The Way It Really Works: And Then Hashem Does
On the corner of King George Street and Ha-Ma’alot Street sits City Market.
At first glance, it is your modest everyday little corner store.
But anyone who lives in or frequents the area knows that City Market is really Avi’s Store. Because Avi is something of an unassuming Jerusalem legend. He is kind, friendly, and genuinely interested in people. Everyone who walks in greets him.
“Hello, Avi!”
They know exactly what awaits them: a warm greeting, a bright smile, a listening ear, and straightforward wisdom and clarity.
People passing by on the street wave to him too. They smile. He smiles back, waving enthusiastically.
Avi seems to know everyone.
And everyone seems to know Avi.
His prices are great.
But I suspect people return for something far more valuable.
I know I do.
More than once, I have stopped by not because I needed groceries, but simply because I wanted to talk to Avi.
Because he has a healthy, grounded, deeply helpful approach to life.
Just today we found ourselves laughing about how funny life is, how surprising, how inspiring, how interesting.
Over many philosophical conversations, Avi and I have spoken about life, emunah, courage, and the interesting way Hashem unfolds our paths before us.
But perhaps the greatest lesson I have learnt from Avi has been about the definition of bitachon.
“This is the foundation of life,” He says.
“It’s in the Torah. We have to be like Nachshon. We have to be brave and fearless and simply jump in. Take that leap of faith, before we know how things will truly unfold. And then Hashem will follow with the yeshua.”
So often we pray desperately for a yeshuah and wait for Hashem to create the miracle. We think we just have to trust in Him to do, and then He’ll do.
But more often than not Hashem is waiting for us to take that first step, for us to courageously make the first move.
Bitachon means trusting Him enough to take that first step ourselves. We trust Him, therefore we act. We take that leap of faith, without knowing how things will actually work out. Because we trust Him. And only then does He do His part.
That’s naaseh v’nishma. We don’t wait to understand or know how things will work out before we act. We act first, even when we can’t yet see the way forward. Only afterwards, we may get to see and understand how Hashem has guided our path and worked things out for us.
First we do.
Only afterwards do we understand.
The more Avi and I have spoken about this, the more I have come to understand the depth of this simplicity and clarity.
This seems to be how life works.
To trust.
To step into the unknown without needing to know exactly how things will work out.
Because when we finally take that leap, we discover that we are not free falling at all.
We are falling directly into His arms.