Temimus in Actions
Rebbe Yisroel of Ruzhin zt'l related the following story:
There was a Yid, a yirei Shamayim, who sold fur for his livelihood. But one year, business was slow. He had many furs in his home, and they weren't selling.
One day, early in the morning, someone knocked at his door and said he wanted to buy all the furs.
But the fur merchant hadn't yet davened Shacharis. It is forbidden to do business before Shacharis (see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 89:3). "Come back in an hour, and I'll sell them to you."
The man replied that if he didn’t sell it to him right away, he would go elsewhere to buy furs.
The fur merchant quoted an exorbitant price for the furs, figuring that the goy would leave, but the customer agreed to pay that price!
So, the merchant quoted an even higher price because he didn't want to close this deal before Shacharis.
The man replied, "I see that you don't want to sell the furs," and he left.
The Ruzhiner told his chasidim, "I see that you are waiting to hear the end of the story, the happy ending, how everything worked out for him. But that was the end of the story. He forfeited a great business deal with mesirus nefesh to keep halachah."
Generally, stories end with a wondrous hashgachah pratis or miracle, but this story is of temimus. It shows us to be loyal, to keep halachah, even when our common sense might dictate otherwise and even when there will be a financial loss.
Temimus in actions is to be loyal to Hashem's decrees and halachah without compromise and rounding edges.
We will elaborate with a mashal:
Many years ago, a person from a small village bought an invention: a clock. A neighbor told him, "I feel bad for you because you bought a clock. Now, you are a slave to the clock. If you wake up tired and want to go back to sleep, but the clock says it is time to wake up, you will have to get out of bed. If you are hungry, but the clock says that it is early and it isn't time for lunch yet, you will have to remain hungry until lunchtime. I don't have a clock, so I am saved from these problems. I don't have a clock forcing me to keep to its schedule."
The other replied, "Before I bought the clock, I thought about this very problem you are mentioning, but I came up with a solution. Lunchtime is at noon. If I am hungry at eleven, I will turn the clock an hour, and I can eat my lunch. If I awaken and am tired, but the clock says that it is six o’clock and time to wake up, I will turn the clock back a few hours and go back to sleep..."
This mashal describes people who bend and adjust the Torah to fit their needs. When something doesn't suit their needs or agenda, they make changes here and there. Temimus means that we do Hashem's will without changing, without adjustments, and with total acceptance of Hashem's decree. If this is Hashem's will, that is what we do.
This is the definition of temimus in actions.
