Late one night, Rav Chaim of Volozhin was giving over a shiur to his talmidim on the subject of bitachon. "Does anyone know what time it is?" asked Rav Chaim. None of the talmidim answered since none of them owned a watch, so Rav Chaim continued his shiur. Suddenly, Rav Chaim interrupted his shiur and said, "You should know that I feel as if we have not yet acquired true bitachon in our hearts. If we had the proper bitachon, Shamayim would have sent us a watch, even a gold watch."
Just then, a knock was heard on the door, and a Russian soldier entered the room. The soldier looked hesitantly around the room, and then turned to Rav Chaim and said, "Rebbi, I'm a Jew, a lone Jew among many non-Jewish soldiers. I'm afraid that the soldiers will steal my valuable watch which I received as a present from my father." The soldier approached Rav Chaim, and handed him the watch. "I prefer to give my watch as a present to a Jewish Rav, rather than have it stolen by a non-Jew.”
