[from the books of Rabbi Yaakov (Kobi) Levi]
A neighborhood rabbi relates: "I have a student, who is also a good friend, who has been participating in Torah lessons that I give in the evenings in the neighborhood synagogue for twenty years, and he is really my right hand. His name is Aharleh Bardinsky and he worked in real estate and earned considerable sums, he lived with his small family in a huge 7-room apartment, drove a huge car whose name I don't remember, and his pocket and heart were open and generous. Every month he would write a huge check to the order of my kollel of yeshiva students, and from time to time - especially on holidays, he would take care of food products for Bnei Torah families. A well-established type with a good eye, and indeed, as Aharleh grew stronger in his fear of God, his business yielded good results. And now, after ten successful years, one day our Aharleh discovers that the banks are threatening to dispossess him of all his assets... What turns out is that his 'accountant', in cooperation with several other business entities, did what is called in the language of the street – a 'sting', they simply swallowed all his fortune and left him with huge debts, a foreclosed apartment, a shattered heart and a broken family. Aharle Berdinsky has become a shadow of himself. Persecuted, foreclosed, looking for a small apartment to rent and living from hand to mouth. And it happens within a year.
One night he comes to me with a broken vessel and pours out his heart: "The Rav knows best, when I was wealthy I distributed a lot, I held Torah, I gave generously. Why did I fall into the garbage, what does the Holy One, blessed be He, want from me?" So he asked, and then a rather interesting answer flashed through my head. I said to him: "Aharleh, yes, you have passed the test of wealth, I am a faithful witness to it, and now the Holy One, blessed be He, wants to put you through the test of poverty." Aharleh wept bitterly: "Honorable Rabbi, I can't be poor..." And then from Heaven they put the following sentence in my mouth: "Aharleh, don't be offended by me, but since you repented, have you been strict about mehadrin kashrut?" He was amazed by the question, but admitted: "Not always, abroad I sometimes went into poor kosher restaurants, and in Israel I would also visit hotels that were not the best..." The former gentleman was embarrassed, and I had to give him some kind of instruction, to get up, to get stronger, to get air in his lungs, and to move on. And again an idea popped into my mind: "Right now, Aharleh, this is your situation, and you need the mental strength to deal with the creditors and the banks, but my heart tells me that from now on you have to be an employee, and bring bread home in a dignified manner. I recommend that you take a short course in kashrut, and become a kashrut supervisor in a hotel, and the Holy One,
