A story is told about a chassid of Rebbe Dovid Moshe of Tchortkov, zt”l, who came across what seemed to be a very good business opportunity. The Poritz of the area where he lived was old and couldn’t run his business anymore, so he was selling his forest at a very low price, below cost-price. The chassid realized how much money he potentially could make on this investment, and he planned on purchasing the forest.
At around that time, the chassid went to his Rebbe to discuss some matters and seek the Rebbe’s counsel. He mentioned to the Rebbe how much money he would earn from this great investment, didn’t ask the Rebbe’s opinion because he was certain that it was a great investment, and he definitely should proceed with it.
The Rebbe told him, “I advise you not to buy the forest.”
Convinced of the deal, the chassid disobeyed the Rebbe’s counsel. He didn’t want to lose out on this deal of a lifetime. He figured that since he hadn’t “asked” the Rebbe for advice regarding the forest, his counsel wasn’t binding (which of course is a mistake).
Although the forest was being sold at a bargain, it was still a lot of money. For weeks on end he sold all his assets and borrowed large sums of money to buy the forest.
However, his heart broke when his workers returned after the first day of work. They had cut down the first tree and discovered that it was wormy. The second and third trees were the same, as was the entire forest. In short, the chassid lost all of his money in the investment. The wood wasn’t worth much.
Embarrassed to return to the Rebbe, because he disobeyed him, he avoided visiting the Rebbe. During that time he was facing great aggravation and embarrassment. Many of his good friends were from those investors.
But after two years, he thought to himself, “It is bad enough that I lost my money. Should I lose my Rebbe as well?”
So, he went to the Rebbe and admitted his error. He said, “All this trouble came because I didn’t realize the extent of the Rebbe’s ruach ha’kodesh who sees so much more than me...”
Rebbe Dovid Moshe replied, “It wasn’t ruach ha’kodesh. It is just that when you spoke to me, you didn’t express the need for siyata d’Shmaya. You spoke with such confidence as if the wealth and success was certain and guaranteed. That is how I knew that you wouldn’t succeed, and that is the reason I advised you not to make this investment.
Every success comes from Hashem, and by not contributing its success to Him, I suspected that it wouldn’t succeed.”
