Shemos 5783: Get Out of Your Mitzrayim (Part 2): The Amazing Power of Hope
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Shiur presented in 5778
Yaakov Avinu’s Brachah was for Shimshon
We’d like to stay on the topic of ‘Getting out of Your Mitzrayim’ and today’s shmooze is on a Chazal we find in Parshas Vayechi on the passuk of ‘לישועתך קויתי ה – for Your salvation I long, Hashem (Bereishis 49:18). We mentioned before that Yaakov Avinu said this passuk in regards to Shimshon Hagibor, when he was at a moment of darkness. It was after Shimshon’s hair was cut, his gevurah was gone and he reached out to Hashem one more time. He asked the child holding his hand if he could take him over to the pillars. He wanted to lean on the pillars.
If you think about it, he knew he had no hair left. The passuk says that Shimshon’s hair had started to grow back. He needed his hair for his strength. Everybody knows that story. That’s what he revealed to his wife, that his strength lay in his hair. If there was no hair, there was no strength.
What made it shayach to say to Hashem וחזקני נא אך הפעם הזה, “Please this time, give me strength, give me one more chance” (Melachin 16:28). If he had Rogaine, and he asked, “Get me a couple of bottles of Rogaine,” and he poured it over his head and his hair started growing out, maybe it would be shayach to ask Hashem to return his strength to him. Likewise, if he would ask Hashem, “Hashem please one more time – make my hair grow back.” Okay, I can hear maybe it would be possible. Or if he would have gotten some kind of cosmetic surgeon to paste some long hair on him, efshar oichet (maybe also). But without hair, how did he think he would be able to do it? That’s the chiddush that we see in the words ‘לישועתך קויתי ה. He came to the hakarah,“Hashem, it’s not my hair. The strength is not the hair. The strength is You. It’s Your strength.” Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave him that strength.
Everything is a Matter of Hope in Hashem
Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 98:14) tell us אמר רבי יצחק הכל בְּקִוּוּי, the way you access every single thing is bekivuy – through hope. It says יסורין בקווי. Pashtus, what that means is, a person is saved from yesurim through kivuy. קדושת ה’ בקווי זכות אבות בקווי תאוותו של עולם הבא בקווי, and the medrash quotes pesukim for each one of these things.[i]
One of the mefarshim on the medrash, the Yefei Toar, explains that when Yaakov Avinu foresaw the death of Shimshon Hagibor, who was the man who was going to free Klal Yisroel from the Pelishtim, he could have said that it’s a matzav of yi’ush – it’s hopeless. But instead he said, ‘לישועתך קויתי ה, there is hope. Hashem could bring the yeshuah. And Rabbi Yitzchak is teaching us that הכל בקיווי. A person should never be be mesya’esh from the yeshuah of Hashem, but instead, a person should continue to put his hope in Hashem. He explains that there are six different reasons that bring a person to yi’ush.[ii]
Six Things Bring A Person To Despair
One thing that brings a person to yi’ush, he says, is if a person is overwhelmed by big tzaros and he can’t imagine and believe anymore that he’s going to be saved from them. Like Iyov said, ואיה אפו תקותי, where is my hope? (Iyov 17:15). Iyov was barraged. He was smothered in tzaros. It says about Klal Yisrael (Shemos 6:9), ולא שמעו אל משה, they couldn’t hear what Moshe was saying, מקוצר רוח ומעבודה קשה, from crushed spirit and cruel bondage. And this led them to be mesya’esh from the yeshuah. That’s the first one listed in the medrash, יסורין בקווי. Even if a person is medukah beyesurim, Hashem wants him to put his hope in Him because Hashem can and wants to help him deal with the yesurim and overcome them. He quotes a passuk that even in the way that Hashem wants to bring yesurim,still in all, ‘אקווה אל ה, I’m going to put my hope in Hashem that He’s going to help me out. So the first thing on the list, he says, which commonly leads a person to feel yi’ush is tzaros and yesurim.
The second thing that brings a person to yi’ush, is if the thing that you hope for is very difficult to find at the particular time when you need it. For example, let’s say a person needs a specific healing for a sickness or he needs a specific fruit that cannot be found under normal circumstances. When a person realizes what the odds are of him accessing what he needs, it causes him to be mesya’esh from the yeshuah. So he says, you should say to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, “Be mekadesh Hashem.” Bring me the healing, bring me the thing that I need andit will be extremely obvious that the yeshuah is from You Hashem.That’s called kedushas Hashem, he says. That’s ma’aseh nissim.
There was once a story with a fellow who came to the Chazon Ish, and he told the Chazon Ish that he has a bad sickness. They had created some kind of medication for the sickness, but it hadn’t arrived in Eretz Yisrael yet. The Chazon Ish told him, “Why can’t it come? Be boteach in Hashem that Hashem is going to bring this medicine here.” But that person was on a very short rope, he couldn’t just wait around until the medicine would turn up sometime. The person was boteach in Hashem that only He could bring the medicine to him. The medicine arrived in Eretz Yisrael and he received it within four days. The chances that it would arrive in Eretz Yisrael on time were very low. The fact he got it was mamash unbelievable. There was a similar situation in Tanach when Chananya, Mishael and Azaryah were in the lions’ den and needed a way out. They needed ‘magic,’ some nes. Even when you need a nes, ‘קווה אל ה’ לישועתך קויתי ה – hope to Hashem and His salvation – to be spared from something beorech pelah – in unbelievable way.
