Yosef told his brothers that if they bring their younger brother Binyamin (42:34) ואת תסחרו הארץ, "You may travel around the land." Rashi explains that תסחרו means to "go around." And Rashi explains that businesspeople are called סוחרים because "they go around looking for merchandise." Why aren't businessmen named for their profession, which is to buy and sell? Why are they called for their travels from one place to another?
This is because parnassah comes from Hashem. Their hishtadlus is to go around, travel from here to there, and ultimately, Hashem sends them their parnassah.
There is a renowned story that many people say on Shabbos Mivorchim Nissan as a segulah to have all one's needs for Pesach. We write it now, as it is associated with our topic:
A poritz told his Jewish employee, "You should thank me because I support you. What would you do without me?" The Yid replied, "You don't support me. Hashem supports me." The poritz said, "You ungrateful Jew! You're fired! And now we will see who supports you!" The Yid wasn't afraid. Hashem supported him until then, and Hashem would continue to help him.
The poritz sat in his home, counting gold coins. He bit each coin to ensure it was real, not just gold-coated. The poritz’s pet monkey watched his owner bite into the gold coins. When the poritz left the room, the monkey began copying the poritz. The monkey thought he was eating the gold coins, so the monkey did the same. After swallowing many gold coins, the monkey died.
The poritz saw the dead monkey, and he said to his servant, "Throw the corpse into the house of the Yid who I just fired." The monkey fell in the Yid's home, its stomach opened, and many coins rolled out.
On the night of the seder, the poritz came to the Yid's home. He expected to see a dark and cold room with hardly any food on the table. He found a well-lit, warm home with plenty of food. He said, "Now I see that Hashem supports you, not me."
This story reminds us that Hashem supplies us with parnassah, not the boss or the job. Instead, they are just the means through which He sends it.
People say, "Money doesn't fall from heaven." Rebbe Bunim of Pshischa zt'l noted that this isn't necessarily true. Hashem can send money down from heaven. Suddenly, you can find money in your wallet or your bank account. How did it get there? Hashem put it there.
Rebbe Bunim proved this from this week's parashah when the overseer of Yosef's house told the brothers (43:23) נתן אבותיכם ואלקי אלקיכם באמתחתיכם מטמון לכם, "Your G-d and the G-d of your fathers gave you a treasure in your sacks." The brothers were perplexed about how the money they thought they gave Yosef ended up in their bags. בית על אשר האיש יוסף, the overseer of Yosef's home, whom Chazal say was Menasheh, told them that they don't have to worry about that. Hashem put it there.
So, we see that money can indeed fall from heaven.
