Ignore the Odds

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

There are many situations in which people have great needs but the odds of them getting what they need are extraordinarily low. The natural feelings in those situations would be to despair of getting help. It could be a doctor giving a patient a negative report, it could be a specialist telling a couple they most probably will never have children, it could be a financial analyst telling a person his business will never succeed, and the list goes on. What is the proper attitude a person is supposed to have when facing those bleak scenarios? The pasuk says in parashat Shoftim , כי תצא למלחמה על אויבך וראית סוס ורכב עם רב ממך, לא תירא מהם . The pasuk there is speaking about the Jewish People going to fight a war and it says, if they saw a nation much larger and stronger than them charging towards them, they were not allowed to be afraid. And the pasuk concludes with the reason, כי ה' אלוקיך עמך, המעלך מארץ מצרים – because they had Hashem on their side. The same Hashem who obliterated the entire Egypt, the greatest superpower at the time. Rabbi Matityahu Solomon, zt"l, explained, a charging nation that is more numerous and powerful seems like it presents a major problem. According to the natural way of the world, it would appear that death was imminent. According to the statistics, the Jewish People would have no chance at beating the opposing army. For that the Torah tells them, winning wars has absolutely nothing to do with statistics or odds. It does not matter at all how strong the opposing nation is. The reason- because wars are decided by Hashem and only Hashem. And therefore, there is nothing to fear. Not only was there nothing to fear, the Torah even gave a negative commandment forbidding the people to fear. Rabbenu Yonah in the Shaareh Teshuva writes that although that command was speaking to the Jewish People at large regarding wars of mitzvah, it applies to every single individual whenever he is facing adversity. In the words of Rabbenu Yonah, והוזהרנו בזה שאם ירא אדם דצרה קרובה, תהיה ישועת ה' בלבבו ויבטח עליו . We are being told here that if a person ever sees that trouble is imminent, he should realize, Hashem is the only One in charge. He should feel the salvation of Hashem in his heart and rely on Him to produce it. This means, when the doctor says the odds of becoming healed are extremely slim, that is a calling on the patient to recognize he has Hashem and, to Hashem, odds don't matter. That reality should be so strong in a person's mind that it should enable him to overcome his natural fear and feel calm, knowing that he is completely in the hands of Hashem, the One who loves him so much and always does what is best for him. So it comes out that whenever a person is facing these types of situations, he should know, he has a mitzvah from the Torah to ignore the odds and feel confident in the salvation of Hashem. He should continue making the normal hishtadlut and he should pray to Hashem and know that to Hashem there is never such a thing as odds.