The third reason that brings a person to yi’ush is if a person is forgotten from the mind of another person who can save him. Let’s say an eved whose master could save or free him and the master forgot about him and he’s not thinking about him anymore. That’s zechus Avos he says. When a person sees that even zechus avos is not helping him, it seems like the Avos have forgotten about him. He shouldn’t say that Hashem forgot him and it’s hopeless. Maybe Hakadosh Baruch Hu was delaying from bringing the tov to him until now, but when he returns to Hashem, if he does teshuvah properly, then Hashem will remember him. He’ll have rachmanus on him and bring him a yeshuah.
A fourth reason that causes a person to have yi’ush, is when he has access to what he needs but it costs a fortune. I once knew somebody who needed expensive medicine. They were poor people. His wife got a very uncomfortable sickness. In order for her to be healed, she needed medicine that cost a few thousand dollars. It was a couple of thousand dollars every week. I heard about it. I called the person up actually. He told me, “My wife needs this medication and no one is going to pay for it.” I said, “How long does it have to be taken for?” He said, “At least sixteen weeks.” I remember asking myself, “How are we going to get this medication for her?” I remember, I spoke to many doctors I had shaychus with and everybody said, “Wow, that’s expensive. That’s expensive.” Then I spoke to one doctor and he said, “I’ll get it for you.” I said, “How are you going to get it?!” He said, “There is a program that a lot of the pharmaceutical companies have, where they help under-privileged people with free medication.” I remember when I got the first shipment, it was a little box, and I couldn’t believe it. The doctor kept the medicine coming until the end of the whole course of medication. People need something sometimes and you think, “It’s there, it’s accessible, but where am I going to get the money to buy it?”
The fifth reason why a person loses hope is when he relies on a “hard-hearted” (kashe lev) individual, where it’s unknown if that individual will show him any mercy. In that case, how could he place any hope in such a person? Therefore, we are taught to place our hope on Hashem because He’s full of mercy and compassion, and He will not detest or reject anyone who trusts and hopes in Him. And finally, the sixth reason that a person loses hope is because he says, “I’m not such a big tzaddik. I have my peckel. I have my bills with Hashem. I didn’t pay my ‘credit cards.’ And the only way Hashem will help me is with chaninah, for free.” He says, a person has to know that Hashem can still have rachmanus. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is a Kel rachum vechanun, and if a person is boteach in Him, Hashem helps him. Therefore, a person should be mekaveh to Hakadosh Baruch Hu that Hashem will bear his sins, and be mechaper on his chata’im. Rabbi Yitzchak here is teaching us to what degree the middah of bitachon goes.
The Ramchal’s Drush B’Inyan Hakivuy
Now, the Ramchal has a small drush about bitachon.[iii]It’s called Drush Be’inyan Hakivuy, and he says an interesting yesod. He says, bitachon means you rely on something. You rely on people. Or rely on something else. He says, you have to know, that the whole world was created with this aspect, a built-in inclination to rely on something. You know what reliance means? When you rely on something or on somebody, what does that indicate? It indicates dependency. And what is dependency an indication of? It indicates that you’re lacking something. You’re not shalem. The world he says, by nature, was not created shalem. Everything in this world is reliant on something else. He says, all the tachtonim, everything in this world, is reliant on elyonim. How does it work? We daven to Hashem, we send up our tefilos and then we rely on Him that we get our shefa.
The Ramchal says, בראשית ברא אלקים the reishis – that means tikvah. Hashem created just the reishis. That means to say, Maaseh Bereishis was, tikvah it was only the beginning. Therefore, nothing is complete. The whole world is אשר ברא אלקים לעשות, Hashem created it la’asos, to do – to continue reaching its completion in the future. In the future, things will continue to develop as part of Hashem’s plan of how the world should unfold. Thus, there’s nothing in the world that’s not reliant and waiting. Every aspect of the world, he says, is for my very existence. I’m reliant on tomorrow. The moon is reliant on the light of the sun. Everything is tzarich to something else.
The Torah says when Hashem created all the vegetation, the vegetation waited until Adam davened and then it came out, it sprouted and grew. Things weren’t created beshleimus. The whole world system is predicated on one thing being mekabel from another thing, one thing being dependent on something else.
Now, a person has a choice, he says, to create a reliance of sheker, through various types of hishtadlus to make things happen, or to create a reliance of emes where one is boteach in Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The bitachon in Hashem is the emese bitachon. It says in the passuk in the Navi Yeshayah וידעת כי אני ה’ אשר לא יבושו קוי, those who hope and rely on Me will find out that ‘אני ה, and they won’t be disappointed. ואם יתמהמה אחכה לו. If not in this world, he will achieve it in the next world.
