Rabbi Shimon Azarzar, may Hashem preserve him, tells us the following curious anecdote:
Recently, I had the opportunity to be around Guivat Shaul in Jerusalem on a Thursday afternoon, and when I asked a passerby for a minyan for Mincha prayers, he directed me to the entrance of a garage and car sales agency. I said gently, "Maybe you misunderstood me, I'm looking for a synagogue to pray the tefillah of Mincha." My interlocutor had not been confused and told me: "Go to the car dealership and there you will see a synagogue that has nothing to ask of any other synagogue of the most ultra-Orthodox."
I entered the huge compound and walked to the Bet Midrash which served as the agency's place of prayer for workers and visitors. As I entered, I found a distinguished group of students listening to the sweet lesson of Gaon Rabbi Schwartz, shlita, from the book Zera Shimshon. The Rabbi conveyed the words of the Zera Shimshon with special clarity, supplementing them with moral lessons, on the Torah portion of the week.
I stood there in amazement, rubbing my eyes to see if it was real. What does a synagogue do inside a car shop-dealership? And, even more curiously, what does a shiur of the Zera Shimshon have to do with the synagogue of a workshop? The audience present was very diverse; I was puzzled as to what could connect them all. Of course, I didn't dare interrupt with questions like these during the lesson and waited until the end of the shiur and the tefillah of Mincha that followed. Then I approached the Rav who gave the lesson and asked about what was behind the particularity of this shiur. Rav Schwartz referred me to the owner of the agency, who, of course, was at the head of the class participants, telling me, "Listen to the story directly from the source."
The owner of the dealership replied without hesitation: "The shiur increases income! Plain and simple. It's proven. Like any business, we want to increase the volume of transactions, so just as we invest in marketing and advertising, we also invest in Zera Shimshon classes." I asked, "Well, does that technique work?" "Of course it works!", the owner of the workshop replied, continuing his remarks with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. "In the same week that we established the shiur here in the synagogue, we tripled our sales of luxury cars. And, ever since, the blessing has remained here in the business. Our recurring sales volume changed for better beyond recognition, something not often seen in the industry. We can tangibly see that the blessing of the Zera Shimshon is fulfilled and that he is a righteous defense lawyer who advocates on behalf of all those who seek his favor and who fulfill his plea. The Tzaddik influences an abundance of blessings from above in an inexplicable and completely supernatural way. Anyone who wants blessing joins this wonderful and special shiur. This also explains the diversity of styles and personalities of the participants. And you still ask me what the shiur of the Zera Shimshon has to do with the dealership?!"
