When is the preferable time to recite Birkat Ha'levana (the blessing over the new moon) for the month of Tishrei?

Today  we will study chapter 37 of Tehilim, pasuk 4:

וְהִתְעַנַּ֥ג עַל־ה׳  וְיִֽתֶּן־לְ֝ךָ֗ מִשְׁאֲלֹ֥ת לִבֶּֽךָ

Delight  in God, and He will give you your heart’s desires. 

How is  this a pasuk regarding bitachon?

In the prior pasuk,  he told us 

בְּטַ֣ח בַּ֭ה׳ וַעֲשֵׂה־ט֑וֹב

Trust in Hashem and do good

 

 This  a continuation of that topic. 

Here,  David Hamelech tells us two Hiddushim  that Brisker Rav explains.

  Firstly, when  a person knows that  he’s going to make money in a deal, and he’s sure he’s going to get it, ‏ his happiness is not complete until he actually has the money in his hand.  Once the check clears,  or the deal goes through,  then he really delights.. 

“But the highest level of bitachon is  when  his reliance  is so strong that he’ll already feel that delight as if he already has it in his pocket.”

That’s what וְהִתְעַנַּ֥ג עַל־ה׳  Delight in God means- when  you’ve reached the level of delighting as if you already have what you’re relying for,

Then

וְיִֽתֶּן־לְ֝ךָ֗ מִשְׁאֲלֹ֥ת לִבֶּֽךָ

Hashem will give you your heart’s desire.  

Your bitachon has to be so strong that you already feel like it’s in your pocket.  

The Ben Yehoyada and other commentaries explain that the  reason the great Hillel waited until Friday to shop for his Shabbat food (unlike Shammai who would start on Sunday, replace it with something better  on Monday etc.) was that he felt that it was already in his pocket.   He felt so strongly that he had it already.  Of course,  this is a very high level. But we should know that  there were such people, and that this level existed. 

So our  first point  is that bitachon can be Vadai- For sure.  We can be so sure that we will get what we are relying on Hashem for,   that we already feel that delight. 

The Brisker Rav points out another Hiddush from  his pasuk. He says that the pasuk is testifying that through bitachon, “we can get anything.”

And if you reach that level, where you are convinced, וְיִֽתֶּן־לְ֝ךָ֗ מִשְׁאֲלֹ֥ת לִבֶּֽךָ  you can literally get your heart’s desire. You can get everything. 

The Baalei Bitachon bring down  a famous story about an argument between two great rabbis, Rav Yisrael Salantar and the Rashash (Rav Shmuel Strashun) about whether a person could have bitachon for luxuries.  This  pasuk was cited as one of the sources, because it says 

וְיִֽתֶּן־לְ֝ךָ֗ מִשְׁאֲלֹ֥ת לִבֶּֽךָ

He will give your  heart’s  desires. 

Heart’s desires  means  anything.  

They further prove this point from another story (which we have mentioned in the past) from  the Gemarah, in Masechet Ketubot: (67b)

A man once came to Rava, and Rava asked him what he’d like to eat.  The man requested a fattened chicken and old wine. Rava asked why he wasn’t worried about putting such big burden  on the people. It’s like  asking for  luxuries from a free soup kitchen. 

But the man replied that he wasn’t taking from them, he was getting from God, as it says, “Poteach et Yadecha- Open your hands and He will provide.”

At that moment, Rava’s sister, whom he hadn’t seen for 13 years,  came to visit him, and she brought with her, a fattened  chicken and old wine. Rava  told the man, “Take this, it’s yours.  Your bitachon brought it.” 

What do we see from here? 

We see that Hashem  brought luxuries to this man,  through his bitachon!

You can get a gold watch or a fancy, new car. Don’t feel that your bitachon isn’t for  asking  for luxuries or extras. Don’t think that your Bitachon is for the bare minimum. No.

The  pasuk tells us, 

וְהִתְעַנַּ֥ג עַל־ה׳  וְיִֽתֶּן־לְ֝ךָ֗ מִשְׁאֲלֹ֥ת לִבֶּֽךָ

Hashem will give you your heart’s desires. 

We  actually have an ‘opportunity’ to receive this  every week.  The Gemarah,  in Masechet Shabbat ( 118b), says that anybody who delights with Shabbat  gets his heart’s desires. And it quotes this pasuk. וְהִתְעַנַּ֥ג

 עַל־ה׳ 

One of the ways that we rejoice on God is with Shabbat. We shut down our businesses, we enjoy God’s presence, we rely on Him (because we aren’t doing anything), and that gives us our heart’s desires.

That means that the Oneg/enjoyment  Shabbat that we get is  from our Bitachon. So even if we  aren’t yet on the highest level, our bitachon of Shabbat can also bring us our heart’s desires.  

B’ezrat Hashem, we should all raise our levels of Bitachon,  and see the fruits of our labor, with Hashem fulfilling our heart’s desires.