When God Becomes Your Only Hope: Lessons from The Netziv on Divine Trust

Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (1816-1893), known as the Netziv, stands among the luminaries who guided Jewish thought during challenging times in the Diaspora. From his position as Rosh Yeshiva of the famed Volozhin Yeshiva, his brilliant Torah commentary Ha'emik Davar captured not just his extraordinary knowledge of Talmud but his profound understanding of the human spiritual condition.

This teaching explores a fascinating paradox the Netziv uncovers in Torah: the seemingly redundant phrase "if he has no redeemer" when describing someone finding the means to redeem themselves from servitude. Why mention the absence of a redeemer at all? The Netziv reveals a profound truth - this absence isn't incidental but causal. When we have powerful connections, wealthy relatives, or other human resources to rescue us from difficult situations, we naturally place our trust in these people rather than in God. However, when we find ourselves without human saviors, we have no choice but to place our complete trust in the Divine.

The spiritual implication is transformative. Our moments of greatest vulnerability - when all human possibilities are exhausted - become our greatest opportunities for experiencing God's redemption. When we stop searching for human solutions and acknowledge that our situation is unsolvable through conventional means, we create the spiritual conditions for divine intervention. The Netziv's teaching reminds us that sometimes having nowhere else to turn is precisely what allows us to find our true Redeemer. Have you experienced moments where having no safety net ultimately led to unexpected blessings? This profound paradox might explain why.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to The Netziv

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Kalal. Yisrael has had a few otherworldly Talmidei Chachamim to lead us during the Diaspora and over the last 500 years. One of those extraordinary Talmidei Chachamims was the great Nitziv Reb Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin. He was born in 1816 and he died in 1893. The Netziv, one of the Rashi Yeshivas of Valozhin, authored the famous commentary on the Torah titled Ha'emik Dovar, which is his commentary on the Torah but also contains his weekly Parsha Shiurim that he gave in Yeshivas Valozhin. These insights are foundational to what it means to be a Jew living in the diaspora and what it means to live life as a Ben-Torah and a Ben-Yashiva, notably what comes through when you learn that hey McDovar is the Nitziv's incredible knowledge of all of Shas, his remarkable B'kias, and in last week's Parsha he gives us an extraordinary insight. The Esh Ki Lo Yeh Lo Goel V'hi Stigal Yadom Matzah Kedah. Someone has become subjugated to somebody else. He becomes a worker, a part slave, a servant for somebody else and he needs to pay his way out. The verse says he doesn't have a redeemer and then he finds he prospers and he acquires enough to redeem himself with. The Netzev wants to know. The entire beginning of the verse seems to be extra. He didn't have and then, all of a sudden, he had enough money and now he can redeem his way out. What do we need the whole beginning story for? It doesn't seem to add anything, at least it would seem Comes the Netzev and explains to us. It would seem U'bala horos lanu derech moser Kamsa Netzevin explains to us Api derech moser, kizeh shaloyi elo goel. The fact that this person did not have a redeemer to rely upon, yavo yideikach shetasek yodo that led him. That was the direct cause as to how he found enough money to redeem himself. He explains what does this mean? Demi she'es lo goel v'hu boteach ha'lov.

Speaker 1: 2:09

If you have someone that you trust, a wealthy father-in-law or a colleague or a grandmother or a mom and a dad, you trust in them to save you. Mesir b'tchuno mashem. You removed your trust from God and you've placed it in somebody else. However, nevertheless, in a different scenario, if you have nobody else to rely upon, no wealthy father-in-laws and no incredibly powerful politicians to turn to, you wholeheartedly trust in Hashem, because you have nowhere else to turn, then you find what you need to pay your way out, not trusting in anyone else, feeling that it's unattainable, unsolvable, unrealizable for anything to get better, unless I trust in God and God alone. That is when you find enough to actually get out of your situation, when you stop looking elsewhere. That's when Hashem seems, according to Neftali Tzvui, yehuda Berlin. Then it says that's when God kicks in and that's when incredible things happen, when you have nowhere else to turn. Then you find your Redeemer. Thank you.