People of faith are taught to trust in God and to depend on His decisions for us. But we neither understand what trusting in Him entails nor who God is. So, we’ll examine both here from a classical Jewish perspective.
And we’ll begin with R’ Tzadok HaCohen’s statement that everything we say and teach should serve to explain the fact and make-up of God (Pri Tzaddik, Metzorah 10), and Bachya Ibn Pakudah’s remark that “The philosopher was right when he said that, ‘No one serves The Cause of All Causes and The First of All Firsts but the prophet of the generation, who comes to it naturally, and the master philosopher, who comes to it through wisdom. Everyone else worships someone else.” (Chovot HaLevovot 1:1).
(c) 2015 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.
You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.
Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.