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

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  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...
Search this book:
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.  

By[656] Divine Providence, Pharaoh's two servants were located in the dungeon in which Yosef was jailed "in order that the tzaddik's salvation should take place through them."[657] Yet when Yosef asked the Chief Butler to mention his name to Pharaoh, he was punished, and even "obliged to be imprisoned for two years."[658] Why?

The answer to this question may be found by examining the wording of Rashi: "...because Yosef depended on him to remember him."

It will be noted that in the original, the verse that Rashi proceeds to paraphrase says,[659] "Happy is the man who makes G-d his trust, and does not turn to the arrogant[660] nor the followers of falsehood." Yet in his paraphrase that explains why Yosef was imprisoned, Rashi does not write, "because Yosef turned to the [Egyptian]"; Rashi writes, "because Yosef depended on him...."

This dependence means that if the Chief Butler mentioned him, he would be freed; if not, he would not be freed. Yosef turned to the Chief Butler as if his whole salvation depended on him - and this constituted his sin.

True, Yosef ought to have taken action according to the dictates of nature and turned to him with the request that he mention him to Pharaoh. After all, the Chief Butler was imprisoned there precisely for that reason - "in order that the tzaddik's salvation should take place through [him]." However, this step should have been taken with a complete trust that its success depended on the Will of G-d, not on the Chief Butler.

This explains why, instead of quoting the verse, Rashi paraphrased it and wrote: "Because Yosef depended on him to remember him, he was obliged to be imprisoned for two years." It also explains why Rashi, uncharacteristically, also quoted the first half of the verse ("Happy is the man who makes G-d his trust"): Rashi wanted to contrast that kind of trust with Yosef's request.

   

Notes:

  1. (Back to text) Excerpt from a sichah delivered on Shabbos Parshas Vayeishev (Mevarchim Teves), the first day of Chanukah, 5743 (1982). See Toras Menachem - Hisvaaduyos, 5743 (1982-1983), Vol. 2, p. 711.

    For an additional perspective on the subject of this passage, see Item 78 above, and Item 86, under subheading (d), above.

  2. (Back to text) Rashi on Bereishis 40:1.

  3. (Back to text) Rashi on 40:23.

  4. (Back to text) Tehillim 40:1.

  5. (Back to text) An allusion to the Egyptians (Rashi, loc. cit.).


  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...
Search this book:
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.  
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