Hashem is the ראשית הכל. Ramchal says an interesting thing, that if a person is a mekaveh with his tefilah and he’s be’emes mekaveh, he truly hopes straight to Hashem, the ראשית הכל, his tefilah will be עולה לשמים בלי אמצעי, it will reach the Shamayim without any ‘extra’ means. For example, not through a malach. It’s going to come le’yeshuascha like you speak lenochach, face to face. Not through a shaliach. He says, it will be like that because the koach of a kivuy is that the kav,or hope,creates something we can compare to a pinpoint laser that breaks through every barrier. It’s בוקע ונוקב ועולה עד ה’ ממש.
Running in Circles with Segulos
A person has to analyze and think to himself honestly, what is he mekaveh on? Everybody is mekaveh on his parents, on his in-laws, on his wife. The wife is mekaveh to the husband. That’s all not real kivuy. Even if a wife believes that her husband brings the parnasah or a husband believes his wife brings the parnasah, that’s not the kivuy that we’re talking about. We want מעולם קיווינו לך. The word kivuy comes from the word kav, line. Line as opposed to what? The Ramchal says it’s line as opposed to an igul, a circle. What does that mean? A straight line is the shortest distance between two points. That’s what a line is. You want to create a straight line between you and Hakadosh Baruch Hu. When somebody needs a shidduch, the line you want to create is between you and Hashem. Do you need a child? Create a line between you and Hashem. Most people try so many types of hishtadlus, they go in so many circles. They go running around to so many segulos and so many this and so many that. That is not the straight road to Hashem.
There are many people who want their wives to have an easy birth, so before their wives give birth, they open up the aron. My Zeida (R’ Avigdor Miller, zt”l) used to say, there was once a man in the shul and the guy was almost attacking the aron. He wanted to make sure he was always getting that opening. So my Zeida got upset, and he said what bothered him about it. He said, “There are so many ways to get to Hashem directly. Why did this guy decide to focus on the most indirect way to get to Hashem?! It’s a way that’s not brought down in the gemara, orin halachah, or in Bavli, or in Yerushalmi, or in Tosefta, orin Shulchan Aruch. But, no, he thinks that’s the way to get to Hashem. That’s the way to get you to have an easy birth.” But there are so many other ways to get closer to Hashem! There are many ways I can tell you how to get to Hashem, better ways!
That’s how people are. People don’t realize this. They get lulled into falling for roundabout ways. Everybody wants to know a shortcut. No one wants to go on the derech salul. The Ramchal says, remember that a circle is closed on all sides. He says, there’s no way out of a circle. All you do is go around and around: ‘לישועתך קויתי ה you have to make kavim, lines. You make lines straight to Hashem.
Most people don’t even think, what Hashem are they addressing? Are they addressing Hashem Who runs the world on a daily basis? Are they addressing Hashem, the yud kay vav kay who is the ראשית הכל and brought everything into existence? There are many different hanhagos of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Are they addressing Hashem as the rachum? What are they addressing? A person has to know that the avodah is to say, “No roundabouts. Only direct.” Create a kav to Hashem. They have to focus on that.
Here is a person who says, “I’m going to Amukah.” You know how many people went to Amukah and have not gotten a shidduch? But it’s amazing. It’s like, the way of getting to Hashem. Everybody knows that way. That’s almost like, “If you didn’t go to Amukah, I don’t expect you to find a shidduch. What, do you seriously think you’re going to get married without Amukah?! How is that possible?!” Did you ever take those windy roads down to Amukah? It’s the most un-straight path – to Amukah. I remember sitting in a bus going to Amukah and thinking, “Shrek, this is the most crooked way.” It was dangerous. It was scary. The bus was going down those hills over there. There are ways to get straight to Hashem.
One guy thinks you have to go to Uman. Another guy thinks you have to go to Morocco. One guy thinks you’ve got to go to Buffalo. I remember, somebody called my wife a couple of years ago, “Would you mind making a trip to Buffalo? Some girls who need shidduchim just read about a chassidishe Rebbe in Buffalo that they discovered. He’s the first chassidishe Rebbe who came to America and it’s known that his kever is mesugal.”My wife asked me, “Should I go?” I said, “If you want to do a chessed over there, why not? Take a trip. It will be a memorable trip. It’s better than going shopping in Kohl’s or in other places.” My wife went. She picked up some of the girls and they drove to Buffalo. Now that place has already become popular. They’re paving the roads over there. They’re putting in lighting. It’s a whole new thing. My wife told me that she just read how they’re fixing that place up. It has become popular. But who needs Buffalo? Why not go straight to Hashem?! But that’s how people are.
