“Kinderlach,” said Rebbe Cohen, as a well-dressed man entered the classroom. “Anshel Holtzbacher stopped by our cheider and he graciously agreed to come and talk about some of the amazing work he is doing for Mosdos Horki.”
“Thank you, Rabbi Cohen,” Mr. Holtzbacher said, as he began to describe the many fascinating experiences he had working with the Horki Rebbe, how he had prevented the Governor from making matzah illegal, rescued a Yid from cannibals in the Amazon jungle, and more.
“Do any of you have any questions you’d like to ask me?” asked Mr. Holtzbacher after he had finished speaking.
Chezky raised his hand. “How did you become so rich?” he asked.
“Chezky!” admonished Rebbe Cohen. “That’s not a polite question!”
“It’s okay,” smiled Mr. Holtzbacher. “It’s a great story that I would love to share.
“Many years ago, I had very little money. I went to the Horki Rebbe for a brocha and he told me about a camera store that was hiring. So I went into the store and asked for a job. They hired me as a salesman and had me sit with the sales staff, answering phone calls from people looking to buy cameras.
“I didn’t know much about cameras at first, and I had a difficult time making enough money to feed my family. But slowly I learned and started to make a few sales. However, I never managed to make as much money as the other salespeople...
Young Anshel Holtzbacher got off the phone and recorded his sale. It wasn’t a lot, but he managed to make another few dollars.
“Holtzbacher,” said Josh, one of the other salesmen. “Let me teach you a trick. The next time someone calls to buy a camera, tell him that you also have one of the rare ‘deluxe versions’ of that camera. Say that it is double the price, but you are willing to sell it to him for only 20% more than the camera he wanted if he also buys all of the accessories.”
“Deluxe version? What’s that?” asked Anshel.
“It doesn’t exist,” laughed Josh. “But we put a little gold ‘deluxe’ sticker on it.”
“So you lie?”
“It’s not lying,” said Josh. “It’s sales. You get half of the extra 20% and a bonus commission on all of the accessories - you’ll make three times as much on every sale. And because we are the only store that sells the ‘deluxe edition’ cameras, the customer will come back over and over again.”
“It sounds like lying to me,” Anshel said.
“Holtzbacher, calm down,” said Dave, another salesman. “This is why you’re not making money like the rest of us. This is how business works.”
“I’m sorry,” said Anshel. “I won’t lie.”
As the other salesmen laughed at him, his phone rang.
“Hello?” he said.
Anshel listened in amazement as the caller said he needed 1,500 cameras for a special project.
“And I’ll need full accessories for all of these cameras,” he added.
As Anshel started taking the order, the other salesmen one-by-one stopped what they were doing and watched in amazement and jealousy as Anshel rang up a $500,000 sale.
“My commission on that sale was over $200,000,” Mr. Holtzbacher said. “I made as much money that month as all of the other salesmen combined. I then used that money to start Holtzbacher Enterprises, where Hashem has continued to bless me ever since.”
“Wow...” said Chezky softly.
“I was so shocked at what happened, I rushed straight to the Horki Rebbe. And you know what the Rebbe said? He said that after the story of the Meraglim, Yehoshua and Kalev were rewarded by getting the chelek in Eretz Yisroel of all of the ten other spies who died.
“Now why would that be? Why such a big reward? And the reason is because each and every one of the meraglim who wanted to say bad things about Eretz Yisroel made it harder for Yehoshua and Kalev to not go along. So for every person whom they didn’t listen to, Hashem paid them with an extra reward.
“The Horki Rebbe explained that because I went against the shakranim in the camera store, Hashem rewarded me for each and every salesperson whom I didn’t listen to.
“Kinderlach, this is a very important lesson! When you see other people - possibly your own friends - doing something wrong, you might be tempted to join them. But remember, if you stand strong and do what Hashem wants, he will repay you over and over again for every single person that you didn’t listen to. It might not be with cash, but you can be sure that Hashem’s reward will be way better than whatever it is those people want you to do.
Have a Wonderful Shabbos
Let’s review:
- What was wrong with selling the “deluxe” cameras?
- Why did Yehoshua and Kalev get such huge schar?
