For emunah is like the tree, and bitachon like the fruit; and the fruit is a sign of the tree, or of the plant, that grew that fruit. But the tree or the plant is not a sign of the fruit, for there are trees that do not bear fruit, and many plants as well. But there is no fruit without a tree or a plant. And just as piety points to wisdom, for it cannot be unless [the person] was wise, as it says, “An ignorant man is not pious, and a boor does not fear sin” (Avos 2:5); but wisdom is not a sign of piety, for a person may be wise and yet wicked.

So too bitachon and emunah: everyone who trusts believes, since a person trusts only in one who he believes has the power to fulfill his request. But not everyone who believes trusts. For at times he fears lest sin cause [harm], or that he has already received [the reward] for his good deeds in the possessions the Creator made for him; and since he finds himself a sinner and a transgressor against the kindnesses of the Creator, he cannot bring himself to trust in Him that He will save him from his trouble, or give him his heart’s wish and his desire. And so he will make efforts, by the ordinary way of the world, to be saved from his trouble, or to attain what he asks and seeks.

Were it not for the fear lest sin cause [harm], making efforts to be saved even by the ordinary way of the world would be a lack in his emunah; for it is written, “I have not seen a tzaddik forsaken, or his children begging bread” (Tehillim 37:25). And even Hillel and Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa and their fellows, who were very poor, with very little money, were not forsaken, since they never acquired possessions. For the word “forsaking” applies only to one who was supported and afterward forsaken; but one who was never supported is not forsaken. And there is no forsaking for nothing, without sin and without iniquity. Therefore one who is sure of himself that he has never sinned cannot be afraid. But one who is afraid because of sin may be afraid that trouble will come upon him on account of that sin.

And one who knows himself to be a tzaddik, but has in mind what is said, “You should have helped Me” (Shabbos 89a): his heart is toward Heaven, and he does well; this is no lack in emunah. And so with one who fears lest sin cause [harm], since he believes that the power is in His hand.

But because he knows that there is no favoritism before Him, and that HaKadosh Baruch Hu can keep His promise in one respect and collect His debt in another, he therefore fears lest sin cause him not to be saved from his trouble. Like Yaakov Avinu, alav hashalom, to whom Hashem promised, saying, “Here I am with you” (Bereishis 28:15); and he was afraid of Esav, as it is written, “Yaakov was very afraid, etc.” (Bereishis 32:8). He sent a gift ahead [to Esav] and divided his servants into two camps, and he was afraid lest sin cause [harm]. And so we find with David, who believed he would see the goodness of Hashem (Tehillim 27:13), and was afraid lest sin cause [harm]; as Chazal said: Why are there dots over [the word] לולא? Because he was afraid lest sin cause [harm] (Berachos 4a).

So one who believes may be afraid lest sin cause [harm], but one who trusts is not afraid lest sin cause [harm], as David said, “He will not be afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in Hashem” (Tehillim 112:7); and in another pasuk he says, “In Hashem I have trusted; I will not be afraid” (Tehillim 56:5, 12). And this pasuk, that is, “In Hashem I have trusted,” does not contradict the words of our Rabbis, peace be upon them; for this was said of this world, and “Were it not that I believed” was said of the World to Come. So it has been made clear that everyone who trusts believes, but not everyone who believes trusts; and this is according to the saying “lest sin cause.”

But according to the plain sense of the pasuk, even if Yaakov was not distressed lest sin cause [harm], but [only] because of the way of the world, that is, because of the great force that was with Esav, as it says, “And four hundred men are with him” (Bereishis 32:7), his trust in the Creator was not lacking; that is, [as to] whether he should fear that Esav would harm him. For so HaKadosh Baruch Hu had said, “Here I am with you, and I will guard you” (Bereishis 28:15), meaning him and his children; for one whose children die in his lifetime would not be called guarded. And the proof of this is from what [Chazal] said on the matter of “For I will go down to my son, mourning, to the grave” (Bereishis 37:35): HaKadosh Baruch Hu had handed him a sign, etc.

But the rest of the people who were with him, and the sheep and the cattle, were possessions he had acquired; and it was possible that some of them would be lost, and in part of them “for I will not leave you” would [still] be fulfilled. And this is why he said, “The camp that is left will escape” (Bereishis 32:9), which means: perforce it will escape; that is, the Omnipresent has already promised me, and said to me, “For I will not leave you” (Bereishis 28:15): at any rate the camp that is left will escape. And this resembles what [Chazal] said about the episode of the spies: “I will strike them with pestilence and destroy them” (Bamidbar 14:12); Moshe said before Him, What will You do about Your oath? He said, “And I will make you into a great nation” (ibid.). Here too, “if Esav comes to the one camp and strikes it,” perforce “the camp that is left will escape.” So Yaakov trusted in what He had said to him, “Here I am with you”; but because of the one camp he sent the gift ahead.

