The story before us was very dear to the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Ganichovsky zt"l, and he would tell it on various occasions, and he would draw important lessons from it: an incident that took place a few decades ago, of a pious and God-fearing Torah scholar, who lived in Kiryat Ata, and sat and studied Torah with great effort. The livelihood of the house was very tight, until one day his wife turned to him and told him that there was no choice and that he had to look for a livelihood because there was no longer anything to eat at home.
The Chassid entered a textile factory in Kiryat Ata, and politely turned to the manager: "I want to work a few hours every day, can you hire me?" The manager answered in the affirmative, and gave him a relatively easy job, with a little income. The Torah scholar thanked God and rejoiced in his lot, mainly because his head and most of him could have been immersed in Torah, after his work, and even during his work.
One day, when he came to the factory, he noticed that all the people in charge and the workers in the factory were tense, and they were talking to each other out of great concern. He went to ask the workers what had happened here today, what was the meaning of the atmosphere of panic and pressure, why everyone was talking and not working?! He was told that the owner of the factory had ordered a new and huge machine from the State of the Sea (a machine that at the time was the most sophisticated of its kind in Israel), and that it was supposed to arrive here today. The machine was supposed to be located in a large pit, which had already been dug and prepared in advance in the center of the large hall of the factory, in such a way that the lower part of the machine would be in the ground, and the upper part above the ground.
In order to bring it into the hall, they prepared a large opening on the side of the building, from which the crane could enter with the machine, and sit it in its place. However, now they have discovered that the crane of the truck that makes its way here, can insert the machine through the opening and sit it on the floor, but it cannot be inserted into the pit, and if the machine is placed in its place, in the air above the pit, it will fall and break. (It was in those days that cranes were not as sophisticated as they are today). Naturally, there is now great confusion in the place, because the only advice that exists is to break the entire roof of the factory, and to bring in a special crane that will bring down the machine from above and sit it in the pit (and this, of course, entails a huge financial loss and great anguish).
As soon as the Torah scholar became aware of the magnitude of the problem, he immediately came up with a brilliant idea! "Please take me to the factory manager," he asked, and the people around him thought in their hearts, "What else does the ultra- Orthodox have to say to the manager," but when he asked again, they told him, "He is in the center of the hall, next to the big pit."The Jew hurried to approach the principal, and found him on the verge of losing his temper... He turned to him and said to him: "Look, there is a simple solution to get out of the distress we are in...", the manager looked at him with somewhat mocking eyes (he seemed to think in his heart, "And what can he advise me after all the experts have already given up..."), "Well, let's listen, what do you have to say?", he said in a tone of disdain... "I suggest that we fill the entire pit with huge pieces of ice, not just ice, but very strong ice, which is prepared by putting salt in the water before freezing it, and when the floor of the pit is filled with ice, and it is level to the floor of the hall, the machine should be inserted and placed on top of the ice, and slowly the ice will melt, and the machine will settle in its place safely without breaking...The factory manager was full of admiration for the idea. And so they did, and they succeeded in the best possible way!
The manager wanted to pay the worker a large sum of money for the ingenious idea he came up with (an idea that, as mentioned, saved the factory a great loss and anguish), but the righteous worker decided to sanctify the name of Heaven and did not take a single penny...
When the story was recounted before the Gra Ganchovsky zt"l, the Rav admired the great wisdom and said that several lessons should be learned from the story: 1) We must see from this how much the holy Torah has the power to be foolish!2) We should learn from this that every problem, even the most difficult, has a solution, we just need to strain our minds and pray to the Creator to give us the wisdom to find the appropriate solution that will bring us out of the mess we are in.3) The Gra Ganichovsky further said that we should learn from this another moral of reason: Every person has a lot of "ice" on his heart; This "ice" causes his heart to not yet be settled and fixed in its proper place (he lacks the joy of the heart, the satisfaction of the mind, and the satisfaction), but we must know that this ice can be melted slowly, how? - By thinking of one's own inadequacy and nothingness; When a person instills in his heart how much he is nothing, and behaves with humility and humility, this causes the ice to melt slowly, and then his own heart settles back to its true place in peace...
