In one of his shiurim, Harav Asher Weiss, shlita, Av Beis Din Darchei Hora’ah, related a beautiful story that he heard firsthand, which is clear evidence of the brachah guaranteed to someone who believes with all his heart in the Hashgachah of the Creator, Who sustains and supports every single one of His creations with compassion.
Let us preface by saying that the hero of this story is a talmid chacham who reached exceptional levels of bitachon in Hashem, as this story will show. Although not every person can reach this level, it is still good for us to have an idea of the extent of the dveikus of a select few in the middah of bitachon and the abundance they are guaranteed in its merit.
The story took place a few years ago in Manchester, England. A talmid chacham who resided in the city dedicated himself to learning and avodas Hashem. His absolute dedication to Torah learning and avodas Hashem fired up inside him the flame of emunah in HaKadosh Baruch Hu. As Chazal say, bitachon is the fruit of emunah – and indeed, his bitachon in Hashem was ironclad, and he was constantly in a joyous frame of mind.
Even when his family grew, baruch Hashem, he continued learning without a shred of worry. He fulfilled his hishtadlus to support his family with his extensive tefillos. He always had Shem Shamayim on his lips, and he was sure that “HaZan es ha’olam kulo” would not abandon him and that he would have paranassah at his doorstep.
His friends and relatives wondered what this family was living off. In fact, they lived very frugally and sufficed with the very minimum, but despite their straits, the atmosphere at home was a happy one filled with bitachon. The pure bitachon that their father radiated affected all the others in the family.
When he was offered various positions with a generous salary, he always firmly refused. He was happier to learn Torah than to earn all the money in the world. He was completely attached to his Creator, heart and soul, so why did he have to worry about parnassah?
The family continued to live in poverty and with the basic minimum. When their tenth child was born, the questions of those around them turned into actual worry. The relatives and friends were very concerned about the family and urged him to take a part in supporting the home. They tried to speak to him and persuade him to take on a part time job, and even made several practical suggestions, but it was all for naught.
The same thing happened when the eleventh child was born. They tried to urge him, pressure him, plead with him, but he remained firm. “HaKadosh Baruch Hu provides everything, I will continue to learn and Hashem will help,” he said, absolutely calm.
Some time later, another child was born, and our baal bitachon did not worry for even a minute, and continued his lifestyle the way he always had. He learned with great diligence and immersed himself in the sweetness of Torah, without worrying about the morrow.
Nothing changed in his hashkafah when his thirteenth child was born...By now, his relatives were frantic. They asked, pleaded, demanded, that he get up and do something for a parnassah. They even brought proof of his obligation from Torah sources, and solicited anyone who they thought might have an influence on him. But this individual was firm in his bitachon. He knew that Hashem’s Hand was perfectly able to provide all the needs of his family, large as it may be.
And indeed, something exceptional happened: A few days after the thirteenth child’s bris, this yungerman returned from kollel in the evening to find a large brown envelope in the mailbox. It was marked with a government logo, and appeared to be from the “Registrar of the District Court.” He tried to guess what affairs he might have with the court, but he did not reach any conclusion.
He came inside, and put his hat and suit away, his expression calm as ever. When he opened the envelope, he found that he was being summoned to appear in court on a certain date to actualize the will of a Mr. Jonas Calabri who had recently passed away. He was very puzzled. He’d never had anything to do with a person of this name, and had never even heard the name. “It must be a mistake,” he said to himself, and sent a letter to the court to clarify that he had been mistakenly contacted.
A few days later, he received another letter from the court registrar clearly stating that according to the law, he had to appear on the relevant date for the hearing. He didn’t even have time to digest this demand, when he saw the next few lines in the letter: The hearing was about a will that was granting him assets worth about half a million pounds sterling!
At first, he did not believe what he was reading and what anyone wanted from him. “This must be a mistake. I have no relative by that name,” he thought to himself, but on the appointed day, he went to court.
When he arrived, the judge was busy with the previous hearing, and he was asked to sit and wait for his hearing to begin. He sat down calmly and waited for the current hearing to end. When his hearing started, he heard the amazing story from the judge: Mr. Calabri was fabulously wealthy, and came from a family of noblemen; he had passed away without children. In his will, he instructed that his assets – which included two large factories and many other assets – be bequeathed to the largest family in the city. “We looked up the population registry,” the judge said, “and we found that yours is the largest family.”
Then came the astounding surprise: “Although two weeks ago there was another family in the city with twelve children, your thirteenth child, recently born, made you the largest family, so the inheritance is yours,” the judge concluded.
The Shabbos after this, this man made a lavish kiddush for all the mispallelim in his beis medrash to thank Hashem for His tremendous gift, and to publicize the tremendous reward for those who turn to Hashem and trust Him completely.
Lema’alah Min Hashemesh Kovetz 24, p. 124
