Tehillim 130:5-6) And this matter is exceedingly weighty, and by means of this habitual practice the soul comes to absorb the inner inclinations toward bitachon.

And know that there are people whose eyes are turned toward Hashem regarding a great undertaking, as when they seek to set out upon the sea for trade, or to go forth with a caravan, but regarding a minor deed they do not remember Hashem, because the action is light in their eyes and appears certain in their estimation that it will turn out successfully for them; or because no great loss will befall them if that particular deed should come to nothing and not turn out for them.

It is for this reason that [Shlomo] said: “in all your ways know Him,” whether in a great matter or a small one. For since all actions are dependent upon the hand of Hashem, and all successes come through His chesed, a person is obligated to remember Him in all of his deeds. For if the deed succeeds in his hand and he did not remember Hashem in the course of it, and did not lift his eyes in it toward Hashem, behold, he has fallen short in the duty of his avodah.

He must also take into his heart that the reward for bitachon and for hope toward Hashem, in the matter of seeking Him to grant success to the action, is exceedingly greater than the benefit of the action itself. And [the scope of the lesson] likewise includes in its words “in all your ways know Him,” whether to permissible labor or to the labor of a mitzvah, as Chazal have taught: proper intention avails even regarding matters of Torah.

And He shall make your paths straight: apart from the reward of bitachon, which is greater than the heavens themselves, you will also succeed in that very deed in which you remembered Hashem and in which you knew that the action is not in your own control.

And behold, the substance of this interpretation which we have just set forth, emerges from the words of Chazal, who said in Perek HaRoeh: Bar Kapra expounded: what is a small passage upon which all the essentials of Torah depend? You must say: “in all your ways know Him.” And Rava said: even regarding a matter of sin; know that this is so, for as people say, the thief, at the mouth of his tunnel, calls upon the Merciful One.

Behold, from this it has become clear to you that this pasuk is spoken concerning the matter of bitachon, and that the essentials of Torah depend upon bitachon; and so, too, the very order of the passage, both above and below, bears this out.

And behold, the order of the passage is this: to warn first concerning chesed and emes, and afterwards concerning bitachon, and finally concerning hope at all times in all of his ways. And so it is written: “guard chesed and justice, and hope to your G-d always.” (Hoshea 12:7)

There is another way to explain בְּכָל דְּרָכֶיךָ דָעֵהוּ: that all your deeds shall be for the sake of Heaven, and you shall not seek from this world pleasure, enjoyment, honor, or wealth, or any desire, but only to the end of attaining the avodah of Hashem Yisborach. “And He shall make your paths straight”: apart from the great reward that inheres in this middah, even the deed itself will prosper in that you do it for the sake of Heaven.

There is yet another way to explain בְּכָל דְּרָכֶיךָ דָעֵהוּ: do not, in the press of your work, forget the awareness of the yoke of Heaven, and of His yirah and His exaltedness. “And He shall make your paths straight”: and by keeping to this practice your work will succeed. And Chazal have said: because they are chasidim, their Torah endures and their work is blessed.

There is also yet another way to explain בְּכָל דְּרָכֶיךָ דָעֵהוּ: at the outset of every deed, return to your heart the question whether there is a way of iniquity by which one might sin by that very deed, and do not perform it until it becomes clear to you that it is pleasing before Hashem Yisborach. And then it shall prosper in your hand, and He shall make your paths straight.

Indeed, the first interpretation that we have written is borne out from the flow of the passage itself, and from the path of the interpretation of our Rabbosainu z”l in the Gemara cited above. And yet all four interpretations are, together, good.

But by this [the pasuk] has informed us that together with bitachon a person is obligated to consider his deeds, and to leave alone the deed that his intellect keeps him away from; for “one who considers a matter wisely will find good” (Mishlei 16:20). And when he takes hold of what his mind agrees to, if he does not rely on his intellect to be assured of success, but relies only on the mercy of Heaven; and even when his intellect shows that no way to success can be found for him in the matter he seeks, for all that the strength of his trust in Hashem does not change: he is the fortunate one.

Of this Shlomo, alav hashalom, said, “In all your ways know Him” (Mishlei 3:6); that is, in every way and every action you do, remember Him, and consider in your thoughts that you have no strength or ability in that action, and its doing is not given over to you, but is in the hand of Hashem, may He be blessed. This is a very weighty matter, to bring the pure intent into one’s heart, so that the remembrance of the fear of Heaven will not leave the heart even for a moment.

