The parashah begins with the words אם תלכו תי חקב. The Divrei Yisrael of Modzhitz explains that חק refers to parnassah (as in חוקי לחם הטריפני, Mishlei 30:8). The pasuk is saying that if you believe your parnassah is from Hashem, בעתם גשמיכם ונתתי, you will have an abundance of parnassah.
The Divrei Yisrael of Modzhitz zt'l writes, "There is nothing better for parnassah than emunah."
Reb Moshe of Kobrin zt'l said that a businessman must believe that every aspect of his business dealings is from Hashem. What he buys, the items he sells, and the prices are all decreed from Above. When one has this emunah, he will succeed in all his ways.
Reb Yaakov Kopel zt'l (a student of the Baal Shem Tov zt'l) was called "The Shevisinik" by people because as he did business, he would always say the pasuk (Tehillim 16:8) לנגדי 'ה שויתי תמיד, "I have set Hashem before me always." He was constantly thinking of Hashem as he worked.
Reb Yaakov Kopel also had a very accurate scale, as the Torah obligates (Vayikra 19:36) צדק מאזני, "You shall have correct scales." The Jewish merchants would borrow his scale at the marketplace to benefit from his accurate weights. On a day that Reb Yaakov Kopel didn't come to the market, the merchants said to each other, "We can't do business today because the Shevisinik isn't here." They meant: (a) In Reb Yaakov Kopel's absence, they don't have an accurate scale. (b) In general, it is impossible to do business without Shevisi, without the awareness of תמיד לנגדי 'ה שויתי, that everything comes from Hashem.
In his younger years, Rebbe Moshe of Kapishnitz zt'l was a diamond merchant in Manhattan. There was a tekufah where several weeks had passed without a single sale. He told his father, Rebbe Avraham Yehoshua Heshel zt'l of Kapishnitz, מאך איך גארנישט, "I'm making nothing." His father replied, "You said it correctly. You can't do anything. Hashem decides whether you will earn parnassah or not."
One Erev Shabbos, after another unsuccessful week, he returned the diamonds to his home safe and said, "Ribono Shel Olam, I see that I really can't do anything." Just then, the house phone rang. On the phone was a merchant who needed to buy a large number of diamonds. Reb Moshe made more money at that moment than he hoped to earn during all the weeks he didn't make a sale. This is because when one believes that everything comes from Hashem, he will see tremendous siyata dishmaya. Emunah is mesugal for parnassah.
On the other hand, thinking that you can earn parnassah on your own, without Hashem's help, results in failure. The Mishnah (end of Kiddushin) states, "Why do animals have their parnassah without difficulty, while I must struggle for my parnassah? It is because my deeds aren't good. My aveiros caused me to lose my parnassah."
The Mishnah's words are פרנסתי את קפחתי, which means I chopped away at my parnassah. We can also explain that the word קפחתי contains the same letters as פקחתי, which means wisdom. The Mishnah is saying that I forfeited my parnassah because I thought I was wise and that I could earn parnassah with my clever ideas. That is a formula for failure. When a person realizes that he can't make parnassah without Hashem's help, he is already on the path to success.
An old, blind priest was selling a forest for an excellent price, and a Chortkover chasid planned to buy it. His friends and business advisors all told him that it was the deal of a lifetime, an opportunity he couldn't pass up. He can earn millions.
He told Rebbe Dovid Moshe of Chortkov zt'l about the immense wealth he would soon earn from this phenomenal venture. Very surprisingly, Rebbe Dovid Moshe advised him not to purchase the forest. But the chasid didn't listen to his rebbe's counsel. How could he give up such a deal? He bought the forest and immediately sent workers to begin chopping down trees. They returned with the sad report that the trees were all rotten.
He lost all his money in this business venture. He returned to Rebbe Dovid Moshe two years later and cried, "I know I was wrong. I should have listened to the Rebbe's ruach hakodesh."
The Rebbe replied, "It wasn't ruach hakodesh. It is just that when you spoke to me about your business venture, you didn't once say im yirtzeh Hashem. You were confident you would succeed and didn't think you needed Hashem's help. And I know that when one does business with that attitude, he is set for failure. That's why I advised you against buying the forest."
1. The Beis HaLevi was once near a forest in Brisk, and he heard a businessman say, "Forest! It is because of you that I lost all my money." The Beis HaLevi replied, "You didn't lose your money because you bought this forest. You bought the forest because it was destined that you should lose your money."
People often say, "These are hard times for parnassah. In the past, it was easier, but now we came upon hard times." Their mistake is that they think the "time" is the problem when in truth parnassah is dependent on the extent of emunah one has. As it states (Yeshayah 33:6), עתיך אמונת והיו, the times (good or bad) are according to your emunah.
Reb Yitzchok of Neshchiz zt'l asked, since parnassah and bounty depend on emunah, why are there people who don’t believe in Hashem, and yet they have parnassah? The answer is that Hashem has rachmanus on them because it is truthfully difficult to have parnassah without emunah.
