6. Two competing farmers from two different farms were about to harvest their wheat, to sell the grain for Pesach matzos. One of them came to the gadol (of about 300-350 years ago) Reb Yaakov Bardugo, and said, "Im yirtzeh Hashem, I am about to harvest the grains. I want your brachos that it should be a success..." Reb Yaakov Bardugo blessed him. The other farmer also came to Reb Yaakov. He said, "I’m about to harvest the grains, and I want your brachos for success," but Reb Yaakov didn’t bless him.
Since he didn’t receive the rav's brachah, he didn’t want to harvest the crop. He figured, "The crop wasn't blessed. It will only bring me heartache." But his family urged him to harvest the crop, regardless, and he did so. But there was no blessing in the crop. Whoever bought his grains didn’t enjoy them. One person bought the wheat kernels, and it rained on them, rendering them unfit for Pesach. For another, it rained when they were baking matzos. As people of this city were cautious with gebroks, he couldn’t use those matzos. Similarly, whoever bought his wheat didn’t enjoy it.
Reb Yaakov Bardugo summoned the farmer who was having this bad mazal and asked him if he knew why this was happening. It wasn't natural that whoever bought his grains couldn't use them for Pesach. The farmer said he knew the reason and was ready to admit his error. It rained on his wheat kernels before he sold them. He dried them, and he didn’t tell anybody what happened. Hashem protected the Jewish community, and whoever purchased flour from him didn’t end up using it for Pesach. The rav told the farmer that he must return the money to whoever bought from him.
The farmer asked the rav, "Why didn’t the rav bless me as you blessed the other farmer? Perhaps all of this wouldn’t have happened if I had received the rav's brachah." Reb Yaakov Bardugo replied, "The other farmer said im yirtzeh Hashem. He mentioned Hashem's name, Who is the source of all blessings. Therefore, I blessed him, and he was successful. But you didn’t mention Hashem's name, and there are your results..." (Reb Yosef Adhan zt'l [who lived 250 years ago] brings this story in his sefer Shufrei d'Yosef [p.437]. It happened to his grandfather, Reb Yaakov Bardugo zt'l.)
