EMUNAH & BITACHON-----chazon ish and r salanter

cuziwannaknow Posted - 30 December 2001 22:24

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We learned that if you have enough Emunah in Hashem about a certain thing, then it will 100 percent happen - ex: story of Rav escaping across border with family, he told them all to think "ayn od bilvado" and they were invisible to the guards –

So is it true that if I 100 % believe I will win the lottery ticket, then I will?

MODERATOR Posted - 30 December 2001 22:52

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There is a machlokes about this. It is said in the name of Rav Yisroel Salanter ZTL that if you have total Bitachon that something will happen, it will. The Chazon Ish disagreed. He held that Bitachon doesn’t mean you will get what you want, but rather it means to trust in Hashem that whatever He gives you - whether or not it is what you want - is for the best.

The "ain od milvado" thing is something else. Rav Chaim Volozhen ZTL writes that if a person focuses his mind solely on the fact that Hashem is the sole power in the world (ain od milvado), then nothing can harm you since you are then totally under the protection of Hashem.

The idea that the more you focus on Hashem's control the more you are subject to His Hashgachah predates Rav Chaim Volozhen and is actually the Rambam and/or the Ralbag's (depends how you understand what they wrote) interpretation of Hashgachah Pratis.