Story of the week (By Yehuda Z. Klitnick)
R’ Dovid lived in one of the big cities of Poland. He was a chosid of Harav Gershon Henoch of Radzin, Izbitza, author of Sefer Sod Yeshorim. (4 days of Teves 5651) R’ Dovid was one of the richest merchants in the city. He owned several businesses. His hand was opened to every charitable cause and his house was always open to guests.
R’ Dovid was also very active during the thirty days before Purim, and Pesach, immersing himself entirely in doing chesed. Purim during the day, there would be a long line of people waiting for him. R’ Dovid would give everyone a nice amount of money.
But suddenly, there was a monetary collapse throughout Europe, and many factories and businesses closed down. R’ Dovid found himself short of funds and unable to pay bills. R’ Dovid kept acting like everything was normal, as if he was still the rich man of the city. His family and household members all knew well what the situation was, but they kept silent about it.
The depression continued, and by Rosh Chodesh Adar, R’ Dovid began to worry about all the Yidden who would come to his door from Purim to Pesach expecting a donation. How can he look them in the face? R’ Dovid felt that he wouldn’t be able to hold out the month. So he decided to leave town from Purim to Pesach. He threw himself on the mercy of Hashem to help him, as well as the needy Yidden. He was sure that Hashem would send him the help he needed.
Early Purim morning R’ Dovid went to the train station and began to think about where he would spend Purim. He had to go somewhere and hear the Megillah, and find a place to keep Purim, but he didn’t know where.
As he was sitting and thinking, he heard the conductor announce “Warsaw!” R’ Dovid decided to take the train there, and find a place to could keep Purim and hear the Megillah. Hashem was with him, and as soon as he got off the train he met a familiar broker he often did business with. The broker said to him, “R’ Dovid! You definitely came here for the auction that’s taking place here on Purim. Since you are a wealthy merchant, you will certainly be able to make a huge profit. Come with me! I’m also going there.”
R’ Dovid, immediately understood that the broker was a messenger from Hashem. His speaking with such certainty that R’ Dovid had come to the auction that it could only mean that he was supposed to be at that auction. R’ Dovid answered: “Yes, you are correct. I will come there after I daven and hear the Megillah. Tell me where the auction is to take place so I can go there afterwards.” The broker answered, “The auction is to take place on Miodowa Street.” It was a famous street in Warsaw, connected to Krasinski Square, where most of the auctions took place. R’ Dovid found a shul where he could daven, and hear the Megillah.
This auction, only certain merchants and brokers were allowed to attend as hundreds of thousands of rubles were involved. They were informed about it in advance. They didn’t want to attract any of the less rich merchants to the auction. They scheduled the auctions on days that Jewish merchants would be too busy to attend, like Purim, or another Yom Tov. R’ Dovid had found out about the auction, but knew that he would not be able to offer a bid in the auction, since he had no money to bid. R’ Dovid felt that he still had to attend the auction.
After davening and hearing the Megillah he left to go to Miodowa Street. When he got there, he figured out that as he had suspected, this was one of the biggest auctions ever. It would bring the government millions of rubles. Whoever would win this auction would unquestionably make tremendous profits. Before the bidding began at the auction, R’ Dovid overheard one merchant telling another. “That Jew looks familiar to me. He is one of richest merchants from the southern Polish area. Maybe we can convince him to take money from us and agree to go away. We will give him a nice amount of money if he’ll agree not to bid for anything in the auction.” R’ Dovid now understood what he had to do.
Merchants approached him with friendly greetings, and they began to try and convince him to take money and agree to leave. He said confidently that he can make a lot more money bidding in the auction. Why should he leave? The merchants began to raise their offers to higher and higher amounts of money. Finally, when R’ Dovid saw that they were offering him a lot of money, he agreed to the deal. He received from the merchants several thousand rubles in cash. It was much more than enough to cover all his needs from Purim to Pesach.
R’ Dovid, after making all that money, traveled home on the train that afternoon. He still found Yidden on line at the door to his house. They had decided to wait for him to arrive. They were hoping that he would return and that he wouldn’t change his custom of giving tzedakah.
R’ Dovid decided that the money he had made was not really his. It was given to him so he could help the needy, not so he could use it himself. In fact, he had worried more for them than for himself. He had always been sure that Hashem would help him even if he didn’t have money. So that year, he doubled the amount he gave away, and gave more than he had given other years.
He also sent the Rav double the amount for maos chittim than he gave every year. His household did not understand what had happened that everything turned around in such a short time. On the night of Pesach, during the seder, R’ Dovid told his household members about the miracle that had happened to him Purim.
He had faith that in the zchus of everything he had done, his business would now have a complete turnover. True to his conviction, his business began to thrive, and had a tremendous renewal. “All this,” said R’ Dovid, “came from the zchus of having emunah and bitachon in Hashem Yisborach, and his strong desire to help other Yidden.”
