The first dibbur of the Aseres Hadibros isאנכי ה’ אלקיך the mitzvah to believe in Hashem who took us out of Mitzrayim. The Medrash says that there were four kings who asked from Hashem four different requests and Hashem fulfilled them. They were Dovid, Asa, Yehoshafat and Chizkiyahu. Dovid Hamelech asked from Hashem (Tehillim 18,38) ארדוף אויבי ואשיגם Let me chase after my enemies and reach them. Hashem gave him his request. Asa requested I don’t have the strength to finish them off. Allow me to chase after them and You Hashem will kill them. Hashem fulfilled his request. The third king was Yehoshafat who asked from Hashem to allow him to sing shirah, but to chase and to kill his enemies Hashem should take care of. Here again Hashem listened to his request. The last king was Chizkiyahu who said to Hashem that he has no koach to sing chase nor kill his enemies. Rather I will sleep on my bed and You Hashem will do everything for me. On the night of Pesach entire the army of Sancheiruv king of Asshur died. Apparently this Medrash goes against our way of thinking that as each generation passes the less madraigos they possess. For here we find just the opposite that it was Chizkiyahu who lay in his bed and Hashem did everything for him to conquer his enemies, in contrast to Dovid Hamelech who had to do everything himself. Rav Shlomka from Zevil answers with the following. The truth still remains that each further generation goes down in madraigos. This is precisely the reason why the lower the madraigah of the generation the more they had to remove themselves from partaking in the battlefield. Dovid Hamelech was on such a high madraigah of emunah to the point that even if he would be involved from the beginning to the end of the battle he would never believe that it was his power and strategies that won him the battle. There was no question that it was all of Hashem’s intervention that gave him the victory. Therefore he was allowed to fight in the battle with his strategies of war because his emunah was impeccable. Asa’s emunah was on a lower madraigah than Dovid. Therefore he feared if he would be involved in the battle more than the chasing after his enemies he might succumb into thinking that כחי ועוצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה which would place him and his soldiers in danger. So he requested from Hashem just to chase after them but not to be involved in the battle itself. Yehoshafat’s emunah was even less. Even chasing after them might cause him to falsely believe that he contributed to his enemie’s defeat. Therefore he refrained from chasing after them as well but just sang a shira to Hashem. Chizkiyahu’s emunah was even less than that. He was afraid even to sing shira lest he might erroneously believe that his shira had something to do with the downfall of his enemies. So he asked Hashem if he could stay in his bed without any involvement in the battle and that Hashem should accomplish victory for him nevertheless. Rav Beiderman Shlita (Baair Haparsha) brings a story with the Chazon Ish ztl that might shock many of our readers. The Chazon Ish once told a person that he has a chakirah concerning the cause why many good bachurim in yeshivos who learn with hasmadah, diligence, and yiras shamayim, all of a sudden when they leave the Bais Medrash after they get married and enter the world, they lose these attributes. Is it because even though they achieved these maalos, nevertheless the outside world has such a devastating effect on them? Or maybe they never really acquired these attributes in their inner being in the first place, and their learning and dress were a cover up for this lack of inner strength? The Chazzon Ish continued that the answer is the unfortunately the latter that they never truly had it. Emunah is not something that you pull out of your pocket when you need it. Emunah must be worked upon daily if one wants to acquire it in his inner being. Let me demonstrate. When one goes out to buy new shoes he takes money in his pocket finds a shoe store and purchases his new shoes. This is not the derech of Torah. The true way of buying shoes is first to stop at your exit door and daven to Hashem to direct him to enter the right store in order to buy shoes that fit comfortably, that they should not be overpriced, and that he will find the right ones quickly without any extra bother. The same applies when he goes to the grocery store in the morning to buy milk bread and cereal for his children’s breakfast. He should first daven to Hashem that he will be able to find all his products easily, they should be fresh, and that he should not have to wait on a long line to purchase them. If he will conduct himself daily with these tefillos throughout his day, he will acquire true emunah in Hashem. Bachurim in yeshivah do not work and toil on emunah. Many yeshivos do not even talk about it. So when such a bachur leaves the yeshivah he lacks the strength to withstand the tidal wave of the culture and the business world which clouds his clear vision, and hijacks his inner peacefulness with his knowing that everything is from Hashem. A source for the insight of the Chazzon Ish can be gleaned from the words of Yirmiyah who sought אם יש איש עושה משפט ומבקש אמונה in order to save the city. He did not ask for a מאמין but rather for a מבקש אמונה one who seeks emunah. Only one who is constantly refining his emunah and seeking to perfect it will acquire it within his inner being. The Rebbe from Lechovitch would interpret the passuk (Tehillim 116,10) האמנתי כי אדבר I came to emunah in Hashem by talking about it. Talking about emunah and expressing it through davening will help accomplish one to make an inner acquisition of it. We would like to suggest that this concept is hinted in the passuk (Bamidbar 4,33) זאת עבודת משפחות המררי לכל עבודתם באהל מועד ביד איתמר There are people who are בני מררי bitter and unhappy in avodas Hashem. This state of unhappiness is because they lack emunah in that Hashem gives to them the tailor made avoda that they need to complete their mission in this world. With emunah shlaimah there doesn’t exist a would of, could of, or should of. The gemarah teaches (Chullin 7b) אין אדם נוקף אצבעו מלמטה אלא אם כן מכריזין עליו מלמעלה. An individual does not bang his finger unless it was decreed with an announcement before hand in heaven. Even if someone else embarrasses you or hits you intentionally it was also already decreed from above with the word of Hashem. This we find by Dovid Hamelech, who after he was cursed by Shimi Ben Gairah, Dovid declared (Shmuel 2,16,10) ה’ אמר לו קלל Hashem told Shimi Ben Gairah to curse me. So we see that when one experiences tzaar he must believe that it was decreed so in shamayim and it did not occur by chance. One is therefore expected to react to even the slightest tzaar of banging his finger with the acknowledgement of נאמך it is Your dibbur and decree Hashem that is causing this to happen to me. This concept is incredibly alluded to in the acronym of the above Chazal in Chullin אין אדם נוקף אצבעו מלמטה אלא אם כן מכריזין מלמעלה which spells נאמך Your word. This emunah will enable one to live a life of inner peace, serenity and happiness by knowing that Hashem is planning the best outcome for his life and that the tzaar that He sends him is for an atonement. כל מה דעבד רחמנא לטב עביד. The בן מררי which is gematriah 502 must therefore recharge his emunah by connecting to the Avos who had emunah peshutah אמונה פשוטה which is gematriah 502 throughout their combined 502 years. By this connection he will be able to rid himself from his bitterness by fortifying his emunah through the spiritual support of our Avos. For the lack of emunah causes unnecessary bitterness and jealousy. Therefore, the passuk says that the avodah and solution of one who is bitter in his avodas Hashem is באהל מועד.Emunah is connecting to the light of Hashem which dispels the darkness and causes happiness. The word אהל means light. The word מועד means festive and a time of simcha. By contacting the light of emunah which dispels the darkness of sadness, one attains a state of מועד. How does one reach this level of emunah described by אהל מועד? The answer is ביד איתמר. The word איתמר in Aramaic means to speak. In Lashon Hakodesh the letters can be arranged to spell תאמר י say it is Hashem. Through speaking and davening to Hashem words of emunah, we thereby attach our emunah to the announcement of tzaar in shamayim thereby sweetening it. By doing so, one has the ability to reframe his pain in the perspective of being a gift directly from Hashem, thereby enabling him to still preserve his simchas hachayim with the aid of its embracing light. Gut Shabbos Gut Yom Tov Rav Brazil