Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, ZT”L, was known as an incredible ba’al bitachon (someone who trusts in G-d). He would spend each day learning Torah every second he could. Unfortunately, the economic situation of pre-state Israel was awful, and he lived in dire poverty. His wife was a complete tzadekes (righteous woman), and day after day she did everything to make it possible for him not have to interrupt his Torah learning for even one second.
One time, however, it got to the point where they had no bread to feed the kids, so she decided to speak with her husband. Understanding the situation, right after their conversation, Rav Sonnenfeld put on his coat and walked outside in search of livelihood. A curious Jew who knew what a tremendous ba’al bitachon and tzaddik Rav Sonnenfeld was, overheard that he was about to start looking for parnassah. Unable to restrain his curiosity, he decided to follow from a distance to see what the Rav would do.
A few minutes later, the Rav bent down to pick something up from the middle of the street. Bursting from curiosity, the yid repositioned himself to get a better view and he saw that the Rav had just picked up two gold Napoleon coins. This Jew thought, “We each must do our hishtadlus (effort), but the more we trust in Hashem, the less hishtadlus we have to put in. The Rav’s level of bitachon (trust in G-d) must be extraordinary!”
Reprinted from the Parshas Beshalach 5786 email of Torah Sweets.