And Yaakov did not divide his wives and his children into two camps, only the people who were with him and the livestock that was his, as it says, “And he divided the people who were with him, and the sheep, the cattle and the camels, into two camps” (Bereishis 32:8). Since he did not divide them, we learn that he was not afraid that Esav would strike them; for had he been afraid, he would have divided them, along with the rest of the people and the livestock, into two camps. And what he said, “Lest he come and strike me, mother with children” (Bereishis 32:12), he said with regard to the people who were with him. And this is why he set next to it, “And You said, ‘I will surely do good with you’” (Bereishis 32:13); and he did not need to say, “and I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth.” But since he came to mention the promise that the possessions would be guarded, for the sake of the one camp, that it not be lost, and asked for mercy on them, he mentioned the children as well, although he did not need to pray for them, since he had already been promised that they would be guarded.

It is also possible to say that Yaakov Avinu intended, in sending the gift ahead and in dividing them into two camps, to provide a place for the help and rescue that comes to him from Heaven, so as not to put a burden before the Creator, according to the plain sense of the saying “You should have helped Me.” And it is written, “And he sells some of his holding” (Vayikra 25:25): and not all of his holding; the Torah has taught proper conduct, that a person should leave himself one field. And it is written, “And Elisha said to her, ‘What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?’” (Melachim II 4:2).

And since it is not necessary that everyone who believes trusts, though it is possible, while everyone who trusts believes without doubt, therefore Scripture always warns about bitachon more than about emunah.

And these two things, bitachon and emunah, it mentioned together in one pasuk, as it says, “Trust in Hashem and do good; dwell in the land and tend emunah” (Tehillim 37:3). It warned about bitachon first, and afterward about the good deed, to make known that the bitachon is that one trust in Him that He will help him do His mitzvos. Had it said, “Do good and trust in Hashem,” I would have said that this bitachon that it warned about was said of the reward for the good deed, and not of the needs of this world, in which he needs [Him] to help him and support him: that is, the means and the circumstances that prepare the good deed. That is why it said first, “Trust in Hashem,” meaning, that He will help and support him to do His will and His mitzvos; and afterward it said, “and do good,” meaning, pursue the mitzvos and make efforts to do them, and do not be slack in doing good because of your limited ability, for He will support you and help you. This is the explanation of “Trust in Hashem and do good.” And this is his intent in putting the command of bitachon before the command of the good deed.

And this explanation is better than saying that this bitachon was said of the reward for the good deed. For there is no difference between one who trusts in Him that He will repay him with good for a mitzvah he did, and one who trusts in Him that He will grant his request for a prayer he prayed before Him with all his heart and all his soul; and this is a thing that recalls sin, as Chazal said, “Three things recall a person’s sins, and these are: a leaning wall, and examining one’s prayer” (Berachos 55a): that is, he examines his prayer and says that he prayed a complete prayer, and it is fitting that his request be granted him from Heaven. And Antigonos of Socho already spoke of this to his students: “Do not be like servants who serve the master on condition of receiving a reward” (Avos 1:3); that is, when you serve Him, do not let your trust in Him be to receive the reward at once; for if so, you bring it on yourselves that your sins are recalled, like one who examines his prayer. But one who gives a sela to charity so that his son will live, or so that he will merit the life of the World to Come (Pesachim 8a), is not included in this. For from the outset, when he did this mitzvah, in which he is free to give less or more, and he did it for that purpose, he is not like one who eats matzah on the eve of Pesach, or buys a lulav for himself, or keeps Shabbos, and the like, about which Scripture said, “Trust in Hashem and do good.”

Furthermore, it is impossible in any way to explain “Trust in Hashem” as about the reward of a mitzvah, either in this world or in the World to Come, since it had not yet warned him about the deed; how then would it warn him to trust in Him that He will repay him with good? And after mentioning bitachon, which is the effect, it mentioned emunah, which is the cause, and said, “Dwell in the land and tend emunah.”

Further, it said, “Trust in Hashem and do good,” meaning: even if you have no [good] deeds in your hand, and you know yourself to be wicked, nevertheless trust in Hashem, for He is merciful and will have mercy on you, as it says, “And His mercy is on all His works” (Tehillim 145:9), meaning tzaddikim and wicked. And [Chazal] said, When a person is in pain, what does the Shechinah say? “I am in pain from My head; I am in pain from My arm” (Mishnah Sanhedrin 6:5). That is why it said first, “Trust in Hashem”: that is, whether you are a tzaddik or wicked, trust in Hashem. And afterward it said, “and do good”: that is, although He is merciful and gracious, do not let your inclination assure you that you will not see harm; for the Creator is long-suffering, but collects what is His. And if He forgives you once, twice and three times, as it is written, “Behold, G-d does all these things two, three times with a man” (Iyov 33:29), afterward He will exact payment from you. And so, when you see that He has mercy on you and fulfills your requests, then you must do good.