Parnassah is Decreed by Hashem:
A large fire once broke out in the city of Brisk. Afterwards, a businessman came to bais din and related that he had a warehouse where he kept his merchandise. During the fire, as the flames reached the street where his warehouse was located, someone came to him and said, “All your goods are about to be burned. I have an idea for you. Sell it all to me for half its value.”
The businessman refused to sell. When the fire was only three houses away, the same man again offered to buy the merchandise, this time offering 20% of the value. Again, the businessman refused to sell.
When the fire reached the warehouse itself, the man offered to buy it for 10% of its value, but the businessman still refused. Amazingly, the fire then ceased, before burning any of his merchandise. The businessman emotionally said, “I saved so much money because of how smart and clever I am!”
The Rov of the city, Rav Chaim Soloveitchik zt”l, was in the next room, and he heard what the man said. He entered the bais din room and said, “You think you’re so smart? What you did is actually incredibly unwise. You’re story shows how dumb you are! Logically, you should have sold, as the fire naturally should have destroyed all your merchandise. Any offer you got, you should have taken.”
He continued, “The lesson of this story is the opposite of what you’re trying to say. We can learn from it that even if someone is extremely unintelligent, if Hashem doesn’t want him to suffer a loss, he will not lose.”
