Temimut is its own reward

Rebbe Yisrael of Ruzhin zt'l related the following story:

A G-d fearing man sold furs from his home for his parnassah. At one point, business was slow, and he

was sitting with many furs in stock.

Early one morning, someone knocked on his door and said he wanted to buy all of the furs. But this fur

merchant hadn't yet davened Shacharis, and it is forbidden to do business before Shacharis (see

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 89:3).

"Come back in an hour, and I'll sell them to you for a good price." "No. I need them now. If you don't

sell them to me right away, I'll go elsewhere."

His parnassah was tight, but halachah comes first. So he quoted the goy an exorbitant price for the

furs, figuring that the goy wouldn't pay so much, and he would leave. But the customer was desperate

and agreed to that price!

The yetzer hara told him, "You can't afford to lose this deal. It is a miracle! He is willing to pay double

the market price."

But then he decided he wouldn't go against halachah, so he raised the price even further.

The goy replied, "I see that you don't want to sell the furs" and left.

The man lost out on a good deal but kept the halachah. He didn't do business before Shacharis.

The Rizhiner concluded, "You are waiting to hear the end of the story. You want to hear the miracle

that occurred and how davening Shacharis made him even more wealthy,but that didn't happen.

That was the end of the story. The story demonstrates this man's mesirus nefesh to keep

halachah."

Most chassidic stories end with a miracle, salvation, but this story ends with a person's loyalty to

Hashem. And that was the lesson the Ruzhiner Rebbe wanted to impart into his chassidim: Loyalty

to halachah, at all costs. This is called temimus. This lesson is found in this week's parashah (18:13),

תמים תהיה עם ה' אלקיך: Be complete with Hashem, your G-d. 

Temimus means to be loyal to Hashem and unwaveringly keep His laws.

(Torah Wellsprings, Shoftim, 5782)

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