On the surface, faith (emunah) and trust (bitachon) may seem like very similar concepts, but our Sages and the great early commentators distinguished between them. One of the most beautiful demonstrations of this difference can be found in two foundational stories about Rabbi Akiva and his teacher, Nachum Ish Gamzu. Nachum Ish Gamzu lived before the destruction of the Temple, while Rabbi Akiva experienced the destruction and lived the second half of his life without the Holy Temple. This fact is essentially connected to the difference between faith and trust. We will briefly recount Rabbi Akiva's story and examine several aspects of it.
The Story of Rabbi Akiva's Salvation
The famous story about Rabbi Akiva (Berachot 60b) likely occurred after the destruction of the Holy Temple. Rabbi Akiva sought lodging in a particular village. The villagers refused to take him in, and Rabbi Akiva was forced to spend the night in the field. Despite this, he said, "All that the Merciful One does is for the best." During the night, a cat ate Rabbi Akiva's rooster, a lion devoured his donkey, and the wind extinguished his candle. Yet Rabbi Akiva persisted, saying, "All that the Merciful One does is for the best." The next day, he learned that during the night, the Romans had attacked the village and taken all its inhabitants captive. Rabbi Akiva then said to his disciples, "Didn't I tell you that everything the Holy One, Blessed be He, does is all for the best?"
Faith in Dormancy
In this story, matter reveals its baseness and weakness: the animals were devoured by their natural predators, and the fire in the candle succumbed to the wind. Nevertheless, Rabbi Akiva remained in complete faith that everything is for the best, and his spirit was not extinguished. Despite all the negative occurrences, Rabbi Akiva cleaved to his faith that everything that happens is ultimately for his benefit, and the end will reveal this. Indeed, the next day, the magnitude of the miracle of salvation that God performed for him was revealed to Rabbi Akiva. However, the story does not end entirely well. The animals were still devoured, and more seriously, the people of the village were taken captive. There is no true consolation for the general public, despite the revelation that all the damages that occurred during the night were for Rabbi Akiva's benefit.
Rabbi Akiva's response to the difficulties that befall him, to the darkness in which he finds himself, gives expression to the verse "and Your faithfulness in the nights" (Psalms 92:3). The attribute of faith belongs primarily to the night, to mental states in which the good in a situation is not clearly visible. Rabbi Akiva's saying is in Aramaic, the language of translation, symbolizing slumber – the dormancy of the soul's powers. Yet, despite "I am asleep” – “my heart is awake" – through the power of faith.
The Believer will not Hasten
It is easy to see that this story serves as a kind of introduction to the way Rabbi Akiva recited "Shema Yisrael" with complete faith (the meaning of the verse "Shema Yisrael" is that in the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will reveal Himself and be the one God of all nations) while the Romans were torturing him to death. The course of Rabbi Akiva's life and the stories about the Ten Martyrs in general teach us that during exile, serving God depends primarily on faith. Only with faith can one survive the darkness of the long night of exile.
But faith has another important aspect. The prophet Isaiah said, "Therefore, thus says Havayah God: Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; he who believes will not be in haste" (Isaiah 28:16). Rashi explains this verse: "The decree has been made before Me, and I have established a Messianic king who will be in Zion as a testing stone… He who believes this matter will not hasten it – he will not say, 'If it is true, let it come quickly.'" The believer does not attempt to hasten the end. He quietly endures the weight of exile and waits for the morning that will surely come, without criticizing the attributes of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and without trying to force reality to change according to his will. As is evident in the story: Rabbi Akiva does not argue with the villagers but accepts the judgment and goes out to the field, despite the dangers (although his interpretation of "A star shall come out of Jacob" regarding Bar Kochba teaches that he continued to eagerly anticipate redemption).
Faith Returns Existence to Nothingness
What should we do in the meantime, while waiting for the good to be revealed and for redemption to come? The Maggid of Mezeritch said that the work of the righteous in our era is to return existence to nothingness. While the Holy One, Blessed be He, created the world by turning nothingness into existence, during exile, faith requires returning existence to nothingness. It is upon us to uncover the baseness and weakness of nature so that we can reveal the Creator behind it. This rectifies the cause of exile. Exile in the world, like exile in the soul, is a result of the feeling that "My power and the might of my hand have brought me this prosperity." Exile is a product of following the nature of the world without seeing the Creator in it. To frame it in the language of soul work, I am in exile when I identify with my ego, with my sense of self. Rectification of the ego is accomplished by identifying with its lowliness. Rabbi Akiva identifies with the fact that he was rejected from the village and attributes it to God and His goodness. He identifies that the loss of his animals and the fact that his candle was extinguished are a gift from God. Through this power, he survives the difficulties in his illustrious life.
