Emunah Ensures Eternal Success

Likutei Halachos on Parshas Behaloscha

Translated by Dov Grant 

Possuk 12:7 "…he [Moshe] is ne’eman (trusted) in all My house" 

The continued existence of the world depends on emunah/faith, as it states: “…and all His deeds with emunah”. And the entire Torah rests on emunah, as it states: “…all your mitzvos are emunah”. Similarly, Chazal (our Sages) teach that ‘Habakkuk came and established them [all the mitzvos] on one: “a tzaddik lives with his emunah”. For, thank G-d, we have Moshe Rabbeinu - the truly ‘ish ne’eman’/trusted man, the one fitting to rely upon. He caused us everlasting success and appraised us with what we need to trade in this world of ours – a world that is very far from the upper worlds. For we only come here in order to acquire merchandise for those ‘far off places’. Over there we will succeed and profit greatly from the wares in which we traded specifically in this physical world – a great, wondrous and awesome profit, immeasurable and priceless “unseen by human eye” (see Likutei Moharan II 55).

Only, no one knows with what he is rewarded in that world that is far from our country, where we must return. Therefore, Hashem took pity on us, sending us the “faithful shepherd” – Moshe Rabbeinu – he that is “ne’eman in all My house”. He took pity on us, brought us to prevail, enlightened our eyes and informed us of the entire Torah, transmitting it to us directly from Hashem. He instructed us regarding all the holy merchandise that we need to trade in, in this world: Wearing tzitzis, laying tefillin and all the rest of the awesome, holy mitzvos.

For sure, we don’t have to waste our days, G-d forbid, in investigating whether or not we will actually succeed with our wares. But someone that does probe and question is not only a heretic – he’s also foolish, foolhardy, simple and mad. Can there be anyone so stupid as to desire that evil wisdom - the delving after the ish ne’eman, wanting to know from his own perspective specifically, to understand with his intellect, why one should “prosper” from this merchandise?

Lets explain this by way of analogy. Let’s say that trustworthy people - those possessing true awesome wisdom - write to him from afar. They tell him to speedily trade in specific goods with absolute alacrity and care, for he will make huge, unbounded profit. And yet he willfully slackens, first wanting to check out why these goods are so important in that place. While doing his investigation he fails to do any trade, wasting away his time with vanity and emptiness. He will then arrive in that place in abject embarrassment, completely lacking anything good. All the more so, if he brings articles that are forbidden in that place, where they penalize the transporters of such items with difficult and bitter punishments, unlimited in quantity. Woe to that embarrassment and disgrace!

The message is clear. Moshe Rabbeinu and all the tzaddikim, the early and latter prophets, all the sages of the Mishnah and Gemara – all have written to us, exhorting us to fulfill the Torah of Moshe. They tell us that, through this, we will be successful in the next world. And they are all trustworthy people, wise and intelligent. And they truly love us. Certainly we do not need to investigate them, Heaven forbid. We just need to trust them and walk in their path. In this way, we’ll be able to trade in all the holy goods – the Torah and mitzvos. We don’t need to waste our time on any investigation, scrutinizing their validity, G-d forbid. Rather we have to occupy our lives in gathering and trading in that special merchandise that is ‘dearer than gold and pearls’, without equal in value.

Therefore we find that Shlomo Hamelech in Mishlei/Proverbs praises emunah with the words “Who can find a woman of valor [i.e. emunah]…?” Holy emunah is termed a woman of valor, for Rebbe Nachman teaches that truth and emunah correspond to the man and woman (see Likutei Moharan 7). And Shlomo praises emunah, the ‘woman of valor’, in this entire song, using terms of profit and success. This entire wondrous song, from start to finish, praises her with the goods that she is successful and profitable with. For the main success in our ‘holy merchandise’ is by way of the ‘woman of valor’ – holy emunah. This is as the Arizal writes throughout his works that emunah is an aspect of malchus/sovereignty, corresponding to the ‘G-d fearing woman’, an aspect of the ‘woman of valor’. Therefore, “she is like the merchant ships - from afar she brings her food”. For by way of holy emunah, relying on Moshe Rabbeinu and all the tzaddikim that follow his path, we are able to transport merchandise to far away places and bring our bread and sustenance to eternity from afar. For even if we ourselves are uninformed as to what to bring there, nevertheless, the truly ish ne’eman has informed us of what merchandise to bring in order to be always successful there.



Yoreh De’ah Hilchos Gilu’ach 4:3

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