Inspirational Story

Ruchi

Tue, Aug 27 2024, 3:20 am

The following story, which was related by dayan Rav Moshe Yosef Stauber, shlit”a, illustrates just how far ordinary baalei batim are willing to go to abide by halacha. Even when they know how difficult it is, they also know that one doesn’t lose out by doing Hashem’s will. We may not see the rewards right away, but it will always be worth it in the end.

A young man called me one morning with a shaila. He said that he owned a clothing store, where most of his clientele are women, and they are serviced by a female employee.

On that morning, his employee informed him that she was not able to come in to work before 1:00 PM, and he did not have anybody else to take her place. He was calling me to ask if he was allowed to fill in for her in the store.

I asked him to clarify what his question was, because there’s a difference between unintentionally glancing at something and gazing at something. The man was very self-aware and admitted that standing in the store would cause him to gaze at and think forbidden things. I said to him that, if so, it was assur for him to fill in for the employee.

But what of the fact that it will cause financial loss? I told him that the Remah (Orach Chaim Siman 656) rules that a person is obligated to give up his entire fortune for a mitzvah lo sa’aseh.

“What if I don’t have anyone to take her place?” the man asked me.

I reiterated that it was certainly a very difficult situation but based on what he described, I could not be matir for him to stand there. I advised him to put out a sign saying that the store would open at 1:00 that day.

Our conversation ended and I hung up the phone. I didn’t know who this man was, and I didn’t know what he ended up doing.

The next day, a man approached me after my shiur and introduced himself as the one who had called me the previous day. “And now,” he told me, “I want to tell you the rest of the story:

“After hearing the psak halacha, I knew that I was going to follow it. It wasn’t easy- most women shop in the morning hours, before their children come home from school, which meant that closing the store for the morning would incur a significant financial loss. But what do I need money for if not to do the ratzon Hashem? If this was what the Torah required of me, I would do it without hesitation. So I hung up a notice that we would be opening at 1:00 and apologized for the inconvenience.

“At 1:10 in the afternoon, precisely ten minutes after opening the store for the day, I received an email from a company that I had been pursuing for a long time with the potential to earn a hefty profit on their merchandise. They emailed to let me know that they were ready to go ahead with the deal!

“The profits that this partnership is bound to bring will b’ezras Hashem surpass the loss of these few hours that the store was closed. Hashem repaid my good deed, and then some!”

Not every story has such a dramatic and immediate resolution, and, of course, that is not the reason why we keep Torah and mitzvos and do the ratzon Hashem. However, it is really heartening when we do get to see how much our good deeds mean, and how Hakadosh Baruch Hu has nachas from our sacrifices.

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