Transcript of the video:

Concerning faith, the Torah of life, our instruction for daily life, instructs us with two ideas that seem to conflict with one-another: On the one hand, man is required to trust in G-d, and this is a basic principle of our faith and our Torah. Jewish Law explains that “Trust in G-d” means literally – to firmly trust that everything will work out in a visible and clear way. This is explained at length in the Gate of Faith in Duties of the Heart and elsewhere, and it is also evident from numerous statements in Talmud; this is in addition to numerous chassidic texts which discuss trust in G-d, such as the explanations on Zohar of the Mittler Rebbe, of the Tzemach Tzedek, Likkutei Torah on the verse, “Trust in G-d forever,” and in other places. The specific point is to trust that G-d will send a clear, positive outcome – to the extent that one must pray and utilize all possible means to achive the good outcome, and “never, ever, lose hope.” No matter if he is shown – from above or from below signs that he will not prevail, he must be firm in his trust in G-d that through prayer and his good deeds he can reverse the situation entirely, making it even better that it was before. And specifically an obvious, revealed good. This is also expressed in Jewish Law: Maimonides writes in his Laws of Prayer, that it is a biblical obligation that whenever a Jew is in need, whatever the need may be, he is commanded – and this is a positive commandment of Torah – to turn to G-d in prayer to fill his needs. This is the Mitzvah of prayer. Prayer begins with the text of the prayer book, itself, asking G-d for sustenance, health, and all one’s needs, as enumerated in the Amidah prayer. And at the Shema Kolenu prayer ane may add additional personal requests to the standard text of the prayers.

At the same time, however, one is commanded that after a negative event has already occurred, one must “thank G-d for whatever He sends,” as the Talmud states: “Just as one must bless G-d for happy tidings, so must one bless Him for the opposite, as well.” And just as with every other Mitzvah, this must be carried out joyfully, as the Talmud teaches, that one must reaffirm: “Whatever the Merciful One does is for the good,” and “This, too, is good.” In fact, the latter statement is stronger and more to the point, as apparent from the cases brought in the Talmud: “Whatever the Merciful One does is for the good” was declared by Rabbi Akiva when he suffered a loss – even though ultimately that loss saved him from a greater loss. Whereas Nachum Ish Gam Zu declared, “this, too, is good,” and he suffered no loss at all. In fact, when his precious gems were stolen, the dirt which the thief left in place of his gems turned out to be more valuable than the gems themselves. So in the end, he suffered no loss at all.

The explanation: A Jew must always live by the Torah of life; and life, by definition, is expressed in energy, enthusiasm and joy. Every moment of life, no matter what other conditions may change, you are unchangingly and essentially, alive. And so, regardless of the situation, one must be fully alive – through Torah. So even if something occurs that one’s prayers could not prevent, and the outcome was not good, this certainly should not take away from his life-force, for we are commanded to serve the Living G-d through fulfilling the directives of the Torah of Life – including to always be joyful. So clearly, notwithstanding the negative circumstance, at all times he must continue to serve G-d with joy and happiness, to accept his present circumstances happily – even while, at the very same time, he askes and trusts that G-d will change his circumstance into tangible, visible, good.

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