For when he remembers Hashem, may He be blessed, and lifts his eyes to Him in a great undertaking, such as setting out to sea or with a caravan, but does not conduct himself this way in a small undertaking, even when he needs to go to a nearby place or within the city itself, he falls short in the measure of [His] service; for he should have considered that harm could come to him [even] in a nearby place, were it not that His protection, may He be blessed, rests upon him.

And if perhaps he does not succeed in the deed he wishes to do, and it does not come about, whether it is great or small, while he trusts in Him always and the middah of bitachon does not leave him, surely the reward of bitachon that he will have turns into a benefit far greater than the benefit of that deed. And if he does succeed in it and it comes about, surely he merits both, and both are equally good. This is what is written, “In all your ways know Him,” whether it is work of his own choosing or work of a mitzvah; “and He will make your paths straight”: that is, besides the reward of bitachon, which is great beyond the heavens, you will also succeed in that deed in which you remembered Hashem, may He be blessed, and it will come about for you.

And because this pasuk, “In all your ways know Him,” is founded on this middah, the middah of bitachon, Chazal said in Perek HaRoeh (Berachos 63a): Bar Kappara expounded: Which is a small passage on which all the essentials of the Torah depend? “In all your ways know Him.” Rava said: Even for a matter of sin. Know that this is so, for people say: The thief at the mouth of the tunnel calls out to the Merciful One.

One may further explain “In all your ways know Him”: let all your deeds be for the sake of Heaven, and do not seek from the world pleasure, enjoyment, honor and wealth, but only to attain the service of Hashem, may He be blessed. “And He will make your paths straight”: besides the great reward that will come to you from this middah, the deed will succeed when you do it for the sake of Heaven. This is what Chazal warned (Avos, ch. 2): “And let all your deeds be for the sake of Heaven.”

And one may further explain “In all your ways know Him”: in the press of your work, do not forget to keep in mind the yoke of Heaven, the fear of Him and His exaltedness, may He be blessed; “and He will make your paths straight”: through this your work will prosper in your hand. This is what Chazal said: Because they were chassidim, their Torah was preserved and their work was blessed.

“One who considers a matter wisely will find good, and one who trusts in Hashem is fortunate” (Mishlei 16:20). This pasuk comes to warn a person that he should first consider in his heart whatever he wants to say or do, before he speaks or before he does the deed: which way it will turn out for him, so that success and benefit will come to him from it; and if he does so, he “will find good.” And so it says further, “One who holds back his words has knowledge” (Mishlei 17:27). Because a person’s actions are contained in three things, thought, speech and deed, as it is written, “In your mouth and in your heart, to do it” (Devarim 30:14), and he is made up of and steeped in the evil inclination, and always errs because he is drawn after the physical, therefore Shlomo warned here that a person should first consider the thing he wants to say, and put thought before speech and before deed. “And one who trusts in Hashem is fortunate”: when he considers and reflects on what he seeks to do, even though he has first considered it in his heart, it is not fitting for him to rely on what he has considered; rather, he should trust in Hashem that the thing will come to be done and reach complete success. This is what it says, “And one who trusts in Hashem is fortunate.” That is, after thought has been applied to that speech or that deed, if he hangs his trust on Hashem, and agrees in his mind that it is not in the power of his intellect to bring anything about except by the will of Hashem, he is fortunate. For trust in Hashem is one of the highest middos and one of the foundations of the Torah; and so the pasuk says, “Trust in Hashem with all your heart” (Mishlei 3:5).

The particular is that he hope to Hashem that He will make his way straight before him according to His mercy and the abundance of His kindness, and save him from what is bad for him, and choose for him what is good and fitting for him; and this, by putting it into his heart to choose the good and reject the bad. For even in the works of his hands and in what he strives for, a person does not know to reject the bad and choose the good without help from G-d. Shlomo said, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the ways of death” (Mishlei 14:12); and he also said, “A man’s steps are from Hashem; how then can a person understand his way?” (Mishlei 20:24). And let him not despair of hoping to Hashem in all his deeds out of fear of his sins; for the providence of Hashem is always drawn to those who hope to Him by way of kindness, not to those who hope by way of reward. The pasuk says, “See, the eye of Hashem is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His kindness” (Tehillim 33:18), and it makes clear that this is the particular hope; and therefore it joins to it, “to save their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine” (Tehillim 33:19).

And when many and bad troubles find him, let him hold fast to his integrity and take more courage to hope to Hashem. Let him think in his heart, and know and understand, that nothing holds Hashem back from granting his request and doing what he asks; for His ability is without end, and it is in His power to bring him out of trouble into relief according to His mercy and the abundance of His kindness, which are without end. And with this he will hope to Hashem all the more.