We're moving forward now to the next Torah source we're going to be exploring. And this is a passage from the Chofetz Chaim (Zechor Lemiriam, Chapter 20). The Chofetz Chaim writes that we have found in the Torah a proof to internalize just how great the power of bitachon, of relying on Hashem is. And we can see this from the story in the Torah where the town of Sedom was about to be destroyed, and Hashem sent some heavenly angels in the guise of human beings to inform Lot on what was about to happen in order to give him a chance to escape and be saved. But again to Lot they appeared as human messengers. And as we know in the story in the Torah, that the wicked people of Sedom were trying to harm these messengers, these outsiders.

And what was Lot's response to his wicked neighbors and people of the town? Please do not cause these people any harm. Why? Because they have chosen to take shelter in my roof.

Continues the Chofetz Chaim, This means to say - They chose to rely on me that I am able to be their security and save them from you wicked individuals. And therefore Lot was begging his wicked neighbors, asking them please to leave these individuals alone. Why? Because they have relied on me. Again we are seeing here this most basic principle. When someone relies on you, you are accountable to come through for them. Lot understood this with absolute clarity and therefore the sole reason he asked his neighbors and townspeople to leave these individuals alone was not because they are good people or you guys are doing bad things, but rather please they have relied on me and therefore it is completely inappropriate for me not to be accountable and responsible towards them.

And continues the Chofetz Chaim. We know from other Torah passages that Lot actually was not an upright individual whatsoever. Even though Lot was not an upright individual, he understood this most basic fundamental idea. That when someone relies on you, you are accountable to come through for them. And this story was written down in the Torah. The Torah passages are not just history lessons, but rather each episode that is recorded has a specific message and take home for us. And says the Chofetz Chaim that one of the most important take homes from this episode of Lot asking the people of his town to please leave his guests alone and not cause them harm because they have relied on him is to teach us that when someone relies on you, you are accountable and you must do anything and everything possible within your capacity and resources to make sure that those that have relied on you are taken care of in the way that they have relied on you.

And continues the Chofetz Chaim. How much more so this applies to Hashem Himself who is not limited by human capacities with all our issues and problems and challenges that we have, that Hashem Himself is really the source of all mercy and compassion, when a person relies on Hashem with sincerity, Hashem will certainly help that individual to be saved from all forms of evil.

Again, we see clearly in this beautiful passage from the Chofetz Chaim. When one relies on Hashem, Hashem will for sure come through for you and save you from the challenging situation that you are going through. It does not say here that hopefully He will save you, but maybe He might have other calculations why He might not come through for you in the way that you desire.

No, the Chofetz Chaim is teaching us when you rely on Hashem, Hashem is accountable to come through for you for the sole reason that you have chosen to rely on Him. Bezrat Hashem, in the next session, let's continue with the next passage we're going to be exploring about Bitachon and with Hashem's help, together transform our lives.

Guys, we continue this incredible Bittachan journey, so we discussed in the previous session, that when we rely on Hashem, he will not let us down. Because someone who is reliable does not let people down. A human king, who is supposedly reliable, does not let people down. How much more so, Hashem himself does not let people down. Now, before we continue with the next passage, I would just like to highlight an important fundamental principle that applies to all of Bitachon. And that is that, unfortunately, in today's day and age, many people do not have a good grasp of what it means to live with full responsibility and accountability.

Hashem created us in this world with the opportunity to have free choice in the way that we respond to situations. And one of the things that we have free choice for is, are we going to be accountable for our responsibilities? So an easy example to relate to if someone has a newborn baby. Now, this baby is relying on its mother to give it its food. Now, it's obvious and easy for all of us to understand that a mother who would completely negate her responsibility to feed the child and just allow the child to go hungry is abusing her position of authority to this child who needs her to feed him. It is her absolute responsibility to make sure that this child is taken care of and fed.

And in a similar vein, as children grow older, we are also responsible to take care of their needs. And similarly, husband and wife have responsibility and accountability to one another. And obviously, this idea can be extended to all areas of our lives, be it with friends and other relationships and with our business colleagues and the like. We are accountable for our actions and we need to take responsibility when someone is relying on us. A doctor is accountable for his patients who are relying on his services. And the same goes with any service provider who is accountable to do their best to come through for those who are relying on their services.

