Badchanus Decreases Parnassah:
On this topic, it is related (in Sefer Imrei Pinchos, Shaar 7, Inyanim Shomin Ois 31) that there once lived a famous badchan who was extremely poor. His wife complained that there was no food in the house, so he went to see Rav Pinchos of Koretz zy”a. He poured out his heart to the Rebbe, telling him that he was truly penniless. The Rebbe told him, “If you stop being a badchan, you will have sufficient parnassah.”
He showed him the Gemara (Beitzah 15A) that says that everyone’s income is decreed on Rosh Hashanah and explained, “This does not mean that it is determined exactly how many pieces of bread a person will have. Rather, it means that it is decreed how much enjoyment a person will have over the course of the year. Since you greatly enjoy saying your badchanus, you are left with very little enjoyment in terms of money or food. Therefore, you should stop being a badchan so that enjoyment will not decrease from what was decreed for you on Rosh Hashanah.”
