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Translator's Introduction

Part A: Letters

Part B: Talks

   78.
Why was Yosef punished for placing his trust in the royal butler,
for preparing a natural means through which he could be released from the dungeon?

79.
Regardless of everything, Yaakov Avinu went on his way
with a light heart and in high spirits, because he had trust in the One Above.

80.
Even if until that moment such a person was tainted by idolatry,
or perhaps a tinge of it, when Pesach eve arrives he can have complete trust that "now
the Omnipresent has brought us near to His service."

81.
So long as the Yeshivah is their home, students should immerse themselves in their Torah studies
and not be concerned with questions as to how they will eventually earn a living.

82.
The Rebbe Maharash answers his own question:
"People are not lacking a livelihood; they are lacking trust.
Every individual is indeed provided with a livelihood. It's only that by lacking trust,
a person sometimes turns off the tap...."

83.
"Even a little guy like me gave tzedakah to a bedraggled stranger!"

84.
The first time Adam saw nightfall,
he discovered that a man is able to diffuse light even when the world around him is dark.

85.
Before the Sea Splits: Four Responses to the Crises of This World

86.
Faith and Trust

87.
A Jewish farmer "believes in Him Who is the Life
of all the worlds - and sows."

88.
From the Mouths of Babes: Three Modes of Trust

89.
When one has trust in the One on High,
he also has trust in his fellow Jews.

90.
Once the beleaguered King Chizkiyahu heard the words of Yeshayahu,
he placed his trust so completely in the Hands of G-d that he lay down in bed...
for a sweet and tranquil slumber.

91.
Even Bread from the Earth comes from Heaven.

92.
G-d will provide him with all his needs even if he has not yet
tackled his task for the month of Elul - repentance.
Indeed, it applies because he is in that state.

93.
G-d's army - and in our context, the Israel Defense Forces,
whose privilege it is to defend Jewish towns with actual self-sacrifice...

94.
Yosef turned to the Chief Butler
as if his whole salvation depended on him - and this constituted his sin.

95.
This arousal included a heightened trust that Divine Providence
supervises the particulars of every individual's life,
and this in turn empowered the chassid to decide what to do and how to act.

96.
"In G-d we trust" means that one regards G-d as his trustee:
one hands everything over into His Hands and relies on Him in all one's affairs.

97.
When a child is born, his sustenance is born together with him.
Indeed, the birth of an additional child increases the sustenance of the entire household.

98.
The commandment to "be fruitful and multiply" should be fulfilled in a spirit in which G-d's blessings
of sons and daughters are received "with joy and a gladsome heart."

99.
Trusting in G-d does Not Contradict the Belief that Everything is for the Good.

100.
Exactly What is Meant by the Obligation to Trust in G-d?

"A Weighty Task Indeed"
A Thought from the Rebbe Rashab

"When there is still a straw to hang on to"
A Thought from the Rebbe Rayatz

In Good Hands
100 Letters and Talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson
on Bitachon: Trusting in G-d
Part B: Talks
78.
Why was Yosef punished for placing his trust in the royal butler,
for preparing a natural means through which he could be released from the dungeon?
Compiled and Translated by Uri Kaploun

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  77.
"You have been promised that G-d is your guardian."
Search this book:
79.
Regardless of everything, Yaakov Avinu went on his way
with a light heart and in high spirits, because he had trust in the One Above.  

Why[429] was Yosef the Righteous[430] punished for placing his trust in the royal butler?[431]

Yosef was distinguished by a quality in which he was superior to the Patriarchs and to his brothers: the Divinity that shone within him was of a level that transcends worldliness. And for that reason, G-d related to him in a manner that transcended the natural world - namely, at the level of Divinity that is called Sovev Kol Almin.

This also explains[432] why Yosef was punished[433] for having asked the Chief Butler to mention him to Pharaoh, for not having completely trusted that G-d alone would redeem him from prison - and for this he was punished by having to remain there for an additional two years.

