A Yid from the States relates:
I deal in real estate. This is a business that involves a constant connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. There is no steady income; there are months when not one penny comes in, and then in one day, in one swoop, you get a half a year’s salary. Baruch Hashem – I thank Hashem for this source of income, and I see blessing in it.
It was before the wedding of my third son. We set the wedding date for the third of Kislev 5783, and we began preparing energetically. Already in Nissan I closed on a date for the wedding with the hall, the band, the photographer, and the badchan. We knew where we would hold the chassan Shabbos and the Shabbos sheva brachos, and who would be the caterer to bring us the food. All the sheva brachos meals were confirmed as well. Everything was organized and settled.
After Pesach my father-in-law called and told me that my brother-in-law, may he be well, was zocheh to celebrate his son’s engagement, and he had set the wedding date for 28 Cheshvan – in the same week as our wedding, which was to take place on 3 Kislev.
“And you understand,” my father-in-law explained, “that I want to be at the chassan Shabbos for both of you, and the Shabbos sheva brachos for both of you. Obviously, this is impossible if both of you are making weddings in the same week.”
“So what do you suggest we do?” I asked my father-in-law.
“I suggest that perhaps you should try moving the date of your wedding.”
This seemed like an impossible request. Why should I move the date? I had set a date before him, and I had already hired all the professionals. I was sure that everything was finalized. How exactly was I supposed to deal with this? But my father-in-law knew exactly why he was turning to me. He explained that for my brother-in-law it was much more complicated than it was for me. There were different issues there that made it much more difficult for him to switch the date. “Try,” my father-in-law said. “Make an effort. For me.”
I told him I would see what I could do, and I hung up the phone with a deep sigh. I was angry at my brother-in-law. Why did he have to do this to me? And why did I have to be the one to give in? Why hadn’t he asked me when our wedding was going to be? Why make it so difficult for the grandfather? Why, why, why?
I didn’t want to give in, didn’t want to make an embarrassing phone call to the mechutan, or to apologize to all the professionals who – bottom line – need parnassah. But I thought to myself, “If I don’t give in, then what will be? The entire family will be talking about how my brother-in-law was inconsiderate and set a wedding date without looking into some basic information. If I don’t at least try to do something, my in-laws will be torn between two different weddings and won’t really enjoy either one of them.
I decided to get over the unpleasantness of it, and I started a series of phone calls. The first, of course, was to my mechutan. He thought for a few moments and finally said, “I have no problem with your switching the date, as long as you handle everything. If you work it out with all the professionals, then I’m okay with it.”
I thanked him. I knew that even this was not an easy concession once the date had been set in his mind, but I went forward, since he’d agreed. I davened to Hashem to help me for the sake of shalom, to work it out with all the parties involved and to enable me to move the date of the wedding easily. Indeed, I had special siyata diShmaya, and everything worked out in the best possible way, with relative ease.
The round of phone calls took less time than I had surmised, and b’sha’ah tovah, the wedding date was set for the thirteenth of Kislev.
As the wedding day was drawing near, I received an invitation to a huge event where apartments and properties would be featured for sale, a sort of real-estate fair, and it was slated to take place on...the third of Kislev! If my son’s wedding had taken place on that day, obviously I would not have been able to attend the event, but now, I was available on that evening. I went to the fair to try my luck, and there I found a business property worth $20 million. With tremendous siyata diShmaya, I succeeded in closing a deal between a buyer and a seller on this property, and I received my 2 percent, which came to four hundred thousand dollars!
This was the largest business deal I had ever been involved in.
I had felt that I was doing a nice deed for the sake of shalom, and maybe I was very worthy of admiration for it, but now I understood that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted to send me shefa, and before doing so, He tested me with a small nisayon. Would I be mevater, or would I fail the test?
With much rachamei Shamayim, I was zocheh to give in for the sake of shalom and to receive a big package of “candies” in honor of the wedding.
