Simple Emunah

The story of Nochum Ish Gamzu is one of many that show how much good simple emunah brings. Caesar already had every precious stone he wanted, and a few more would have meant little to him. In Hashem's compassion for His oppressed people, He brought about a far greater salvation than they had hoped for, but that salvation depended on Nochum passing a very hard test of emunah, and he passed it. The writings of the Arizal and of Rebbe Nachman teach that simple emunah is not simple at all. Those who rely on clever ideas have nothing to fall back on in times of stress. Simple emunah is malchus, the light of the Divine Presence, and so it goes beyond human intelligence. The height of knowledge is to know that we know nothing. What we do know is that everything Hashem does is for the very best, and this we learn from Nochum Ish Gamzu.