Heaven on Earth

A community near Radin asked a bachur to join them for Rosh Hashanah because they wanted him to give over divrei Torah and mussar on Rosh Hashanah and to rouse them to teshuvah The bachur refused at first because he wanted to be with the Chofetz Chaim on Rosh Hashanah. The Chofetz Chaim told the bachur the following important message: "A mentch leibt nisht far zich — man doesn't live for himself." A person came down to this world to help others. The bachur went to the neighboring town for Rosh Hashanah. (Torah Wellsprings, Rosh HaShanah, 5783, Rabbi Elimelech Biderman shlita)

Rebbe Gedalyah Moshe of Zvhil zt'l asked someone why he wasn't going to a certain mussar drashah that many people were attending. The man replied, "I know myself. Even if the speaker inspires me to do teshuvah, the teshuvah won't last for long. Soon afterwards, I will return to my old ways." The Rebbe replied, "If someone swims up to a person drowning at sea, and says, 'I can save you for a half hour, but then you will fall back into the sea again,' would he accept the offer? Of course he would. So why shouldn’t you also seek to do teshuvah? It is worthwhile, even if it only lasts for a short while." (Torah Wellsprings, Ki Teitzei, 5782, Rabbi Elimelech Biderman, shlita)

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." ...

Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk zt'l said that a person could earn parnassah and even become wealthy if he works with simchah.  What he does doesn't matter as much as his happy disposition.  If he is happy, he can sell sawdust and splinters and become incredibly wealthy. (Torah Wellsprings, Re'eh, 5782)

The Chovot HaLevavot (Bitachon 7) writes, "A story is told about a chasid whose neighbor was a quick-scribe  (סופר מהיר), and he earned his livelihood through writing.  Once, the chasid asked him how things were coming along. The scribe replied, 'As long as my hand is healthy, everything is well.'  That night, his hand was injured, and he couldn't write with that hand for the rest of his life. This was his punishment for trusting in his hand instead of Hashem Yitbarach."

In the Torah potion of Ve'etchanan that we read last week, the words that come immediately before "shema Yisrael HaShem Elokeinu, HaShem echad" are "eretz zavat chalav udevash," a land flowing with milk and honey. (Deuteronomy 6:3-4) Only in the land flowing with milk and honey can we properly hear (shema) the essential message of our faith.

Let us first mention exactly what the Chovos HaLevovos says (paraphrased from   Sha'ar HaKeniah , Chapter 7): "When a person who speaks  lashon hara  gets to  Shamayim , he will find that he is accredited with many sins that he does not have any recollection of committing. When he asks about them, he will be told that they were taken from the individuals that he spoke  lashon hara  about, and added to his record. Further, he will have merits taken away from him." He cites a story of a  chassid  whom someone spoke  lashon hara  about. When the  chassid  found out, he sent the speaker an expensive gift with the following note: "You were kind enough to give me your  mitzvos . I am sending you my appreciation." (Rabbi Boruch Leff, Jewishpress.com., 7 Nissan 5779)