190 - Only Today

The Gemara in Sota 48b states that a person who has sufficient provisions for today, yet feels anxious about tomorrow's supplies, is considered a person of little faith. This passage in the Talmud is teaching us that if someone is so impoverished that he only has money for a meal tonight, with no resources to provide for tomorrow, he should nevertheless not worry nor feel anxious. Rather, he should feel calm in the belief that just like Hashem came through and provided for me today, so too He will not let me down tomorrow nor at any other time in my life.

We've discussed many times how the only absolutely true perspective that can exist is when we're looking from Hashem's viewpoint, which ultimately He has expressed to us in the Torah by the many Torah sources that we have available to us. In this passage, the Gemara is teaching us that we are called on to aim to reach a level of such faith in Hashem that even if we would only have food just for today and we have no means to get food for tomorrow, although our instinctive response might be to panic and be very anxious about where we're going to receive our future sustenance from, in this passage, Hashem's perspective is teaching us that the right approach is to aim to reach a level of feeling calm, that just like Hashem took care of me yesterday, the day before, as well as as far back as I can remember, so too Hashem will come through for me in the future and give me the sustenance that I need, even if it might seem like a very dire situation with no solution.

Let us remind ourselves about what the Torah commentaries teach us, that ultimately Hashem created this world just to be good to us and to give to us, and ultimately the true destination where we will receive that good and pleasure that Hashem has in store for us is in the next world, in Olam Haba. And as the commentaries teach, we're in this world to earn our place in the next world. And of course there are many things that we can do in this world that can contribute to how we earn our place in the next world, but ultimately if we would have to sum up into one word, the exact process of how we earn our place in the next world to the maximum degree, as the Ramban in his final commentary to Parashat Bo writes, that the purpose of all the mitzvos, and in fact the only reason for Hashem creating us, is that we come to have emunah in Hashem. 

Ramban is pointing out to us that the main method that we achieve our purpose in this world, which ultimately will lead to earning us our highest possible place in the next world, is by making our maximum effort to grow in our emunah. We've also discussed previously how the Mesillas Yesharim and many others write that one of the fundamental purposes of Hashem creating us in this world is to give us the opportunity to pass the tests and challenges that He presents us, and by doing so, giving us the opportunity to earn unimaginable reward in the next world. There are many tests that we experience throughout our lives, but again, if we'd have to sum up the test of life into one word, the answer would be emunah. Because everything in the world that we live in, the way that the human eye sees it, and that the human body experiences it, seems to contradict many of the values of the Torah and of emunah. 

If one were to only have money, just for today, with no idea how they will even get their next meal for tomorrow, and certainly no plan what they're going to do in a month's time, the standard approach of logic in this world, and that many people would take, would be to panic, and perhaps to justify the reason for one's panicking, but again, we are so privileged to have Hashem's perspective, that we are called on to work towards having such solid belief in Hashem, that even if we have no idea to where we're going to receive our sustenance from, our job is to have emunah, that just like Hashem has come through for me so many times before, He will come through for me again.