Chapter Five - Part 2: Always Grateful

The author will now quote a number of sources that support this:

Thanks Him for both the good and the bad. The Mishnah states: “A person is obligated to bless G‑d for the bad in the same manner that he blesses Him for the good” ( Brachot 9:5). We find no differentiation between the “bad” that comes from G‑d directly and the “bad” that comes through the medium of another person, who has freedom of choice regarding his actions. In both scenarios we are obligated to bless G‑d. This can be understood by introducing the doctrine of “Continuous Creation,” whereby the Creator is continuously animating all of creation (See Tanya, Iggeret Hakodesh, Epistle 25).

Therefore, even when a person chooses to do evil and harm another, it was still done to the recipient by Divine Providence. (The perpetrator will be held accountable to G‑d, separately.) Therefore, we ultimately need to see everything that happens to us, even something that seems to have been perpetrated by a person, as having been orchestrated by G‑d, and we must bless Him for it.

Furthermore, everything G‑d does is not only for the good, it is inherently good. We simply might not perceive it as such for the time being. ( Sefer Hamaamarim Melukat, vol. 5, p. 261).

This knowledge gives us a fascinating and deeper insight into the meaning of the Talmud’s teaching Kol mah d’avid Rachamana l’tav avid. The literal translation is: Everything that G‑d does is for the good ( Brachot 60b). Meaning, we see many things, good and bad, but we proclaim that everything that G‑d does is for the good. The deeper understanding is that when we see everything ( kol mah ) through the proper lens—i.e. it is G‑d, Who is beyond time, and past, present, and future are all the same to Him, Who is making it happen ( d’avid Rachamana )—then from that perspective the future good is felt in the present ( Likkutei Sichot, vol. 19, p. 78, fn 82).

The source of this immutable love toward G‑d—a love that is not dependent on anything, a love where a Jew blesses G‑d regardless of what happens to him—is our inherent connection with G‑d. Not only are we His children—who naturally love their father and are naturally loved by their father, and a father only wants good for his children—but we are connected with Him.

Even after a soul descends into this world, it retains an essential bond with G‑d, and that bond will never allow for anything “bad” to happen. When we access this level, we can bless the bad just as we bless the good, because bad is merely a perception that is not worth considering when we speak about an essential connection to G‑d, which can only produce good ( Torat Menachem, vol. 18, p. 256).

The word bitachon is related to the word tach, or plaster, which holds together everything that it covers—somewhat like a friendship, which brings people together. Naturally, good friends trust each other. The greater the friendship, the greater the bond; the greater the bond, the greater the certainty that each will only do what is in the other’s best interests.

This, then, is the idea of trust—our bond with G‑d is so strong that we are almost “plastered” together. We have “cemented our friendship,” so to speak.

When we are this connected to G‑d, we have no doubt that He will do everything in His power—which is limitless (as the author explains in ch. 3)—to ensure that everything He does is for our ultimate good, and this connection leads to certainty that the end result will surely be revealed good.

Furthermore, not only are we merged and connected with G‑d, but, according to the Zohar, “A Jew and G‑d are one” (III 73a). Certainly, then, a loving G‑d, Who is the ultimate good, will provide each and every Jew precisely what is good for him at each and every moment ( Biurei Hazohar, Parshat Va’eira; Sichot Kodesh, Re’eh 5734).

The Talmud ( Brachot 60b) explains this Mishnah to mean that the person is obligated to accept with joy the bad that G‑d decrees, just as he accepts the good.

A person who doesn’t trust in G‑d boasts and credits himself for his own accomplishments when things go well. However, when things don’t go well, he becomes angry at G‑d: