Trust in Hashem, Chapter 1 - How True Bitachon Brings Peace, Joy, and Blessing

There’s hardly a person who hasn’t heard of of bitachon- trust in G-d- and few who don’t understand that it is one of the most precious treasures a person can acquire in life.

A person who does not properly trust in G-d cannot truly learn Torah or fulfill mitzvot, because his mind is constantly burdened by worries. These worries rob him of clarity, surrounding him with a constant cloud of anxious, scattered, and confusing thoughts.

Such a person is unable to pour out his heart to G-d in prayer, because deep down he doesn’t believe that his prayers can actually change the course of his life or bring him the salvation he longs for.

A Vicious Cycle

Neglecting to develop trust in G-d creates a kind of vicious cycle and sets off a chain of negative consequences, each one feeding the next. The results of this lack of bitachon only deepen a person’s sense of insecurity over time.

Why is this so?

A person who doesn’t truly trust in G-d isn’t answered in prayer, but because he mistakenly believes that he does trust in G-d "enough" to deserve an answer, he experiences deep disappointment and frustration. This leads him to conclude that trust "doesn’t really work," which further weakens the little trust he still has left.

Partial Trust

The Maggid of Mezritch addresses this painful problem. In his writings, he analyzes the situation of people who believe they trust in G-d, but their prayers go unanswered. He explains that their trust was never whole to begin with.

Many who hear this will raise an eyebrow. We’re constantly strengthening our faith, reflecting on G-d’s involvement in our lives, and trying to improve our trust.

The confusion is a result of not properly distinguishing between emunah (faith) and bitachon (trust). Emunah is primarily the knowledge that G-d gives life and directs every creation at all times. It’s not enough to feel it or act like it- we must actively reinforce this awareness in our minds over and over.

Bitachon, the companion to faith, is internalizing that awareness emotionally. It means allowing it to calm our hearts and shape our daily actions. It’s not just intellectual, but also practical and emotional.

Trust and Learning to Swim

Some have compared trust in G-d to a person learning to swim. In order to float, one must let go- stop holding onto the wall, the rope, or the idea of solid ground beneath them. As long as a person keeps clinging to something external, they’ll never truly learn to swim.

How can we bring this kind of trust into our daily life and fully integrate it into our inner emotional world? After all, trust isn’t just a concept that can be practiced through study, but something that is intended to reach the deepest chambers of the soul, areas we often don’t have full control over.

The Joy–Trust Connection

Trust and joy are inseparable. There can be no joy without faith and trust, and no complete trust without joy.

As a proof, the Maggid cites the verse: "Blessed is the man who trusts in G-d, and vehaya (it will be) that G-d is his trust."
The word “vehaya”- in Biblical usage- always hints at joy, and it also implies future goodness.

The Maggid’s message is clear: The person whose trust is accompanied by joy and uplifted spirit is the one whose trust brings blessing. When trust is filled with joy and emotional calm, it enters the soul, just like anything that comes with pleasure and delight. The soul naturally binds itself to experiences of joy.

Two Types of Trust

There are two types of trust in G-d.

1. Imperfect Trust:
   Trust that comes from incomplete faith. This kind of trust is like a cracked vessel- every drop you pour into it leaks right out. These cracks are often formed by unconscious inner pressure. Sometimes, a person forces himself to "trust," while deep inside, he hasn’t fully accepted that his only hope is G-d. Other times, he still believes his own strength can help him, or he harbors subtle despair that trust really works.

   This hollow trust is more like emotional resignation than genuine trust. It doesn’t come from peace or connection, but from a sense of helplessness. That feeling weakens the soul’s natural ability to trust, which every Jewish soul possesses at its core.

   This also happens to people who acknowledge that they aren’t in control of their lives, and believe that G-d runs everything, but they don’t feel joy in that truth. This is because they haven’t fully internalized that G-d is good and wants good for them. They haven’t felt the love G-d has for each person- as if they were a long-awaited child born to elderly parents after years of hope and longing.

2. Complete Trust:
   This trust stems from the awareness that G-d is a compassionate Father who desires only good for His children. The greatest obstacle to receiving His goodness is the belief in “my strength and my hand did this”, which blocks a person’s connection to the Source of blessing.

   Bitachon reopens the channels of that blessing.
   When a person truly believes in G-d’s goodness, it leads to joy and that joy, in turn, completes the trust and allows it to settle into the soul.

This is the type of trust that transforms a life- not as a distant spiritual ideal, but as a living, breathing force that fills the heart with confidence, gratitude, and peace.

Rabbi Yehuda Wingarten is the chairman of the Foundation of Hasidism Institute and the "Education Foundations" organization.