By Rabbi Ari Bensoussan
The Chazon Ish had a Kollel in Israel in the mid-1900s. But with its financial stability uncertain, one of the students was designated to take trip by boat to America from Israel. As matters turned out, after six months of doing what he could to raise funds, he hadn’t collected anything. Literally. Finally, after months of working at it, he had raised just enough for himself to purchase a return ticket to Israel.
Though he had returned to Israel, he felt so ashamed that he had not collected anything. As a result, he didn’t make any return visit to the Chazon Ish. In no way did he want to approach the Chazon Ish and inform him that he had absolutely nothing to offer the yeshiva in return for his months spent in American trying to raise money. He would join another yeshiva or find some other place to study. He just couldn’t bring himself to face the Chazon Ish so ashamed.
Informed that the Chazon Ish Wants to See Him
Days later, a few students approached the man and informed him that the Chazon Ish wanted to see him. With a heavy heart, he appeared before the Chazon Ish. Humbly and with great remorse, he explained that he had done with utmost. He had davened and attempted to meet with whomever he could, but he just had not seen any fortune. He was so broken and so sorry.
“You collected $50,000,” said the Chazon Ish. The man was perturbed. “What do you mean? I didn’t collect anything.” “About two months after you left, a very wealthy man from Australia was looking for a minyan. He ended up praying with us, and after he inquired into our yeshiva, he was impressed and told us that he would help support the yeshiva for the next couple of years. He then donated $50,000.”
The student couldn’t believe it. “I got on a boat to go to America and missed my wife and kids and embarrassed myself... and all I had to do was stick around here and that man would have showed up from Australia?” If the man had been beside himself before, he was now even more. But the Chazon Ish replied to the man in a way that for generations has shaped how we best can approach the balance of our efforts in life.
The Chazon Ish
“You needed to put in effort for that man from Australia to come here. Had you not gone to America, he would never have come here. Your hishtadlus (effort) was necessary for Hashem to bring about what we needed. But it is not your specific effort that yields the outcome. Your efforts don’t amount to the result. It is the bitachon in Hashem that brings it about. You just needed to put in effort. And when that was done, it opened the channel for Hashem to then respond to what we needed.”
Our own efforts are not what bring us our success. It is our trust in Hashem. What we do is necessary for the results to occur, for Hashem operates within the natural ways of the world as He set them up. Once we put in our effort, it activates that Hashem can grant us our needs. But it is not “this-and-that specific” effort that does the job. Our efforts do not equal our results. It is our bitachon in Hashem that does it; and with that, everything flows as a result.
Reprinted from the Parshat Chukat Balak 5783 edition of the Torahanytime.com Newsletter.