Everyone Can Get a Direct Line to Hashem
That’s what people don’t realize. You want to make a kav directly to Hashem. Cut out all the middlemen. Go straight to Hashem! You can look in the Zohar and see how your tefilos go up to Shamayim. Using different ways to reach Hashem, is like using snail mail (i.e. regular postal service). Hoping to Hashem, is like you sending an email to Hashem. Even with malachim, it goes first to this ‘department,’ then other malachim take it to another ‘department.’ It’s mind-boggling. If you ever opened the sefer Yesod veShoresh Ha’avodah, I remember when I read it, I said, “Shrek, do I even have a chance of getting my mail ever past being a snail? I mean it’s never going to get up to Shamayim. There’s no way.” Then there’s the direct way. There’s direct mail. There’s a line for people who want to go directly. “Hashem, I want to talk directly to You. Kav, I make a line straight to You Hashem. That’s all. Nothing else exists by me. Not malachim. I don’t need malachei rachamim. Hashem, I’m throwing myself before You. You are the sole source of any of my salvations.”
Now you have to realize, the Ramchal says that someone who’s mekaveh to Hashem is תמיד בשמחה בלי צער, always בשמחה בלי צער. Do you hear those words from Ramchal? Those are bankable words. Those are the words I want to have in the bank. Someone who’s in pain is ביגון ואנחה וחושב, and he really thinks, שאין לו תרופה, there’s no hope. There’s no way out.
You know how many times I talk to people and I hear it in their voice. “There’s no hope. There’s no way of getting out of this.” That’s what people say. No way. And I tell them, “If you think that way, it is that way.” It means you don’t have access to Hashem. But someone who’s mekaveh to Hashem, you have to know he’s never be’tzar because he’s mekaveh tamid, and even if the yeshuah is delayed, he tries again. The tikvah, the hope, is a source of chiyus. And if you’re not mekaveh, you lose your hope, miyad meis, and you remain rachok meiHashem. The Ramchal says a peledike zach: Hashem is going to hold it against a person that they weren’t mekaveh to Hashem. I love the response I get when I tell this to people. You know which response I get? “Oh, I tried so many times, and it didn’t work out yet. I’m going to lose patience.” I tell them, “Listen! You never were mekaveh in the first place. And even if you were, it says in the gemara ד’ דברים צריכים חיזוק.”
The Ramchal says a gevaldige teitch. If someone’s ‘מקווה לה it’s, גם כי אשב בחושך ה’ אור לי – when I sit in the darkness, Hashem is my light. Do you know why he’s saying that a person has light? Because he’s ‘מקווה לה. That alone, that I have a tikvah, that I have a line to Hashem and I plug myself in, with the shortest line to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that will turn the dark into light. Hashem will be my light. And then he says, don’t think you have to be a big tzaddik. Someone who is ‘מקווה לה, even if he has me’at ma’asim tovim, lo yeivosh. Even a dal, a pauper, he should have hope. Hakadosh Baruch Hu reveals Himself to someone who’s mekaveh to Him. Hashem is מעביר כל פשעיו, and that’s the סוף התקווה. It’s called ‘מקוה ישראל ה. If a person has a tikvah to Hashem over the length of the galus, and you believe be’emunah that you’re going to be redeemed, the סוף התקווה, the end of the tikvah is, Hashem says, “I’m going to remove all the sins.”
The greatest kavod for the Melech is that you’re boteach bo. It’s not a demand. It’s a kurvah. It’s a closeness to Hashem. Baruch Hashem I acknowledge that Hashem is close to me and I’m close to Him.
Then you have the people who say, “Prove Yourself. Let me see what You can do for me. Then I’ll see if I can trust You.” That’s the common thing when people often ask: “Why aren’t you close to this guy?” They often hear: “Why should I be close to him? Who says he’s going to help me?” They use the same argument when it comes to Hashem.
Hope to Hashem in Your Lifetime, Extends Beyond Too
And then Ramchal comes up with this bombe chiddush. המקווה, he says, אפילו נכנס בגהינום, the guy is in Gehinom, יוצא ממנו, he can get out of there! It says וקווי ד’ יחליפו כח יעלו אבר – those who hope to Hashem shall renew their strength as eagles grow new plumes (Isaiah 40:31). He says the winged malachim will take him out of there pashut. I mamash can’t understand that. And his tikvah is his taharah too. So what happened to the taharah? The guy needs Gehinom because he needs taharah. The תקווה היא טהרתו, he says, מקוה ישראל ממש. Tikvah and mikveh have shaychus. You hear that? He says the secret of teshuvah is that a person is mamash shav. He goes right back to Hashem and the Sitra Achra cannot get to him. He says, that’s the secret of ‘שובה ישראל עד ה. Go straight to Hashem. So if the guy is a mekaveh, he’s mamash bokei’a, he smashes through the heavens, בקו תקותו, and he makes a nekev and a sedek לעלות תחת כסא הכבוד, יחל ישראל אל ה’ כי עם ה’ החסד. The whole vort of the bitachon is, “Ithas to be Hashem, I’m being megaleh the kevod shamayim. That’s what I’m doing. I’m relying on You Hashem. I’m boteach in You. I understand it’s all You.” And all the dinim,he says, will be broken and will be removed.
