The Dance between Fear of Heaven and Human Effort

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Yosef sits in the dungeons, the lowly prison where Egyptian ‘criminals’ are left to die. He sits with the butler and baker, whose dreams he interprets. The baker, who will be put to death and the butler, who will be freed. To the butler, Yosef makes his appeal¹:

Please remind Pharaoh that I am here. Please beg him to set me free. I have been imprisoned unjustly. You are my only route into the palace.

While such a plea may touch our hearts as we imagine ourselves as desperate for salvation as Yosef, the Torah teaches us that Yosef did not make the right decision. In fact, as a result of Yosef relying on the butler, Hashem decreed that Yosef would stay in prison an extra two years. While it may be difficult for us to understand, Yosef was expected to decrease his hishtadlut, his actions, and instead rely on Hashem.

Contrary to this, if we skip forward to the Jews’ exodus from Egypt, the Torah presents the nation to us as standing in between the wicked Egyptians chasing from behind and the Sea of Reeds looming in front. There could not have been a more pressing moment for tefilla than this one, we were completely trapped, stuck between a rock and a hard place and desperate for salvation. Moshe begins to cry out to Hashem, understanding his role at that time to completely surrender and beg for Divine mercy. Yet, Hashem’s response is far from expected. ‘Why are you crying out to Me? Speak to the people and let them journey!’ Moshe was expected to increase his practical hishtadlut, instead of davening to Hashem.

While we may sometimes point to Hashem and wonder why we are being punished through illness, it is possible that we have not put enough safeguards in place and this was never the Divine plan at all. Hashem will not break nature for us and therefore to live under Hashem’s hashgacha (supervision), we are obligated to protect ourselves to a reasonable degree. The same way if one were to, chas veshalom, stick their hand into fire, it would burn, this same course of events applies to all our baseline hishtadlut. Hashem is not punishing a person when their hand burns, rather it is just the healthy operation of Hashem’s system called teva (nature).

The juxtaposition of these two episodes can be deeply confusing to us, as we wonder what Hashem truly wants from us, what He expects and demands. These are just two examples of the countless situations we have faced since the Creation of the world where we encounter deep inner conflict: to take practical steps or to lean back into Hashem’s hands? The world of hishtadlut and bitachon (faith) is a murky one, and we tread its waters each time we make a decision – or refrain from making one.

The Gemara² tells us in the name of Rabbi Chanina ‘Everything is in the hands of Heaven except sickness from cold and heat.’ Rabbi Chanina is referring to a concept called illness through negligence³ where a person could become ill, not because it was decreed in Heaven, but because they did not take the necessary measures to protect themselves. The Torah expects us to drink enough water and wear light clothing when it is hot, and to carry a coat and other warm clothing when it is cold.

In fact, the Torah⁴ explicitly commands us ‘You shall guard your lives very much.’ We are obligated to protect ourselves. Under this commandment, we are expected to eat well and exercise and to not put our lives into unnecessary danger. We lock our doors at night and do not expose our valuables too easily. We exercise caution when we cross roads and when we drive and we must investigate the safety of activities such as bungee-jumping before going ahead with them. The Gemara⁵ tells us that one should plan their travel for daytime, when it is light outside and avoid both starting and ending travel at night. Although we do travel at night nowadays, the basis of the Gemara was built on the context of the time when there were highwaymen, ditches in the absence of streetlights and the like, which put people’s lives at risk – and the Torah does not permit us to put our lives at risk⁶.

Once we have kept all of our safeguards, then we can lift our hands and say that whatever we went through was the Divine Will. If a home was robbed, despite its doors being locked, if there was a road accident, despite safe driving, if a person experiences a health issue, despite a balanced diet – it is from above.

There is such a phenomenon as over-engaging in hishtadlut, to the extent that it seems we are showing ourselves and Hashem that we are truly reliant only on our efforts and we believe desired results will be born through us. Working to an unhealthy extreme in order to ensure we make the business deal, excessive focus on health and fitness or spending too much time trying to push for a school acceptance or shidduch. This area is completely gray, because the parameters which define ‘unhealthy,’ ‘excessive’ or ‘too much’ will vary from individual to individual. For Yosef, simply asking the butler to remember him was considered excessive. For us, it may not have been considered enough. We have to look at various different areas of our lives and evaluate how much hishtadlut we regularly put in to assess how much we should invest in a new area. We cannot suddenly become lax in studying for exams with claims that we have faith in Hashem if our home has multiple burglar alarms and CCTV. This would not be proportionate hishtadlut. There comes a time when we surrender and say ‘This business deal/shidduch/seminary application was not meant to be. This is the loving hand of Hashem’ The question is when.

A story which inspires me personally, and reminds me that the hishtadlut-bitachon tightrope is completely individual is one recorded in Ruchoma Shain’s book, “All for the Boss” the famed biography about her righteous father, Rav Yaakov Yosef Herman. In it, we hear about how Rav Herman’s business was damaged and how he paid extra for insurance in case it happened again. With all this hishtadlut, Rav Herman felt that his bitachon was lacking and he was relying too much on himself, so he left a window slightly ajar, just to remind himself that it was Hashem, not any insurance, which protected his business.

As we navigate the shaky bridge between hishtadlut and bitachon, we are traversing the journey of the ultimate conflict: between body and soul, ego and submissiveness, man-made security and spiritual peace of mind. May we merit to find the right balance, to act when we are expected to, and to sit back and lean in Hashem’s protective arms when there is no more to be done.