Now, the reason we might have a difficult time initially understanding how Bitachon works is because, unfortunately, this concept of accountability and responsibility is sometimes foreign to the Western world way of thinking of our generation, where people are just looking to avoid all forms of accountability and responsibility and just live a life without responsibilities and just self-gratifying enjoyment. Whereas when one is privy to adopt the mode of thought of the Torah itself, which teaches us that people are supposed to be accountable and responsible, all the more so people in a state of high power, a president, a king and the like, where many people are relying on them. An upright and responsible person is certainly accountable for those relying on him.

And certainly the greatest of the great king of all kings, Hashem himself, when someone relies on him and says, Hashem, I'm relying on you. I need you. Hashem will not leave that person hanging because if we are choosing to rely on Hashem, he knows we need him. He knows we are relying on him and he will therefore come through for us. This concept is a fundamental. B’ezrat Hashem, in the next session, we're going to move forward to the next Torah source in this part of our journey of the Transform Your Bitachon series and with Hashem's help together, transform our lives.

Guys, I'm super excited to move forward, B'zrat Hashem, to the next section in our Transform Your Bitachon series, where the question we're going to be exploring with the accompanying Torah sources is, why must Hashem come through for me? And as we've alluded to in the previous sections, there could be many considerations in Hashem's books, why He might not come through for us. And perhaps most obviously we could ask, who says Hashem owes it to me? For what reason must we say that if I rely on Hashem, He must come through for me? B'ezrat Hashem, in this section, we're going to gain a better understanding of the exact mechanism of why it is that if we choose to place our Bitachon, to rely on Hashem, that He must come through for us.

So the first Torah passage we're going to be visiting is the Midrash Tehillim (chapter 25, verse 2). And the Midrash says, there was a story that took place during the night time, in a certain town, where a man was arrested. And the Midrash now tells of the man's response to his communication with the police. The man begged them to leave him alone and not deal with him harshly, claiming he belonged to the family of the king. The police therefore left him alon, not dealing with him harshly, until the morning.

In the morning, they brought this man to the king and they said to him, we arrested a man from your family. Now seeing as the king was not able to recognize this man, the king said to him, My son, do you recognize me? Do you know me? And the man says, no. So the king says to the man, If so, why did you tell the police that you are a member of the king's family if in truth you are not? The man said back to the king, I beg you. I am not a member of the king's family. But my king, I relied on you. Because if I did not tell the police that I was a family member of the king's family, they would have dealt with me harshly. And in order to save myself, I relied on you, my king. The king therefore said to the police, seeing as this person relied on me, let him go. Yes, he lied. He is not from my family and he has no particular merit to get off the hook for what he did. But just because of the sole reason that he relied on me, I will therefore come through for him and save him.

Continues the midrash, So too, David Hamelech says, Hashem, my God, I have relied on you and therefore I am asking you, Hashem, that I should not come to any embarrassing situations. And because I have chosen to rely on you, Hashem, that is the reason that you should come through for me and not allow me to experience embarrassing situations. David Hamelech ends off in the midrash, and not only me, but rather anyone who places their hope and their bitachon in you, Hashem, will not come to embarrassing situations.

What we're seeing from this midrash is really the foundation of how bitachon works. Because we are choosing to rely on Hashem, that reason itself is the motivator for Hashem coming through for us, even if we've done everything else wrong. But because we are saying, Hashem, I'm relying on you, please save me, it is not appropriate for Hashem to leave us hanging. Even by human individuals, such as the king in the story of the midrash brought, where the individual relied on the king, it would not be appropriate for the king to just leave the individual hanging, but rather he must come through for him. And in a similar vein, when anyone chooses to rely on Hashem, Hashem will come through for them because it is not appropriate for Hashem to leave an individual who's relying on him hanging.

B'ezrat Hashem, let's continue on this incredible journey together about bitachon and transform our lives.