There is another topic that is always the right time to speak about it, and that is the topic of emunah. There are many levels of emunah, and this topic always needs chizuk, so if you talk about emunah, you spoke דבר בעתו, a word at its proper time. Many tzaddikim have said that the test of this generation is emunah. So, if you talked about emunah, you spoke about matters that the listeners need to hear. Additionally, as we wrote, it is always the right time to give a drashah about the problems of machlokes, and when there is emunah, there are no machlokes.
Machlokes occurs when people feel that someone harmed them, insulted them, or did something wrong to them. But if they had emunah that everything that occurred was bashert, they would understand there is no reason to be angry at their fellow man.
Story: The Power of Davening with a Minyan
Someone purchased an expensive building intending to rent it out for residences and offices. However, despite several promising showings, not a single deal was done. This slowness of the rental market was a residual effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, as people were hesitant to commit during that time.
Rosh chodesh Tamuz was approaching. A friend told him, "Rosh chodesh is the yahrtzeit of the Maor v'Shemesh. I advise you to light a candle l'iluy nishmas this tzaddik, he will daven for you in heaven, and you will b'ezras Hashem have a yeshua." Not only did he follow his friend’s advice, but he decided that before he lit the candle, he would first study a section of Maor v'Shemesh.
He opened the sefer randomly and came upon the pasuk (Shemos 23:25) מימיך ואת לחמך את וברך אלקיכם 'ה את ועבדתם, "You shall serve Hashem, your G-d, and He will bless your food and your drink...." Miforshim ask why the pasuk begins in lashon rabim, plural, ועבדתם, and then it states לחמך, in lashon yachid, singular. The Maor v'Shemesh explains that the pasuk wants to teach us the great benefit of davening with a minyan.
We quote: The main avodas Hashem is to perform all aspects of avodas Hashem, both Torah and tefillah, together with the community. And when a person davens with the community, he can be certain that he will have parnassah each day, in abundance, and there will be a blessing in the work of his hands. With tefillah b'tzibur, one can annul all harsh decrees. This is the meaning of the pasuk אלקיכם 'ה את ועבדתם, and it is written in the plural tense. Chazal say, what is the שבלב עבודה, the service of the heart? It is prayer. The pasuk is saying that if you will serve Hashem by davening with a minyan. מימיך ואת לחמיך את וברך, Hashem will bless your parnassah, that you will have parnassah in abundance."
He immediately made a kabbalah that he would always daven with a minyan. His friends tried to convince him to do it slowly, "Start by davening one tefillah daily with a minyan," but he didn't heed their warning. He made a kabbalah, and he was extremely cautious about davening tefillah b'tzibur, three tefillos daily. He was once in chutz l'aretz and traveled a long distance to daven with a minyan.
We can be confident that the promise of the tzaddik, the Maor v'Shemesh, was fulfilled. Since he was cautious to daven with a minyan, he was blessed with abundant parnassah. Within a few weeks, he succeeded in renting out some of the units. Gradually, throughout the year, he leased more and more units, and by the following year, on rosh chodesh Tamuz, the yahrzeit of the Maor v'Shemesh, he signed the rental contract for the final two units of the building. Today, he earns a nice living from this business venture, and he publicizes this story so that people should learn from it the importance of davening with a minyan.
This is because parnassah isn't the product of a person's cleverness and talent. Instead, it is Hashem's blessings. In this story, an experienced businessperson ended up with a property he couldn’t rent. Each month, he had to pay an exorbitant mortgage without any income. His wisdom and his experience in business didn't help him. But when he tapped into Hashem's blessings, the wellsprings of parnassah opened for him.
