True Tales from the Corners of Our World

The Background

A friend of mine had a lot of interesting experiences when he was working as a plumber years ago. This particular story taught him an important lesson about how Hashem gives parnassah.

The Plumber's Story:

Y

ears ago, when I was working for a Jewish plumbing company in Boro Park, a coworker of mine named Yisroel Chaim became a mentor, friend, and chavrusa. I was still single then and living at home with my parents, but my days were packed from morning till night. I had a very fulfilling seder hayom.

One day at work Yisroel Chaim told me about an after-hours freelance job — installing a water heater in someone’s home. He had passed on it himself due to lack of time, and he recommended me because of his confidence in my work. The job would take a couple of evenings and pay $350.

Over the course of the workday, I gave the offer a lot of thought. I appreciated that Yisroel Chaim was trying to help me out, and I could definitely have used the money. My hesitation was that taking the job would mean missing my chavrusa with him at least twice.

I finally decided that at that stage of my life, I couldn’t justify missing my learning just for the sake of some extra money. I thanked Yisroel Chaim for the offer but told him it was more important to me not to miss our chavrusa. He was supportive and impressed.

As I was getting into my car after work, I got a call from my father asking if I could pick him up on my way home. I drove over to his office and got him, and we soon reached our apartment building. As I fumbled for the house key at our front door, something on the welcome mat caught my eye.

I did a double-take. It was a big wad of cash.

“Whose is this?” I blurted out.

My father looked at the money and pondered. “Maybe Mommy dropped it when she came home from shopping,” he said. “Let’s go ask her.”

I gathered up the bills and we went in. My mother said that she had definitely not dropped an amount of cash like that outside our door.

My father and I sat down and talked about the particulars. On our floor, all types of people came and went, at all hours.The neighbors were not Jewish and not the type of people who would just leave money lying on someone else’s mat.

“Congratulations,” my father said, “the money is yours. The hallway is a reshus harabbim and there is no reason not to take it.”

With that, my father stood up and went to go learn. I began counting the money.

Then I counted it again.

The total came to $351.

I had just turned down a $350 job because I didn’t want to miss out on my learning — and now, barely an hour later, Hashem had seen fit to give me all that money. The extra dollar felt like a knip on the cheek.

I always think about this story when I have a question about whether or not to do something for money. The lesson is that Hashem has a million ways of giving us whatever He wants us to have, and it’s all decreed on Rosh Hashanah anyway. So the main thing is not to worry about it, and just do your best to fulfill the ratzon Hashem.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1079)