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Duties of the Heart
Biblical Faith – with Shmuel “Sam” Peak
Emunah channel is here. For Info www.torahfaith.org
…Yet one must take initiative and pursue natural means; For example, although a person’s end and length of their life are determined by the decree of the Creator, may He be exalted, [they] must still pursue the [necessary] means of subsistence — food and drink, clothing and shelter — in accordance with [their] needs, and not leave this to HaShem, saying, if HaShem has foreordained that I will live, He will preserve my soul within my body without food, all the days of my life, and I need not bother to seek a livelihood and endure the toil and exertion this entails.
For example, the owner of a field should plow it, clear it of thorns, sow it, and water it, if the water is available; and at the same time, rely on the Creator, may He be exalted, to make it fertile, protect it from disasters, increase its yield, and bless it. He should not leave untilled and unsown, relying on the Creator’s predetermined that it will bear fruit without him first sowing seed. In the same way, artisans, merchants, and labors must pursue their livelihood in their respective callings, while trusting HaShem that sustenance is in His power and under His control, the He guarantees it to a man and provides it to him by whatever means He pleases. One should not think that the [intermediate] cause can help of harm him at all.
Dedicated to Joe and April Janutka
Program Link – Read the Torah w/Shmuel – Contact – Emunah Channel
Biblical Faith – with Shmuel “Sam” Peak
Emunah channel is here. For Info www.torahfaith.org
The Intent of the heart and the mind; when one is occupied in mind and body with one of the means of earning a living, let one’s intent to be fulfilled the commandments of the Creator, Who has commanded man to engage in worldly means such as working the soil, plowing and sowing it, as it is written: “HaShem, G-d, took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to work it and to keep it” (Bereshit 2:15); [Who has commanded man] to make use of the other living creatures for one benefit and sustenance; to build cities and prepare foods; to marry, be fruitful and multiply.
One will be rewarded for the intent of the heart and mind to perform these for HaShem’s sake, whether or not one carries out their desire, as it is written: “You will eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you will be happy and it will be well with you” (Tehillim 128:2).
Dedicated to Joe and April Janutka
Program Link – Read the Torah w/Shmuel – Contact – Emunah Channel
Biblical Faith – with Shmuel “Sam” Peak
Emunah channel is here. For Info www.torahfaith.org
As to HaShem’s favor bestowed on a wicked man — this sometimes happens on account of a previous good deed, for which HaShem rewards him in this world, as it says: “He repays His enemies to their face to destroy them” (Devarim 7:10), which the Early Ones rendered in the Targum as follows: “He repays His enemies during their lifetime [for] the good that they have done before Him, [so as ultimately] to destroy them.”
Sometimes wealth is placed in his charge like a deposit, until HaShem, may He be exalted, gives him a righteous son who is worthy of it, says: “He prepares it, but the righteous man will wear it” (Iyov 27:17); “But to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and amassing, to hand over to one who is good before HaShem” (Koheles 2:26).
Dedicated to Kenneth Paul Monfort
Program Link – Read the Torah w/Shmuel – Contact – Emunah Channel
Biblical Faith – with Shmuel “Sam” Peak
Emunah channel is here. For Info www.torahfaith.org
The reason the Creator obliged man to exert himself and search for the means of [obtaining] a livelihood and other necessities is twofold.
First, since Divine wisdom demands the trail of the soul with service of G-d or rebellion against Him, G-d tries the soul with what will reveal its choice in the matter, namely, with the need and want for that which is external to it — food, drink, clothing, shelter, and sexual relations. He commanded human beings to seek and obtain these requirements through the available means, in specific ways, and at certain times. What the Creator decrees a man should attain of the man realizes and attains through ample means which are provided him. What the Creator does not decree that he should attain of them he does not attain, and the means are withheld from him. His service or sin is demonstrated through his intent on — and choice of — one to the exclusion of the other, and this then determines reward or punishment, even if he does not carry it out in deed.
Dedicated to Kenneth Paul Monfort
Program Link – Read the Torah w/Shmuel – Contact – Emunah Channel
Biblical Faith – with Shmuel “Sam” Peak
Emunah channel is here. For Info www.torahfaith.org
A person who does not understand the affairs of the world thinks that it is the new, created cause that effects change in things and their transformation from one state to another. Actually, the cause is too weak and insignificant to bring about change or transformation in the essence of things. We perceive, for instance, that a single grain of wheat produces three hundred ears of wheat, each of which bears thirty grains, so that a single grain produces ten thousand grains, or nearly that number. Can anyone fail to recognize that the force [inherent] in the grain is insufficient to produce this amount? And so it is with other grains that are sown or planted. The same applies to the generation of a human being and of other living creatures from a drop of semen, or the growth of a large fish from a tiny fish egg.
Preoccupying oneself with advancing what the Creator, May He be exalted, delayed, or delaying what He advanced, or increasing what He diminished, or diminishing what He increased among worldly possessions – if it does not lead to the fulfillment of the duty to serve God and accept His Torah – reflects a lack of recognition of the true nature of His knowledge and ignorance of the beneficence of His government.
Dedicated to Jackson Lee, Alyssa Grace, and Seth Williams Mullins
Program Link – Read the Torah w/Shmuel – Contact – Emunah Channel
Biblical Faith – with Shmuel “Sam” Peak
Emunah channel is here. For Info www.torahfaith.org
When we investigate the seven conditions we find none of them in any created being, but we find all of them in the Creator, May He be exalted.
He is compassionate toward His creatures, as it is written: “G-d is compassionate and gracious” (Tehillim 103:8); “And should not I have compassion for Nineveh, that great city” (Yonah 4:11).
he is not neglectful, as it is written: “Truly, the Guardian of Yisrael neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Tehillim 121:4).
He is all-knowing and invincible, as it is written: “Wise of heart and mighty in power — whoever stubbornly resisted Him and survived?” (Ivoy 9:4); “Yours, G_d, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty” (Divrei Ha-Yamim I, 29:11); “HaShem your G-d is in your midst, a Warrior Who brings victory” (Tzefanyah 3:17).
He alone governs man from the beginning of his existence and development, as it says: “Is He not your Father, Who created you? He made you and established you” (Devarim 32:6); “I have been supported by You from the womb; from my mother’s belly You removed me” (Tehillim 71:6); “Have You not poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?” and so on, to the end of the chapter (Ivoy 10:10).
Dedicated to Royce Keys
Program Link – Read the Torah w/Shmuel – Contact – Emunah Channel
Biblical Faith – with Shmuel “Sam” Peak
Emunah channel is here. For Info www.torahfaith.org
Among the benefits of trust in G-d in this world are the following: a heart at rest, free of worldly cares; a tranquil spirit, undisturbed and untroubled by lack of bodily gratification; a sense of calm, security, and peace. As it says, “Blessed is the man who trust in G-d; G-d will be his refuge. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream” (Yirmiyahu 17:7-8).
Another advantage is the soul’s release from the need to set out on long journeys, which consume the body and shortened one’s life as it says: “He weakened my strength on the way; He shortened my days” (Tehillim 102:24).
Dedicated to Jim and Shirley Erlandsen
Program Link – Read the Torah w/Shmuel – Contact – Emunah Channel