Emuna starts where the seichel, the mind, our sense of reason – stops.
No one says you can walk across the street without looking twice or jump off a cliff and say "I trust Hashem." Nor can you break quarantine if you've got a fever and a cough, saying "Someone only gets sick if it's Hashem's will, so it's fine. Hashem will take care of it."
Rabbi Arush calls such a line of thinking "invalid emuna" and such a person is a fool at best, and sorely misguided, and quite possibly a danger to himself and others at worst.
Now that you've got what emuna is NOT, you need to learn The Garden of Emuna to learn what emuna IS. Emuna is believing in Hashem, who is guiding your life, who knows better than you what is ultimately good for you, and knows you and your purpose in life better even than you.
Emuna is saying "I trust this is for the best, even if I don't understand. Thank you."
Emuna is recognizing that while we must use common sense to take care of ourselves – we do NOT go crazy, we do not trust in the rules to save us, we keep everything in its place. For more on this, read the latest article in the series: Follow the Guidelines – Properly.
2. Yocheved A
11/27/2020
"Be strong in your emuna! Throw out your mind and reason!" How exactly does that work? If you have perfect emunah, can you send your kids to go out and play in traffic? Can you jump off of a cliff and expect Hashem to save you? Where does seichel come in, or does it? I go around and around in my head with this, and it's making me dizzy!
11/29/2020
Emuna starts where the seichel, the mind, our sense of reason – stops.
No one says you can walk across the street without looking twice or jump off a cliff and say "I trust Hashem." Nor can you break quarantine if you've got a fever and a cough, saying "Someone only gets sick if it's Hashem's will, so it's fine. Hashem will take care of it."
Rabbi Arush calls such a line of thinking "invalid emuna" and such a person is a fool at best, and sorely misguided, and quite possibly a danger to himself and others at worst.
Now that you've got what emuna is NOT, you need to learn The Garden of Emuna to learn what emuna IS. Emuna is believing in Hashem, who is guiding your life, who knows better than you what is ultimately good for you, and knows you and your purpose in life better even than you.
Emuna is saying "I trust this is for the best, even if I don't understand. Thank you."
Emuna is recognizing that while we must use common sense to take care of ourselves – we do NOT go crazy, we do not trust in the rules to save us, we keep everything in its place. For more on this, read the latest article in the series: Follow the Guidelines – Properly.
11/27/2020
"Be strong in your emuna! Throw out your mind and reason!" How exactly does that work? If you have perfect emunah, can you send your kids to go out and play in traffic? Can you jump off of a cliff and expect Hashem to save you? Where does seichel come in, or does it? I go around and around in my head with this, and it's making me dizzy!