Hope in Hashem, and Our Limits

“Hope in Hashem. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, and hope in Hashem.” Opening A young Jewish man once asked me a question. He was married, raising a family, and working hard at his business. It was a simple question, but a whole world of pain was hidden inside it: “If Hashem has no limits, why is my income so limited? Why do I work so hard and only get this far?” He was not having a debate about religion. He was crying out in pain. And the truth is, it is a beautiful question. If it is true that Hashem is the source of all blessing, and He has no limits at all, why do we live inside limits? The Limit Is Not in the Giver The Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, explains in its section on Hashem’s oneness and on faith that Hashem gives life and existence to every created thing. He does this with a flow of blessing that is constant and never stops. With Him, so to speak, nothing is ever lacking. The spring never runs dry. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, author of the Tanya, also writes in one of his letters that nothing is being held back from the side of the Giver, from Hashem. The limit is only on the side of the one receiving. It depends on the size of his vessel, and on how narrow his understanding and his faith are. The parable is simple and familiar. It comes from the story of the prophet Elisha and the widow of Obadiah. The oil kept flowing and filling one jar after another. When the jars ran out, “the oil stopped.” The oil did not stop because the oil was running out. It stopped because there were no more jars. The blessing is endless. The vessel is the limit. This is also what the verse says: “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” The Master of the world is telling each person: “Open up. Make yourself wider, and I will fill you.” The work of widening is yours. A Closer Look at the Verse: Hope, Be Strong, Hope In Psalms it says: “Hope in Hashem. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, and hope in Hashem.” The verse says “hope” twice. Why? The first “hope” is the first step of turning to Hashem. A person feels a need, so he prays and asks. That is prayer. “Be strong, and let your heart take courage” calls for inner work. You no longer just wait on the outside. Now you do something on the inside. You strengthen your heart and widen your faith. You truly and simply believe that blessing is possible, even for me, even now. The second “hope” is a different stage. It means living from inside your faith. You do not only ask. You hold on to the new, wider vessel. “Live in it”: live inside the reality you are reaching toward. Trust Is Action, Not Waiting The author of “Duties of the Heart,” in its section on trust, explains that real trust in Hashem is not passive waiting, the attitude of “let’s see what happens.” Trust is a stand you take. It means recognizing that this blessing belongs to me, that it is real, and that it is possible. There is more. The Talmud says that blessing rests specifically on “something hidden from the eye,” on something that has not been measured and weighed. When a person starts counting, calculating and shrinking the borders of what is possible, he himself is blocking the blessing. This is also what the Tanya explains: heavy sadness about worldly matters is a real obstacle. A narrow mind, worry, and the fear that there won’t be enough all make the vessel smaller. The Baal Shem Tov: Thought Creates Reality A deep foundation in the teaching of the holy Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Hasidic movement, is that thought is not only a reaction to reality. Thought itself creates reality. Trust is not just a feeling. It is a real action: an awakening from below that draws down and awakens the blessing from above. When you truly hold on to the picture of blessing, you are not just “thinking positive.” You are creating a vessel. You are widening what can come in.