We cry out and He responds

Fifteen years ago, we were in serious financial straits.

Serious as in when a relative came to visit and opened our pantry, she was shocked. “There’s nothing in here!”

And aside from the two cans of beans on the top shelf and one bag of elbows on the bottom, there wasn’t.

My husband, Moshe, learned in kollel when we first got married. Long-term learning wasn’t part of our chassidish community’s customs, and we always knew Moshe would go into business once the family started growing. After four years of marriage and two children (and another on the way), he did.

Moshe had a real business kop, and after eight years of hard work, he’d built up his shmatteh business (aka low-end children’s clothing) until he was doing very well. Unfortunately, a few years later, the world experienced an economic downturn, and that, coupled with increasing imports from China and India, caused his business to nosedive. Soon, there was no business left, and our savings were long gone.