He’s medayek in the passuk that it doesn’t say (in the future tense) לישועתך אקווה. Yaakov Avinu didn’t say: “For Your yeshuah I will be mekaveh,”but לישועתך קויתי – for your salvation do I long. What’s he saying? He’s saying קוויתי בחיי, “I hoped in my lifetime.” If a person will be mekaveh to Hashem in his lifetime, then, after he dies he won’t be יבושו. He won’t have to be יבושו, embarrassed.
Tikvah means, “Put yourself with Hashem.” Practice this, Rabosai, practice this. You’re in a matzav where you need something just say, “Hashem, I’m with You. Hashem I’m with You. Hashem I’m with You. You’re going to do it Hashem. I’m relying on You Hashem. I’m relying on You.” Nachamul, nachamul (one more time),“I’m relying on You Hashem.” The Ramchal says, even though there are many me’akvim (barriers) to a person’s tefilah, but when a person is mekaveh to Hashem, it goes straight through the clouds. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is יורד לשמוע תפלתו מפיו של המקווה. That’s the secret, he says, of קוה קויתי ה’ ויט אלי וישמע שועתי, and Hashem hears my cry. לישועתך קויתי, through that which I’m mekaveh, I make my yeshuah happen, beshem hazeh of yud kay vav kay, so that none of the mekatregim can be mekatreg. Through my kivuy to Hashem, the ראשית הכל, the עושה שמים וארץ, that is the way that I make all the mekatregim that are trying to prevent my tefilah from reaching Hashembecause ויט אלי, Hashem turns to me, וישמע שועתי.
That’s an avodah Rabosai. It’s an avodah to put Hashem in your life, in every single area, with tremendous kavanah and exercise, and not to think every time about other roundabout methods of achieving a yeshuah. So people say, “Hashem I’m mekaveh, Hashem I’m mekaveh. Let me see who else can I call. Hashem I’m mekaveh to You. What can I invest in? Hashem, I’m mekaveh.What stock should I pick? Hashem, I’m mekaveh to You. Where can I get a cheap house? Which city or which state can you still buy a house that’s good real estate?” That’s what everybody does. They do everything. They’re boteach in all the hishtadlus. Even if they’re boteach in Hashem, but it’s not a kav. It’s not מעולם קווינו לך, it’s not a kav to Hashem. It’s bitachon in Hashem, but it’s zeitege bitachon. It’s not the kivisi bitachon. You need to be mekaveh to Hashem and let Hashem do it for you.
Those Who Have – Do, Those Who Don’t – Be Boteach
Now of course, if Hashem gives a person hands and a person is able to eat and he stands there thinking ‘קויתי לה, “Hashem, put the food in my mouth.” So then, Hashem tells him, “Don’t you know the first mitzvah in the Torah?” This is what Rav Yisrael Salanter used to say. He said it in his way. I’m saying it in my way. “Don’t be an idiot. That’s the first mitzvah in the Torah.” That’s called a tipesh.
Some guy asked me, “Could I have bitachon that Hashem is going to send me a house?” I said, “Can you have bitachon that Hashem is going to put the food from the plate into your mouth? No.” But of course if a person needs a place to live, and he expended all his energy, he can certainly rely totally on Hashem. Recently I met a guy. He told me, “I’m mekaveh now that I’m going to get a new house.” “Meiheicha teisi?” I asked him. He said, “I’m being mekaveh.” I said, “Do you have money? If you have money, go buy a house. What are you gaining by merely saying you are being mekaveh that Hashem is going to send you a house if you have money?” If you have food on your plate, do you mekaveh that Hashem is going to send you food? It’s almost a joke to say it in that case. What effort are you making to connect to Hashem and see that “The strength is You. It’s Your strength”? Now, if you have no food on your plate, then you have to be mekaveh Hashem will send you food.
A fellow called me up a while ago, a tiere yungerman. He wanted a few things. He had no money and needed a bigger place. He told me they have six kids. They live in a basement. I mean that’s time for an upgrade. “Of course, you should be boteach in Hashem. Hashem is going to send it to you. There’s no safek. Don’t look at people. Don’t ask for people. Forget about people. Be boteach in Hashem.” Then we had a whole shmooze about having a baby. He wanted to have another baby. A gantze ma’aseh. He called me last night. He says. “I got both. I got a baby baruch Hashem, a zachar, and I’m living in a bigger house.”
He told me his kids wanted a piano. Last time the bitachon worked, so he said, “I’ll have bitachon for a piano. If you don’t have money for a piano then you have to have bitachon for a piano.” Bitachon for a piano! Then a relative of his was rehabbing a house and he calls him and tells him, “There are a lot of musical instruments here left over in this house. What do you need?” He said, “I’d like a piano.” Okay. “One more problem. You’ve got to take it out of here. You’ve got to come haul it out.” Where was he going to haul it to? That was before he had his house. He was still in the basement. There was no place in his basement for a piano. It was packed. So he asked a friend if he had any room for it. The friend said, “I’m not going to put it in my basement, I’m going to put it in my house. I’ll haul it out for you also.” Now the guy called him up. He said he wants to buy it from him. He said, “I’m making money on this piano that I pashut had bitachon to get, that Hashem gave me as a present.” He told the friend, “I don’t want to charge money. It’s nothing.”
