A Jew came to Rabbi Yisrael from Ruzin to ask his advice in business. He told the Rebbe the options and offers he had and asked him which business deal is the best?
The Rebbe replied that Chazal said that Parnassa (income) of a person is difficult like Kriyas Yam Suf - like the splitting of the sea. What is the connection between the two?
The answer is as follows. The Jews were at the Yam Suf, the water on one side and the Egyptians on the other side. Moshe told the Jews, "stand and watch the salvation of Hashem, that He is is going to do for you today."
What did the Jews think?
Hashem will send a plague to the Egyptians, punish them with blindness, maybe save them with the special clouds, maybe something will cause the Egyptians to run away. But no one thought that the sea would split and the Jews would walk through as if walking on dry land.
The same is with Parnassa. A person has to do their share and try. But one must remember that Hashem has many ways from where to bring the success, many times from places that we never even thought of and were way beyond our imagination.
There was a Jew who had a local bar that provided income for him and his family. Sadly, he passed away and left behind a widow and young orphans, the oldest only ten years old. Since the father wasn't around, many people stopped coming and went elsewhere. No buyers, meant no money. No turnover and the suppliers didn't want to give any credit for new supplies. The whiskey got finished and there was no food at home. The widow and her kids were suffering from hunger.
The woman went along to Rabbi Avraham Yaakov from Sadigura and poured out her heart, begging for mercy. The Rebbe replied, "Hashem is full of mercy, He is the father of all orphans the Defender of the widows (Tehillim 68)."
The woman wasn't satisfied and said, "the Rebbe should promise me that I will find a treasure."
"Hashem has many ways to help, He doesn't need our advice."
While the widow was speaking to the Rebbe, someone knocked on the door of her home.
The Miracle of the Whiskey
The boy answered and the man asked him, "where is your father?"
"In Heaven," he replied.
"I never knew," said the man, a little confused, "I am sorry to hear. In the past I used to buy my drinks from him and they were great. Next week I am making a wedding and I need a fresh supply."
"Sorry," said the boy, "we don't even have a drop of whiskey in the house."
The man smiled, "you're only a kid, but I see you're a sharp businessman. I understand you want a good price. Let's go down to the basement and have a taste of what's there."
Without much of a choice the boy followed the man to the basement that was full of barrels. The man tipped one of the barrels, it was heavy, full of liquid that spilled over. He looked at the boy in triumph.
"Its water," said the boy, "to wash the empty barrels out from the whisky ."
The man smiled. He took a little cup and tasted the water and said, "this is delicious high quality whiskey."
Just then the widow walked in.
"Your son is a great businessman," the man told her, and gave her a large sum of money for all the barrels in the basement.
The widow, who was still trying to understand what had happened, told the man to at least taste a drop from each barrel. By the time he had finished tasting all the barrels he was basically drunk. He called for his workers to carry up all the barrels and take them home.
The widow sent her son straight to the Rebbe to tell him about the miracle. The Rebbe listened, smiled and said, "your mother had it all planned where the salvation should come from, go and ask her if this option even entered her mind?!"
The man entertained his guests by the wedding with the delicious water whiskey. The talk of the wedding was the amazing whiskey that was bought from the widow, and from then on the bar was always full of buyers.
That is why our Rabbis compared Parnassa to the splitting of the sea.
Parnassa, Marriage, and Hashem's Salvation
Our Rabbis also say that a person's spouse is difficult to find just like the splitting of the sea. Thousands of plans, we've got it all worked out, but who do we end up marrying in the end???
This message is very appropriate during this difficult time since Simchas Torah. We are all aware of the great dileama that is going on in Eretz Yisrael. On one hand we are surrounded by an enemy who wants to wipe us out. Everyone is worried that the terrible massacre that happened on Simchas Torah shouldn’t happen again. We can understand the need of destroying our enemies.
But at the same time we have over a hundred of our brethren who are being held hostage by these terrible beasts. We hear the dileama of those who have to make military decisions of what are the options and what has to come at the expense of what. But the reality.... Hashem has the ability to solve all those problems in ways beyond our wildest imaginations.
And that is why we have such an obligation to pray. To arouse Heavenly mercy to save our brethren in a way that will not involve any loss of life or damage to neither our soldiers nor the hostages. May they all come home safely, Amen
