The lesson of Bikkurim is to be thankful for what we have. But there are times we need to be thankful for what we may not have. We need to be patient, look towards the future and see the big picture.
It was the early 1900’s and R’ Shaya was forced to leave the shtetl and make the lonesome journey to America, the “goldena medina.” Jobs were scarce, but even scarcer for a man that couldn’t manage to speak English. R’ Shaya had tried and tried but he had less than a flair for languages. Yiddish and Lashon Hakodesh he spoke- but English, no how no way- as hard as he tried to learn.
One day he was walking down the big streets of the city and noticed a sign (in Yiddish) in front of the new shul: Shamash wanted. Applying inside. All went well. They wanted him. Just before signing the contract, they told him he would also have to wash all the floors in the big synagogue daily. He agreed to this add-on eagerly. It had been a while since he had eaten well or bought new clothes.
One last question remained. But the answer was unfortunately not good news. They asked him if he spoke English. When they heard that he could not, they politely told him that because they had a more genteel clientele who didn’t speak Yiddish- they could not make the job offer.
Dejected, he walked back out to the boulevard. R Shaya hit upon an idea, he would get a cart and sell some of his cousin's wares to the burgeoning population. It didn’t take long till he bought another cart and hired someone to work for him. Another few months went by and another cart was added on- til R Shaya had 35 pushcarts!
Soon his store opened and his manufacturing plant a few years later. After a few decades in business, he was offered many millions for this small empire. The morning of the sale at the lawyers office, R Shaya was asked to please read the contract before signing. He asked his assistant to please translate it for him and the high society lawyers were shocked to find out that the man could not read English.
Catching their bewilderment, he turned to them and said with a grin, “I’m thankful that I don’t read or write English at all, or even speak it well. I’m glad because, if I did, I would have probably been washing floors all my life!”
Let us be thankful for what we don’t have and what we cannot be, because these shortcomings can propel us to success!
Written by R’ Avrohom Hillel Reich based on a lesson and story by Harav Ben Tziyon Sneh Shlita