The guy told me some moradige ma’asim. If you go with this mehalech you’ll also have such stories. He listened. He heard the bitachon and he followed it. He had another moradige ma’aseh with a job. Mamash haflah vefelah. A person has to know, if you have bitachon, you go straight to Hashem, without circles, without barriers. Remember, ‘קויתי ה.
[i] יְהִי דָן נָחָשׁ עֲלֵי דֶרֶךְ (בראשית מט, יז), מַה נָּחָשׁ זֶה מָצוּי בֵּין הַנָּשִׁים, כָּךְ שִׁמְשׁוֹן בֶּן מָנוֹחַ מָצוּי בֵּין הַנָּשִׁים. מַה הַנָּחָשׁ נֶאֱסָר בִּשְׁבוּעָה, כָּךְ שִׁמְשׁוֹן בֶּן מָנוֹחַ נֶאֱסָר בִּשְׁבוּעָה (שופטים טו, יב): וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם שִׁמְשׁוֹן הִשָּׁבְעוּ לִי. מַה נָּחָשׁ זֶה כָּל כֹּחוֹ אֵינוֹ אֶלָּא בְּרֹאשׁוֹ, כָּךְ שִׁמְשׁוֹן (שופטים טז, יז): אִם גֻּלַּחְתִּי וְסָר מִמֶּנִּי כֹחִי. מָה הַנָּחָשׁ הַזֶּה רִיסוֹ מְחַלְחֵל לְאַחַר הַמִּיתָה, כָּךְ (שופטים טז, ל): וַיִּהְיוּ הַמֵּתִים אֲשֶׁר הֵמִית בְּמוֹתוֹ וגו’. הַנּשֵׁךְ עִקְּבֵי סוּס, (שופטים טז, כה): קִרְאוּ לְשִׁמְשׁוֹן וִישַׂחֶק לָנוּ, אָמַר רַבִּי לֵוִי כְּתִיב (שופטים טז, כז): וְעַל הַגָּג כִּשְׁלשֶׁת אֲלָפִים, אֵלּוּ מַה שֶּׁהָיוּ עַל שְׂפַת הַגָּג, אֲבָל מַה שֶּׁהָיוּ לַאֲחוֹרֵיהֶם וְלַאֲחוֹרֵי אֲחוֹרֵיהֶם אֵין בְּרִיָּה יוֹדַעַת, וְאַתְּ אֲמַרְתְּ (שופטים טז, לא): וַיֵּרְדוּ אֶחָיו וְכָל בֵּית אָבִיהוּ וַיִּשְׂאוּ אֹתוֹ וַיַּעֲלוּ וַיִּקְבְּרוּ אֹתוֹ וגו’ בְּקֶבֶר מָנוֹחַ אָבִיו, אֶלָּא יַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ בִּקֵּשׁ רַחֲמִים עַל הַדָּבָר. וַיִּפֹּל רֹכְבוֹ אָחוֹר, יַחְזְרוּ דְּבָרִים לַאֲחוֹרֵיהֶם, לְפִי שֶׁהָיָה יַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ רוֹאֶה אוֹתוֹ וְסָבוּר בּוֹ שֶׁהוּא מֶלֶךְ הַמָּשִׁיחַ, כֵּיוָן שֶׁרָאָה אוֹתוֹ שֶׁמֵּת, אָמַר אַף זֶה מֵת (בראשית מט, יח): לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִּיתִי ה’. אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק הַכֹּל בְּקִוּוּי, יִסּוּרִין בְּקִוּוּי, קְדֻשַּׁת הַשֵּׁם בְּקִוּוּי, זְכוּת אָבוֹת בְּקִוּוּי, תַּאֲוָתוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם הַבָּא בְּקִוּוּי. יִסּוּרִין, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב (ישעיה כו, ח): אַף אֹרַח מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ ה’ קִוִּינוּךָ, אֵלּוּ יִסּוּרִין. (ישעיה כו, ח): לְשִׁמְךָ, זוֹ קְדֻשַּׁת הַשֵּׁם. (ישעיה כו, ח): וּלְזִכְרְךָ, זוֹ זְכוּת אָבוֹת. (ישעיה כו, ח): תַּאֲוַת נֶפֶשׁ, זוֹ תַּאֲוָתוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם הַבָּא. חֲנִינָה בְּקִוּוּי (ישעיה לג, ב): ה’ חָנֵנוּ לְךָ קִוִּינוּ. סְלִיחָה בְּקִוּוּי (תהלים קל, ד): כִּי עִמְּךָ הַסְּלִיחָה, מַה כְּתִיב בַּתְרֵיהּ (תהלים קל, ה): קִוִּיתִי ה’. לְפִי שֶׁהָיָה יַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ רוֹאֶה אוֹתוֹ וְסוֹבֵר בּוֹ שֶׁגְּאֻלָּה מַגַּעַת בְּיָמָיו, כֵּיוָן שֶׁרָאָה שֶׁמֵּת, מִיָּד אָמַר לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִּיתִי ה’.