The question has been asked: What exactly was Yosef's sin? After all, it is well known that one should fashion a keli - a vessel or a conduit on the natural plane - as a receptor for G-d's blessings. Moreover, fashioning a natural vessel does not conflict with one's trust in G-d. In this spirit, there is a verse that speaks of making a livelihood: "And the L-rd your G-d will bless you in all that you do."[434] This means that one ought to make a natural vessel through which to receive G-d's blessings, and to rely on Him to dispatch His blessing via that vessel.

This approach we find exemplified by Yaakov Avinu when he was afraid of Eisav, "lest he come and smite me, mothers and children alike."[435] Side by side with his prayers and his trust in G-d, he prepared natural vessels - by offering Eisav a gift and by being ready for battle with him - through which his salvation should come. Why, then, was Yosef punished for preparing a vessel, a natural means, through which he could be released from the dungeon?

The answer lies in the spiritual rung that he had attained. As mentioned above, Yosef accessed the level of Divinity which is called Sovev, and which transcends the level of Divinity that is the source of created beings. Living at that level, he ought not have needed preparations and vessels on the natural plane. What was expected of him was a loftier level of trust, a trust that can dispense with mediation by the workings of nature.

The Alter Rebbe perceives an allusion to this supernatural level of trust in a verse whose plain meaning[436] is, "Better to rely on G-d[437] than to trust in man."[438] In a mystical mode of interpretation,[439] the Alter Rebbe teaches:[440] "Better to rely on Havayah [i.e., on the Four-Letter Name of G-d that signifies the transcendent level of Divinity known as Sovev] than to trust in Adam [in allusion to Adam HaElyon (lit., 'the Supernal Man'), a Name for G-d which in the Kabbalah signifies the immanent level of Divinity known as Memaleh]."[441]

   

Notes:

  1. (Back to text) Excerpted from sichos delivered on Rosh Chodesh Kislev, 5712 (1951), and on the last day of Pesach, 5721 (1961). See Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 3, pp. 836-837.

    For further discussion of the above question see Item 86 below, under subheading (d), and Item 94 below.

  2. (Back to text) In the original, Yosef HaTzaddik.

  3. (Back to text) Bereishis 40:14.

  4. (Back to text) Toras Chayim, Parshas Vayechi, p. 107a; the maamar beginning VeLo Zachar Sar HaMashkim 5688 (1928).

  5. (Back to text) Bereishis Rabbah 89:3, cited by Rashi at the end of Parshas Vayeishev.

  6. (Back to text) Devarim 15:18; see also Kuntreis U'Maayon, maamar 25.

  7. (Back to text) Bereishis 32:12.

  8. (Back to text) I.e., pshat.

  9. (Back to text) Lit., "to take refuge in G-d."

  10. (Back to text) Tehillim 118:8.

  11. (Back to text) I.e., sod.

  12. (Back to text) Likkutei Torah, Devarim, p. 91b.

  13. (Back to text) At this point, the Rebbe illustrated his point by remarking on the manner in which his father-in-law and predecessor, the Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak, fearlessly defied the workings of the natural order. Time after time, he shattered the vicious machinations of the Stalinist regime that hounded his underground schooling system, even when they incarcerated and tortured him and sentenced him to death.

    In a footnote the Rebbe refers his readers to the first-person account of the above epic that was published in the Holy Tongue in Likkutei Dibburim. Its English translation may be found in Likkutei Dibburim, Vol. 4 (Kehot, N.Y., 1997), pp. 141-218, or in a separate volume entitled A Prince in Prison (Sichos In English, N.Y., 1997).


  77.
"You have been promised that G-d is your guardian."
Search this book:
79.
Regardless of everything, Yaakov Avinu went on his way
with a light heart and in high spirits, because he had trust in the One Above.  
     Sichos In English -> Books -> Letters From The Rebbe -> In Good Hands
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