Charlie Brown, the Chazon Ish, and Bitachon

I have learned a little more about faith in Hashem from an old Peanuts
cartoon during this time of being  at home due to the health
precautions here in Israel. Charlie Brown explains in that comic strip
that security in life is, “sleeping in the back of the car when you
are a little child,” while your parents drive, “you don’t have to
worry about anything, your mother and father are in the front and they
do all the worrying... they take care of everything… but it doesn’t
last, suddenly you’re grown up and it can never that way again.” This
powerful thought is not only the musings of a comic character, but it
is also very similar to the thinking of one our greatest gedolim.

The Chazon Ish in Emunah VeBitachon says that bitachon is trusting
that what Hashem does is the right thing. It is like Emunah actualized
l'maaseh. We
believe whatever happens, good or bad, it is God’s will. Not that we
shouldn’t try to affect our lives and fate, but we must realize, that
in the end of the day, while we can make ourselves more comfortable in
the “back seat,” and adjust our “seat belt,” we are in Hashem’s car
and he does all the “worrying,” and things will turn out not
necessarily the way we planned it.

Sitting at home at the orders of our local government, wondering about
our health, our livelihoods, and the national and global economies,
things out of our hands. Whatever we think about the interventions of
our governments and leaders, we can’t do anything, it is up to them to
solve this problem we now all face. We can worry about stretching out
our budgets, or keeping children occupied, or how to learn over Zoom,
but in the end of the day, everything is in the hands of political
leaders.

Really life is like this, everything is in the hands of the leader of
all leaders, God. Sitting at home is a good time to recognize this.
For thousands of years Jews have sat hurdled in their homes, in fear
of what is outside, waiting for the knock on the door, the screech of
the mob, the horror on the other side but knowing that whatever
happens, it is the will of God. Now it’s our turn to sit at home,
feeling powerless, stuck, and fearful. It is out of our control. We
have to trust in our local governments and more importantly, we have
to learn to trust whatever is the will of God.

We are Hashem’s children, he is in the driver’s seat and while we can
make the back seat more comfortable and remember to put on our seat
belts, at the end of the day, we are not driving the car and to trust,
whatever the end of the journey is, it is the one that God, chose for
us, His children, as he has for thousands of years.