⁷Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem, and Hashem will be his security.

⁸He will be like a tree planted by water, which sends out its roots along a stream. It will not notice when the heat comes, and its leaves will stay fresh; in a year of drought it will not worry, and it will not stop bearing fruit.

On trust in G-d alone.

Its benefits for him in matters of Torah are these:

One of them is peace of mind, and trusting in his G-d as a servant must trust in his master. For if a person does not trust in G-d, he will trust in something else; and whoever trusts in something other than Hashem, G-d removes His providence from him and leaves him in the hands of the one he trusted.

He will be like the one of whom it is said, “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the source of living waters, to dig for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns” (Yirmiyahu 2:13). And it says, “They exchanged their glory for the image of an ox that eats grass” (Tehillim 106:20). And the pasuk says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem, and Hashem will be his security” (Yirmiyahu 17:7). And it says, “Fortunate is the man who has made Hashem his trust, and has not turned to the arrogant or to those who stray after lies” (Tehillim 40:5). And it says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in people and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from Hashem” (Yirmiyahu 17:5).

Many have asked about this Midrash: why does it begin by saying, “this is Yosef”? Its simple explanation is as follows.

The Torah does permit a person hishtadlus, effort, for his physical needs, as the pasuk says, “And [Hashem] will bless you in all that you do” (Devarim 15:18). And it is written, “And you shall gather in your grain and your wine” (Devarim 11:14), and Rabbi Yishmael said in Maseches Berachos (35b), “Conduct yourself with them in the way of the world.”

The heart of the matter is this: the principle for a Jew is that his heart should be calm and trusting in Hashem. The reason the Torah permitted hishtadlus is that not every person can reach the level of complete bitachon. Therefore hishtadlus was permitted, to help him reach the level of one who trusts. Every person needs to take up some work or business, so that it will be easier for him to trust in Hashem.

We find this throughout the Torah: sometimes it permits something so that it can help a person reach the level that is sought. As [Chazal] said, “A person should always engage in Torah and mitzvos even not lishmah, for through doing them not lishmah he will come to do them lishmah” (Pesachim 50b). Not lishmah was permitted so that it would help him arrive at lishmah.

Accordingly, the right amount of hishtadlus is not the same for everyone; each person according to his level. One who can come to trust with a little work, if he exerts himself beyond what he needs for that, it is already counted against him as a sin against the middah of bitachon, for he chased after hishtadlus and did not trust.

But one whose bitachon is still weaker than his friend’s may work more than his friend, until he too can calm his spirit and his heart to trust in Hashem. For the essence of bitachon is calming one’s spirit and heart, to cast one’s burden upon Hashem (Tehillim 55:23).