There are moments when fear seems to take command of the mind.
A medical report, financial crisis or threat from an enemy can quickly become all-consuming. The danger may be real but our thoughts grant it far greater authority than it often possesses.
In this week’s Torah portion, Moses offers the antidote in three of the most powerful words in the Torah: “Ein od milvado" - “There is none besides Him."
The full verse reads: “You were shown, in order to know, that the Lord, He is G-d; there is none besides Him" (Deuteronomy 4:35).
The wording is precise. Moses does not say that Israel was shown these things in order to believe. He says they were shown in order to know.
Belief can remain abstract. A person may believe in G-d and still mentally surrender to every source of pressure around him. Knowledge is different. It is a truth that has penetrated deeply enough to govern one’s reactions.
That distinction forms the basis of a remarkable teaching by Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin (1749-1821). In Nefesh HaChaim, Rav Chaim says that the contemplation of “Ein od milvado" is “a great principle and a wondrous segulah", or spiritual remedy. He writes that when a person fixes in his heart that Hashem alone is the only true power, that no force in any realm possesses independent authority, and that everything is filled with His absolute unity, other powers and hostile designs lose their ability to affect him.
This is sometimes reduced to a slogan: repeat “Ein od milvado" and the problem disappears.
But Rav Chaim is demanding something far more difficult.
He speaks of a person who “does not pay heed to any force or will in the world" and who binds the purity of his thought exclusively to the Master of all. The segulah is therefore not merely verbal. It is a discipline of attention.
That is the key.
Whatever commands our attention begins to command us. When we endlessly rehearse a fear, analyze it from every angle and imagine every possible disaster, we quietly elevate it into a power of its own. We may continue to profess faith, but our inner life tells a different story.
“Ein od milvado" interrupts that process.
It does not deny the existence of danger. It denies danger’s independence.
The doctor matters, but he is not the ultimate source of healing. Money matters, but it is not the ultimate source of security. Governments, armies and adversaries matter, but none of them controls the final outcome. They operate within a world that belongs entirely to Hashem.
This does not relieve us of responsibility. A person must consult the doctor, repair the financial problem, prepare for danger and take every prudent step. Trust in G-d is not an excuse for inaction.
But action and fear are not the same thing.
We can act vigorously without granting the challenge control over our thoughts. Indeed, that may be Rav Chaim’s deepest point: the first territory a Jew must defend in a crisis is his own consciousness.
This also explains why the Torah uses the word lada’at, “to know." The verse is asking us to establish a governing fact in the mind.
When panic rises, we must ask: What power am I attributing to this person, problem or threat? Have I begun to treat it as though it operates on its own? And can I redirect my mind toward the One from Whom all power derives?
That inner redirection is itself an act of spiritual courage.
It means refusing to let fear define reality. It means placing the problem in its proper proportion. And it means remembering that while we do not control events, neither do the forces that frighten us.
Only Hashem does.
The words “Ein od milvado" are therefore not an escape from reality. They are a correction of reality as we perceive it.
The world presents us with many apparent powers. The Torah asks us to look through them rather than bow before them.
To believe this is important.
But to know it can change everything.