“Let’s talk about bitachon,” Rav Anshel Reiner told the bachur he was hosting on Shabbos. “I need chizuk.”

The bachur rose to the occasion and immediately shared a wondrous story: Rav Asher Freund hired a contractor to build several buildings in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem. Before the work began, he needed to pay the contractor a two-million-shekel down payment in cash. He had no idea where to get so much money, so he went off to do hisbodedus and to beg He Who owns everything for help.

As he stood and cried, Rav Asher suddenly changed his tune. Instead of pleading, he thought: I don’t need to bring the money today; it’s only due in three days. So why am I anxious today? If I had the money today, I’d deposit it in the bank. Don’t I trust that Hashem’s bank operates at least as reliably as mine? When I need the money, He’ll give it to me.

“Ribono Shel Olam,” Rav Asher cried out with all his heart, “I want to rely on You! Strengthen me with complete bitachon!”

He stopped davening for two million shekels and davened for something far more precious instead. He davened for bitachon. For Hashem to strengthen him and instill within him the unwavering feeling that he could rely fully upon His chessed. And he davened that way for hours.

Needless to say, the day that the money was due, the full amount miraculously arrived. The story gave Rav Reiner tremendous chizuk. Shabbos, our source of blessing, passed with him feeling tremendously spiritually uplifted. And his own wondrous bitachon story soon followed…

102: The Gematria of Emunah
Rabbi Tzvi Nakar, is a contemporary maggid and the author of Emunah Shleimah—Bar Mitzvah and Tefillin, Meant To Be, and 24/7. His powerful lessons on emunah and gripping tales of hashgachah pratis, all drawn from modern times, enthuse and inspire, drawing the reader’s heart to yearn for a deeper connection to Hashem.