Does having faith in Hashem mean I should just do nothing?
By Rabbi Shalom Landau.
Rabbi Landau answers that faith is not passivity. Faith, in his words, is “staying in your role while doing it fully.” Its motto is: “I will act, but I won't demand the ending.”
Your role is real. “You can choose your words, you can give your best.” What lies outside your role is the result: “you cannot guarantee what happens next.” He explains that the Creator Himself made room for human choice, so the world will not simply follow your script, and insisting that it does is “fighting the way He made the world.”
That is the meaning he gives to “Hashlech al Hashem yehavcha v'hu yechalkelecha,” cast your burden on Hashem and He will sustain you. You do your part fully, and you leave the ending with Him.
Related concepts: You can suffer twice · Inspiration has to become a deed
Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level
Surface claim
Faith means acting fully in your role, not doing nothing.
Fear, vulnerability, or tension
The tension is between the duty to act and the urge to control what happens next.
Deepest human truth
Hashem made room for human choice. Act fully, release the ending, and cast your burden on Hashem.
More questions from this teaching
More answers: Wisdom, Perception, and the Inner Life · All questions · Questions about Rabbi Landau and Rivnitz