Chapter Four - Part 15: People Helping People

However, the manner with which to have bitachon in G‑d regarding the matters that pertain to someone who is of a superior or subordinate class of people—the proper way to conduct himself with them is as follows:

When the need arises for a person to make a request of either his superior or his subordinate, he should rely on G‑d to deliver his request and consider those people of whom he made the request to be merely the messenger whom G‑d will use to complete his request.

This is just like a person who chooses working the land and sowing it to be the means of his livelihood, in which case, if the Creator wishes that he be sustained by it, then the seed will sprout forth and be fruitful and multiply. Nevertheless, it is obvious that he shouldn’t give thanks to the earth for this; rather, thanks are owed to the Creator alone. If, however, G‑d does not wish to sustain him from it, then the earth will not sprout forth any vegetation. Alternatively, it will sprout forth vegetation but something adverse will happen to it. In both of these cases it is obvious that the earth is not to blame.

Similarly, when he requests an object from one of these people— who is either above him or below him— he should consider the weak person and the strong person as equally able to perform his request, not placing any more trust in the stronger person. He should rely on G‑d, blessed be He, that his request will be fulfilled.

If his request is fulfilled by one of the people, then he should thank the Creator, blessed be He, Who fulfilled his wishes. He should also thank the person through whom the favor was done: For his good heartedness, and for the fact that the Creator brought his benefits through him.

For it is well known that, generally speaking, the Creator does not cause good to come to other people except through the righteous, and only rarely does He cause loss through them.

As our Sages of blessed memory said ( Bava Batra 119b): “Merit is brought about by means of a person who is meritorious, and liability is brought about by means of a person who is liable.” Similarly, it says (Proverbs 12:21): No wrong shall be caused for the righteous.

If his request was not fulfilled by the people he turned to, he should not blame them, nor should he blame it on the lack of effort on their part. Instead, he should thank G‑d, Who chose to withhold his request from him for his own good. And he should praise the people of whom he made the request, based on his knowledge of their efforts that they invested to fulfill his request, even though it did not materialize according to his wishes or the wishes of the people who wanted to help him.

This is how a person should conduct himself with his friends and acquaintances, as well as with those with whom he does business, and with his servants and partners.

Similarly, if either a superior or subordinate of his makes a request of him, he should wholeheartedly make every effort to perform it, but if possible he should try to complete the request in private, so that he will not become haughty as a result. The above only applies if the person who asked him for the request is someone who is deserving of his efforts on his behalf.

After making these efforts, he should rely on G‑d to help him fulfill the person’s request.

If the request ends up being fulfilled through his efforts, because G‑d placed him in the position of being the conduit for the other person’s good, he should not attribute his success to himself, and he should not ask for recompense or thanks from the other person. Rather, he should thank G‑d for choosing him to do this good for his friend. If, however, he was prevented from fulfilling the request, and he was not able to do it, he should not blame himself. He should inform his friend that he was not lazy in his efforts on his behalf, provided that he did, in fact, exert himself and toil on this person’s behalf.