Shoftim – Trust: The Bedrock of Faith

Trust is a critical component of any relationship. And it is essential to our faith in G-d.

“Tamim tih’yeh im Hasem Elokecha, Have complete trust in Hashem your G-d.” (Devarim 18:13)

Trusting Hashem grants us a broad sense of security, eliminating the need to muse about the future or pursue sorcerers to discover what lies ahead. It permits us to follow G-d’s word with the confidence that He does not lead us down unhealthy and unproductive paths, and that in His world we will ultimately never lose by doing the right thing.

This value of trust was present at critical junctures in the development of our relationship with Hashem. When the bris was established with Avraham, it was presented as an expression of trust (Bereishis 17:1, see Ramban there): His-haleich l’fanai v’heyei tamim, “Walk before me and be trusting.” And when we as a nation accepted the Torah by declaring na’aseh v’nishma, we unconditionally accepted whatever Hashem would ask of us, evidencing our complete trust in Him, “characteristic of those who act with love, relying on Him not to burden us with something we could not bear (Rashi to TB Shabbos 88b).”

There were and are many who completely believe in Hashem’s power but not in His goodness. Our heritage, as children of Avraham who discovered and loved the G-d of kindness, is to believe in and remind ourselves constantly of His goodness. Before we recite the Shema as our declaration of faith, we remind ourselves of His love for us: “oheiv amo Yisrael,” “bocher b’amo Yisrael b’ahavah.” י. And we begin every Amidah by noting that the One to whom we turn in prayer created the world as an act of loving kindness, ”gomel chassadim tovim v’koneh hakol.”

In the classic Chovos Halevavos, “Duties of the Heart,” the author underscores this critical point. Yes, to have faith and trust in G-d one has to believe that He is Almighty. But beyond that one must also believe, first and last, that G-d is good. Because you cannot have faith in someone that does not care for you. And so, wrote the author (Rabbenu Bachye ibn Pekuda):

When he knows that the other has mercy and compassion for him, he trusts and relies upon him whatever he burdens him with…. (All the more so) when he knows that the one upon whom he is relying is consummately generous and kind, to those who deserve it and to those who do not, and that his generosity is constant and his kindness consistent, unending and uninterrupted.

It is that faith that we restore and strengthen during this special time of year. It is trust that we build as we repeat twice daily in l’David Ori (Tehillim 27:1), “G-d is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?!”