Reb Mendel lives in Yerushalayim and supports his large family by dealing in antique sefarim. His primary hishtadlus, though, is his bitachon and tefillos. As the Ramchal (Derech Hashem 4:5) writes, "A person should stand before Hashem Yisbarach to ask all his needs and trust in Him. This is the first and the primary hishtadlus..."
On the night before his daughter's chasunah, Reb Mendel gathered his family and told them that he needed twenty-five thousand dollars for the night of the chasunah and that he had no idea how to get it. "But I'm not worried. I trust in Hashem. Hashem will help..."
While the family was still converged around him, Shimon, an antique dealer for rare sefarim, knocked on his door and asked whether he had any new antiques for sale.
Reb Mendel replied, "Actually, I recently bought a three-hundred-year-old Rambam for fifty dollars. Clearly, a scholar once owned it, as it has handwritten notes along the margins. I tried to figure out who this scholar was but was unsuccessful. Without knowing the scholar’s name, the set doesn’t have any retail value. In fact, I offered it to someone for fifty dollars, but he declined."
Shimon perused the sefer, and by Shimon's expressions, it was clear that he thought he knew who originally owned the sefer.
Reb Shimon asked for permission to take the Rambam home so he could further research the matter. Reb Mendel and Reb Shimon agreed that one-sixth of the sale price would go to Reb Shimon.
Shimon discovered that this Rambam had belonged to the Pri Chadash. (He deduced that by the handwriting and by the very same chiddushim that are also printed in the Pri Chadash). The next morning, Shimon brought the Rambam to a collector, who paid thirty thousand dollars for the set. Shimon kept a sixth for himself (five thousand dollars) and gave twenty-five thousand dollars to Reb Mendel, the amount he needed for his daughter's chasunah, to be held later that day.