[ii] הכל בקווי. לפי שאמר לפני זה כי כאשר ראה יעקב שמת האיש אשר אמר בצלו יחיו בניו ויהיו חפשים מהפלשתים אמר לישועתך קויתי ה’. לא אמר נואש לתקותו אבל קוה כי הישועה מהר תבוא מידי ה’ לכן אמר ר”י הכל בקווי כי לעולם אל יתיאש אדם מישועת ה’ ויקוה לו. והנה האדם יתיאש לפעמים מהישועה ע”י שש סבות. האחת בשביל תוקף הצרות אשר לא יאמין עוד כי ימלט מהן וכמו שאמר איוב רוחי חבלה ימי נזעכו וגו’ ואיה איפה תקותי. וכן אמר הכתוב ולא שמעו אל משה מקוצר רוח ומעבודה קשה לכן התיאשו עוד מהישועה וכנגד זה מביא כי יסורין בקווי פי’ גם אם האדם מדוכא ביסורין בכל זאת יקוה לד’ כי הוא יסירם ממנו וכמו שמביא הכתוב אף ארח משפטיך ה’ קוינוך פי’ גם בארח אשר ה’ יוכיחני וישפטני ביסורים בכ”ז אקוה לה’ כי יוציא מצרה נפשי. השנית אם הדבר המקווה הוא קשה למצוא בזמן ההוא כמו מרפא לחולה או פרי אשר לא ימצא רק על דרך זרות. ולכן יתיאש מהישועה וכנגד זה מביא קדושת השם בקווי. פי’ לקדש שם ה’ צריך מעשה נסים וכמו בחנניה מישאל ועזריה ודניאל עכ”ז יקוה לה’ אולי יעתר לו ויחלצהו מצרה באורח פלא. השלישית אם הוא נשכח מלב האיש אשר עיניו תלויות בו כי יצילהו וכמו העבד אשר רבו שכחהו ולא יחשוב עוד ממנו. וכנגד זה מביא זכות אבות כי גם אם יראה האדם שזכות אבות לא עמדה לו לא יאמר עוד כי ה’ שכחהו ועזבהו. אבל יאמר כי אולי מאיזה סבה מנע הקב”ה הטוב ממנו עד עתה. ובשובו לה’ יזכרהו ירחמהו ויושיעהו. הרביעית היא ליוקר הדבר בערכו. ולמשל אם צריך להושע מרגלית שוה אלף כסף ובידו גם קשיטה אחת אין. וכנגד זה אמר תאות העוה”ב אשר פירושו ימות המשיח אשר זו היא הצלחה בלי קצבה וערך ובכ”ז יקוה לה’. הלא נחזה כי יד ה’ לא קצרה להושיע גם בערך רב ובשפע. החמישית אם האיש אשר עליו יקוה הוא קשה לב ולא ידע רחום ואיך ישים עוד תקותו בו. וכנגד זה אמר חנינה בקווי כי ה’ הוא אל רחום וחנון. ולא ישקץ ולא יתעב כל הבוטחים בו והמקוים אליו. הששית אם האיש המקוה הוא כבד עון. ופשע וחטא למרבה נגד האיש אשר עליו יקוה. ואיך ימלא עוד את תקותו. וכנגד זה אמר סליחה בקווי כי ה’ הוא קל טוב וסלח וגם אם הרבה האדם לחטוא כנגדו יקוה עליו כי ישא לעונותיו ויכפר את חטאתיו. והחטא והעון לא יעכבו עוד את הישועה.
