Livelihood and Faith

"And if you shall say: What shall we eat in the seventh year..." (Leviticus 25:20)

An excerpt from the "Tzam'ah Nafshi" leaflet – Parshat Behar-Bechukotai.

The question of "What will we eat? What will we drink?" haunts each and every person. "And if you shall say: What shall we eat in the seventh year?" You ask what we will eat? Hashem said you will have everything good! You will have abundance, you will have everything. Hashem says you will have all good things! Hashem promises that you will have all good things! And yet you ask, "What shall we eat?"... Is this faith in Hashem?! The Holy Zohar in Parshat Behar brings a story regarding the verse "What shall we eat, what shall we drink." Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yossi were standing on a high mountain. They had an abundance of food; they took several mules and donkeys with them laden with plenty of food. Standing on the mountain, they saw a shocking sight. They saw two people walking in the heart of the desert who found a man who had lost his way. He had been lying there for two days without food, dying in the heat of the sun, seconds away from death. That man told them, "It has been two days since I have eaten or drunk." So one of the travelers gave him food and drink. The second traveler yelled at him, "Why are you giving it to him?! Do not give it to him! It is forbidden! [The verse says] 'And you shall guard your souls very carefully'! This is a matter of life and death (Pikuach Nefesh). I do not permit you; let him die! Why do you care if he dies? Your life comes first!" The first one answered him, "Why do you care that I am giving to him?" The stingy one said, "If you give him all the food, eventually you will come to me, you will beg from me, you will want food from me, and then I will give you nothing!" Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yossi watched this entire story from afar. Rabbi Yossi and Rabbi Chiya understood from their gestures everything that was happening there—how he yelled at him not to give him food, while the other continued, feeding him, giving him drink, caressing him, and lifting him until he recovered. That generous man gave him all the water he had, all the food he had. He was left with nothing, without a drop of water. These two travelers continued walking alone. After half an hour, the one who gave away all his food and water suffered heatstroke. He was in the heart of the desert, 12:00 PM noon, the sun beating down at 50 degrees (Celsius). He fell and fainted under a tree. The second one said to him, "You see? I told you that you would faint. I told you that you would die without food and drink. Now I am leaving you here. I do not care about you." And he abandoned him in the heart of the desert. When Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yossi saw from afar that the man was lying under the tree, fainting, Rabbi Chiya said to Rabbi Yossi, "We have plenty of food, let's give to him, let's run to him, we need to save him!" Rabbi Yossi answered him, "Now let us sit and see. Surely the Holy One, Blessed is He, is performing a miracle for him." There is a story here; do not enter the middle of the story, do not run to give him the food. The world is not ownerless! A person gives away his food and now he will die?! There is no such thing! A great miracle will happen here! They stood there and watched as he fell asleep... Suddenly, a giant snake arrived, slithering toward him, capable of swallowing him in one gulp. Rabbi Chiya said, "Woe to that man"—it's over, this is his end! The poor soul has to die in such a strange way. Rabbi Yossi said, "Do not fall into despair. After all, he gave away all his food, all his water. He trusted in Hashem, so Hashem will not abandon him. You will see what a miracle he will have." Suddenly, they saw an even larger snake come down from the tree than the first snake, truly gigantic! It bit the head of the first snake, swallowed it, and killed it, and the man remained unharmed, sleeping his sleep in comfort and tranquility in the heart of the desert. Then Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yossi went down to him from the mountain, woke him from his sleep, gave him food and drink, and told him of all the miracles that happened to him. One must know that before any person comes into the world, Hashem has already prepared all those who will help him, who will save him, who will support him. Wherever a person goes, at every step, someone stands ready to help him. Even if you are in the heart of the desert or in the heart of the sea, someone is always standing beside you. You are never lost. Hashem is found in every place; in every place, Hashem is with you. At every moment, a person's salvation is ready; he only needs to give one cry to Hashem, one true cry, and he will already have salvation. If you only shout "Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad" (Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One), or "Please Hashem, save now," in the merit of Rebbe Nachman... then they will save you immediately. A person needs a drop of trust (Bitachon), a drop of faith (Emunah), a drop of singing and praying with intent. Do not fear, "From where will I have money?" After all, He who created you created the money, He created everything. He created you even before the money. All the money in the world belongs to you; Hashem wants you to learn Torah. You did many sins, so it doesn't fall to you immediately, it doesn't fall straight from the ceiling. Why do you worry? Everything was proclaimed in Heaven! 40 days before a person is formed, they plan in Heaven that on this day he will have a house, and on this day he will have a field, a livelihood (parnassah). Everything is already proclaimed before a person is born. Because the Redemption (Geulah) can come only when a person trusts in Hashem, his eyes gazing toward Hashem. "The eyes of all look to You with hope, and You give them their food in its proper time." *In its proper time!* Everything is in its time. What is coming to a person—an apartment, furniture, etc.—everything is in its time. Because the very wondering about money, the very thought about money pushes the salvation away, pushes the apartment away from him, pushes the livelihood away from him. All his life, a person thinks about livelihood. He does not know that the moment he stops thinking about the livelihood, then the livelihood will come to him, it will run to him. What is the meaning of "Parnassah" (livelihood)? It can be read as *Par-Nosa* (The bull travels). You run after the bull and the bull travels, the bull flees. "Parnassah" (travels) is spelled with the letter *Ayin*. Are you chasing after Parnassah? Then the Parnassah flees from you. The Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman) says in Torah 225 that trust (Bitachon) is endless. There is no limit to trust. "Trust in Hashem forever and ever"—trust is a thing without boundaries; there are no boundaries to faith and trust. The main perfection of trust is through the intellect, through the Torah. Trust comes from intellect! If you have no intellect, you have no trust and faith. If you learn Torah, then you have trust. If you do not learn Torah, then you do not have trust. The Rebbe says—if you were learning Torah, you would have intellect and you would know that everything is Hashem. Therefore, a person needs to learn a lot of Gemara, and then his mind becomes straightened, because the level of trust matches the level of intellect. The more intellect and brain a person has, the more trust and faith he has.