Your Specific Parnassah Is Your Specific Mission on Earth
Traveling Distances to Fulfill the Mission
The Shiniver Rav is teaching us a deeper understanding of the Gemara. Beyond needing to go for your own good, there’s a mission that you may need to fulfill in a new place, and for this reason you are forced there from Above.
We have already seen how the Chovos HaLevavos refers to parnassah as being a mission—a means to fulfill our tafkid on This World. If you fulfill your mission in the proper way, you will be given parnassah—not because your hishtadlus brings parnassah, but because the Ribbono shel Olam made a condition: If you fulfill your mission [which is your hishtadlus], you will be sent parnassah.
Fulfilling Your Mission in a Distant Land
When a person finds himself in a certain place and he doesn’t have parnassah there, he should understand from this that he has a mission elsewhere. Mainly, because there are holy sparks that he must draw out from that place, as the Arizal elaborates. Through this avodah of drawing out the holy sparks and rectifying them, he will achieve his own sheleimus hanefesh, completeness of the soul, and he will be able to grow and thrive in his avodas Hashem.
This is always the rule: If a person carries out his mission with devotion—no matter what his job is, even if he’s a car mechanic—he will become a better Yid through this! He will become a calmer person through this, because he has engaged in the mission Hashem ordained for him, and all the other goodness will flow along with it.
If a person sees that he isn’t succeeding here, it is a sign that he must go someplace else, and in this case, it is a wonderful thing to travel far for his parnassah.
Every Neshamah Is Different
The Shiniver Rav himself would travel around often. There were tzaddikim who knew their shoresh neshamah, the root and the source of their neshamah, to need this sort of avodah of journeying to distant places—and on the other hand, there were tzaddikim who knew that their avodah was precisely to remain in the same place all the time.
Accepting Hashem’s Plan with Humility
We see from this that when we discuss the matter of traveling for parnassah, it is clear that there are those who must do so—for it is the ratzon Hashem for them to do so. And when one sees that this is the Heavenly plan for him, he must have bittul and declare: “Wherever they send me, I will go.”
When a person sees that he doesn’t have parnassah in the place where he is, and he gets a job offer in another city, which sometimes entails moving to that city; he discusses the matter with wise people; he talks it over with an ehrliche Yid, and he concludes that Hashem has ordained his parnassah in another locale, because that is where his mission is centered.... He accepts this move and the mission with humility and acceptance.... Fortunate is he! This person will fulfill his shlichus to the utmost and rectify the nitzotzos, the holy sparks, that are connected to him.
The Rabbi and the Dream
A Yid related that when his children were young, he resided in a remote place where there weren’t adequate Torah institutions, and when his oldest child came of age, he moved to a greater Jewish metropolis out of concern for the chinuch of his children.
A short time later, the man had a dream in which he saw the previous rav of the city where he used to live. The rav had since departed This World, and he was concerned: “What will happen? Who will worry about Yiddishkeit in this remote city?” Then, the rav pointed to the sleeping Yid, and said, “Ah... he will surely go live there and strengthen the local Yidden!”
The Yid wakes from the dream, and he thinks of it as quite an interesting dream, that the previous rav, who was so concerned for the Yiddishkeit in his old city continues to do so from the Next World. But it is, after all, only a dream, he thought.
A Clear Mission from Above
How great was his surprise when, on that very day, a delegation arrived from that city, requesting that he return to their city. The delegation added that if he is concerned about the chinuch of his children, they will do everything to establish a Talmud Torah that will satisfy his standards.
And so it was. This Yid was smart. He took the sign from Above and returned to the city, this time for good. He has been there for more than three decades, all the while accomplishing incredible things in bringing Yidden closer to their Father in Heaven.
Submitting to the Ratzon Hashem
Everyone will agree that this Yid did the right thing, because, after all, his interest was not money or parnassah. But we must know that the same applies to every one of us regarding our parnassah. From Heaven it was ordained that you should engage in this work, and that you should receive your shefah from this place davkah.
When the בטחון בעל senses that from Above it is ratzon Hashem that he become a shochet in South America or in Poland, he says: I agree wholeheartedly! I will run there as fast as possible!
If the ratzon Hashem is that I should serve as a mashgiach in a far-flung location, then my mission is to ensure that Yiddishe kinder will have kosher food to eat. I accept the plan of the Ribbono shel Olam.
Coming Closer to Hashem Through Our Mission
Surely, we must constantly reflect to see whether it is indeed the ratzon Hashem. We must daven that Hashem guide us on the proper path, and when we see that there is siyata diShmaya, then we know that this is the place where we need to be. A person can sense this immediately; when you’re in that place, do you lose your yiras Shamayim, or, to the contrary, do you feel closer to the Ribbono shel Olam?!
We can often see this clearly. Sometimes a person goes someplace remote for his parnassah, and he feels a tremendous siyata diShmaya. And then he begins to understand why he was sent there. This person knows with serenity and peace of mind that he is in the right place—as we have been taught by the Arizal and the talmidei Ba’al Shem Tov.
The Mistake of the “One Who Pursues His Parnassah”
On the other hand, there’s a different kind of situation, in which a person pushes for his parnassah... he doesn’t want to hear advice from anyone. Only one thing matters to him: How can I make money? If I can make money there, I will run there!
This type of person isn’t looking for signs from Above, he doesn’t daven to be guided to the right place, he isn’t looking to fulfill any mission. He is looking to force fate. If he doesn’t get what he wants, he will take it by force.... He will pursue his parnassah to the other ends of the earth—because he tells himself that if he goes there, he will find treasures.
This person will certainly not succeed—because there is no such thing as taking anything if it isn’t meant to be. Money comes from Above—and it doesn’t matter how far one will fly... he won’t get any closer to the source of shefah. To the contrary, he will become more distant from the source the more he engages in such pursuits—because his heart has become more distant from the Ribbono shel Olam. If one ran to faraway places because he thought that he could take something on his own, he will only experience heartache. He will become worn out in body and in soul, and he will be left without shefah, R”l.
The Difference Is in the Mindset
Thus, it could be that two people travel equal distances for their parnassah, but the difference between them could not be greater:
One person travels because he has submitted to the ratzon Hashem. He goes there because he feels that he was sent there by Hashem. He sees signs from Above that he must go there, and therefore he believes that he likely has a mission that he must fulfill in that place; thus, he journeys there for his parnassah.
The second person, however, also traveled far away—because he believes that his parnassah can only come from there. Such a person has forgotten about the Ribbono shel Olam entirely! What makes him believe that only from there can he attain his shefah?!