[iii] לישועתך קויתי. ראשית הבריאה בתקוה שכל התחתונים מצפים לשפעת עליונים על ידי תפלה או שיר, כתיב בראשית ברא אלקים, אין ראשית אלא תקוה, אין הצמצום עשוי כי אם לצפות שיכנוס בו קו א”ס ב”ה, וזה קו לשון קיווי ותשוקה. בא וראה, כל הבריות נבראו בלא שלימות, שנאמר אשר ברא אלקים לעשות, שיעשו אחר כך בהמשכם השפע לשלימותם, או במעשים טובים או בתפלה או בשיר. השכינה יצאה מתחלה בלתי מושלמת, וזה בראשית ברא אלקים אלקים דייקא. ראשית חכמה יראת ה’, אין יראה אלא מפני מי שצריך לו, ומי שאינו צריך לאחרים אינו ירא ממנו. ראשית חכמת המאציל ב”ה הוא לעשות היראה שהוא התקוה לעליונים, וזה ה’ הוא האלקים ממש, כי הכל אחד, אך שרצה להוציא תחלה אלקים כדי לקבל מיקו”ק. הדשאים עמדו על פתח הקרקע ולא יצאו עד שהתפלל עליהם אדם הראשון. הלבנה מקבלת מן השמש, אמת מארץ תצמח וצדק משמים נשקף, שהשפע נשקף מלמעלה וממתין לתקוה שתצמח מלמטה מן הארץ, תקות אמת שהוא הבטחון של אמת שבוטחים בהשגחה, וכל שאר בטחונות בהשתדלות הם בטחונות של שקר, ובטחון בה’ הוא בטחון אמת שנאמר וידעת כי אני ה’ אשר לא יבושו קווי, לא איש אל ויכזב, ואם יתמהמה חכה לו. ואם אינך בעולם הזה הוא לעולם הבא, תקות עניים תאבד לעד זה אי אפשר. וזה לישועתך קויתי ה’ לזה השם יקו”ק שהוא ראשית הכל צריך שתהיה התקוה, ולא שום כינוי. וכל המקוה תפלתו עולה בלי אמצעי, לא על ידי מלאך אלא לישועתך דייקא, כמו שמדבר לנוכח, לא על ידי שליח. כי הוא קו הבוקע ונוקב ועולה עד ה’ ממש. הקיווי הוא סוד ההתפשטות, קו המשפט. משא”כ העיגול הוא דבר סתום מכל צד, וזה לישועתך קויתי, לעשות קוים. יקו”ק – בזמן שיהיה השם שלם. המקוה תמיד בשמחה בלי צער, כי המצטער תמיד הוא ביגון ואנחה וחושב שאין לו תרופה, אבל מקוה אינו מצטער, כי הוא מקוה תמיד ואפילו אם יתמהמה מחכה, נמצא התקוה מחיה אותו. ומי שאינו מקוה מיד מת, ונשאר רחוק מהשם, ונענש על שאינו מקוה לה’. ומי שהוא מקוה נאמר בו גם כי אשב בחשך ה’ אור לי, ה’ דייקא, לישועתך קויתי ה’. המקוה, אע”פ שיש לו מעט מעשים טובים לא יבוש, שנאמר וידעת כי אני ה’ אשר לא יבשו קוי. וזה כי יש לדל תקוה, ומי שהוא דל ממעשים טובים יש לו תקוה, כי השם מתגלה עליו ומעביר כל פשעים, וזה סוף התיקון מגודל תקות כל ישראל באורך הגלות ובוטחים באמונה שיגאלו, וסוף התקוה ומשתי את עון הארץ’, וזה לישועתך קויתי, כי זהו כבוד המלך שבוטחים בו. בא חבקוק והעמידה על אחת, אמונה – תקוה. המקוה אפילו נכנס בגהינום יוצא ממנו, שנאמר וקווי ה’ יחליפו כח יעלו אבר. יקו”ק מאיר עליו וכמה מלאכים עליונים מעלים אותו המקוה, וזה ‘אבר כנשרים’. ומסתלקים עמו למעלה. ותקותו היא טהרתו, מקוה ישראל ממש, כי הוא במדריגה עליונה שאין עושה בו פגם, אם חטאת מה תפעל, וזהו סוד התשובה שהוא ממש שב אל מקורו והס”א לא יכלה לו, ונאמר שובה ישראל עד ה’, כן המקוה הוא ממש בוקע בקו תקותו ועושה נקב וסדק לעלות תחת כסא הכבוד. וזה לישועתך קויתי ה’, וזה יחל ישראל אל ה’ כי עם ה’ החסד במקום שמתגלה יקו”ק מתגלה חסד ואיך פגם מעכב. וכמו שקיוה בחייו לה’ כן לאחר מותו כשמתגברים כנגדו הדינים הוא מתחזק בתקותו עד ה’ ונקשר בו ומסתלק ברגע, וזה לישועתך קויתי, אינו אומר לישועתך אקוה, אלא קויתי בחיי, כן אחר המות לא יבושו הקוים. בזמן שהצדיקים בצרה נאמר עמו אנכי בצרה כביכול, ובכח התקוה יוצא מן הצרה הוא וכביכול יוצא עמו, כמו שנאמר במצרים יצאו כל צבאות ה’ עם השכינה, וזה לישועתך קויתי, לישועתך ממש. ישועת ה’ שהיה עמו בצרה, קויתי ה’ לישועתך. בא וראה, הצדיקים מעלים תפלותיהם לאזני המלך, שנאמר ויתפלל אל ה’, ויצעק אל ה’, ובזמן שיש הרבה מקטרגים הם מפסיקים ומעכבים התפלה מלעלות, שנאמר בו סכותה בענן לך מעבור תפלה. אבל בצדיקים המקוים ועושים נתיב ובקיעה בתוך עננים, והקב”ה כביכול יורד לשמוע תפלתו מפיו של המקוה. סוד זה קוה קויתי ה’ ויט אלי וישמע שועתי, וזה לישועתך קויתי, מה שאני מקוה אני עושה שתבוא ישועתך בשם הזה בלי שיתעכב על ידי המקטרגים (אוצרות רמח”ל עמי קמ”ן)
