I have a fold-up sukkah. On the external wall of my home there is a folded iron structure that we open before Sukkos. We place wooden beams on top of the iron structure to serve as the floor of the sukkah.
I was looking for suitable wooden beams, and I saw an Arab contractor, who was expanding my neighbor’s apartment, doing something with wooden beams. I thought, Here are my beams.
He certainly wouldn’t need all of them for the expansion, and even if so, he could bring us new ones tomorrow. He had contact with suppliers that sell building materials, while I had no idea about anything. It would be much easier to buy from someone who brings it all close to home, even if I’d pay a bit more for it.
I approached the Arab contractor and asked him how much he wanted for the beams. He answered, “Give me 400 shekels, and we have a deal.” He made a good impression, and I decided to buy them.
The next day the Arab contractor told me, “It’s not worth it for me to sell them at that price. The cost is 500 shekels.” Five hundred? I would need to think about this again. What had the Arab told me the day before? “Four hundred shekels, and we have a deal.” Not 400 – no deal.
That same day I met some people who told me those beams were probably not secure enough for a fold-up sukkah. I would need a different type of beam, and in general, those beams were worth a lot less than 400 shekels. The fact that the Arab decided to raise the price and the deal was cancelled was completely for my good.
How did it happen that the contractor changed his mind? A minute before I came over to him, he was complaining to the Jewish neighbor that everything had cost him a lot of money, and the beams – how he had invested tons of money in them. He had only just stopped his complaining, and there I was with my 400 shekels. If he’d sell them to me now for 400 shekels, the truth would emerge that the beams were really not so expensive. He had to show the neighbor that the beams were worth a lot more, and that is how I was spared the rip-off.
Blessed is Hashem, Who arranged for the exact timing of each encounter, in order to save Jewish mammon.
