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BITACHON AND EMUNAH

Bitachon & Emunah: Part 16

Three Levels of Hashgacha, Three Levels of Bitachon

Part of Bitachon and Emunah · 4:04

The Rebbe returns to the same three levels of bitachon in a later farbrengen (Parshas Pekudei/Shekalim 5744), this time mapping them to three levels of Divine providence, from Hashem within nature to Hashem entirely beyond it.

Audio Transcript
Intro: Rebbe’s Talks on the Three Levels of Bitachon

Concerning the three levels of bitachon that I mentioned from the farbrengen of י״ב תמוז תשי״ב, I want to mention that the Rebbe spoke about it another time, and this was שבת פרשת פקודי, פרשת שקלים תשמ״ד. And then the Rebbe also spoke about the three levels of bitachon, but he explained it a little different סגנון, a little different style. First of all, the Rebbe explained that the fact that there are three levels of bitachon is hinted in the words בטחו בה׳ עדי עד. You should trust ה׳ עדי עד, as we said in the other voice notes. But here the Rebbe explains that the number three is hinted in this pasuk, because the word עדי, עין דלת יוד, is the word עד, but with a יוד it's plural, so it's two עד's. So it says עדי, which is two, עד, עדי עד, so it's a third. So here there's a hint that the בטחו בה׳ is three levels. And the three levels he has explained is like this: A Yid

First Level: Natural Hashgachah and Basic Bitachon

has bitachon in Hashem because Hashem is משגיח בהשגחה פרטית on a Yid. He knows that the Eibershter takes care of him, there's divine providence, the Eibershter is mashgiach, and based on that he has his bitachon. But we learn in sefarim, in chassidus, in Kabbalah, that there are three levels of the hashgachah of Hashem, that Hashem is mashgiach on the Yidden. One level is that Hashem is mashgiach on the Yidden in the דרך הטבע. The way Hashem put Himself into nature, anything that happens naturally is all from Hashem, but just the way Hashem put Himself, was mitlabesh, dressed up into the nature, so the Eibershter is mashgiach on Yidden through the nature. Then you have a higher level, that the Eibershter is mashgiach on the Yidden higher, beyond nature, not limited to nature. And then you have a higher way, that the Eibershter is mashgiach on the Yidden even higher than that, because when we say higher than nature, it's still the way Hashem is connected somehow to nature, but He's higher than nature. The fact that we say He's higher than nature means that nature is something, and the Eibershter is mashgiach in a way of higher than nature. But then

Third Level: Ultimate Hashgachah Beyond All

there is the real hashgachah of the Eibershter, that the Eibershter, the way He is beyond anything, we call the Eibershter, the etzem of the Eibershter, is mashgiach on Yidden. And since we said that the bitachon a Yid has that the Eibershter will help him comes because he knows that the Eibershter is mashgiach on him, so there are three levels of bitachon because there are three levels of hashgachah. If a person feels his bitachon based on the first level of hashgachah of the Eibershter, that's one level of bitachon. He trusts the Eibershter that the Eibershter is going to help him through a natural way, but that's a lower level. But then there is a higher level, that a Yid believes, has bitachon, because the Eibershter is mashgiach beyond nature, so he's not limited to the limits of nature. That's a higher level of bitachon. The trust is much stronger. But then the real level of bitachon is when a Yid trusts the Eibershter and knows that the Eibershter will help him even beyond the fact that He's beyond nature, which is completely beyond anything. You can't even say He's beyond nature, because He's completely beyond. And that's parallel to the three levels of bitachon that I spoke in the other farbrengen of תשי״ב. And actually the

Kabbalistic Terms for the Three Levels of Bitachon

Rebbe in this farbrengen takeh טאקע says that in Kabbalah words, the three levels of bitachon is one is connected to ממלא כל עלמין, which is the lower one, one is connected to סובב כל עלמין, the higher one, and one is connected to the אור אין סוף ממש. Or he uses other words which fits more to the way he explained in the previous farbrengen: the lower level is connected to the midot of the Eibershter, the higher one is connected to the מוחין כביכול of the Eibershter, and the highest one is connected to the etzem of the Eibershter, which is behind, even beyond that. But as we see that these three levels of bitachon fit to those three levels there, and what we hope is that we have the level of bitachon in the highest way, and the Eibershter will takeh help us that He will give us everything what we need, not only naturally, but even beyond nature, and even beyond that. And the main thing is that all this will bring to the geulah shleimah.

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