In the nick of time- Amazing story

A few weeks ago, I promised you a story.  Here it is:

About a year ago, I spoke with a friend of mine from back east.  He's a couple years younger than me, had recently passed the bar and was hired for his first job.  I recommended to him, as a friend, that he should take the leap and be strict with tithing.

Tithing literally means giving 10% of your net income to charity.  The Talmud teaches that tithing is actually the only thing permissible to test G-d with.  Usually we are told not to test G-d, but when it comes to tithing, the Talmud guarantees that עשר בשביל שתתעשר- tithe to become rich (the hebrew word for "tithe" and "rich" have the same root).  I told this friend of mine that he should take the high road, which is to give 20% to charity (the Talmud teaches that 10% is the minimum and 20% is the maximum, for those who really trust.) 

He was hesitant at first, but, I think because I was telling it to him as a friend, not as a fundraiser, he agreed.  Indeed he increased his donations to Chabad of Temecula by 20X and I was a happy camper.

About 7 weeks ago, we were speaking on the phone and he asked me a really tough question, "Yonasan, should I be going into debt to continue giving 20%?"  Isn't that the worst.  When you give someone advice that seems to be backfiring right in your face?!

I responded that I don't know what to say, besides for the fact that I give 20% myself (and not to Chabad of Temecula) and I know it works.  I then said he might ask his personal rabbi and mentor what to do.

The following week, I was in NY for the Shluchim convention and I saw him in 770 (the central Chabad synagogue).  As we're waiting for services to start he excitedly told me the following story:

It was just a couple days after our phone conversation, and I went to the Ohel (grave of the Rebbe) to pray for financial blessings.  As I told you, I'm about to go into debt, and my job just isn't bringing in enough.  Just after finishing up my prayers, I saw a successful businessman who was there too.  I approached him and asked his opinion on mortgage brokering being that this was an avenue that I was considering for myself.

After giving me his opinion on mortgage brokering, he asked me if I'm looking for a job.  I was taken aback, but said, "yes, what do you have in mind?"

He continues to tell me that he owns 4,000 apartment units in NY, NJ and CT and needs someone to manage all of them. 

Of course I told him that I'm interested, and he gave me the number of his assistant to set up a formal interview, even though "I usually hire by my gut and my gut says you're the man." 

As I'm standing there in 770, he tells me that he was just hired for a dream job that he couldn't imagine being qualified for, with no experience in managing real estate, but that he saw the material blessing of wealth from passing the test of tithing.

I love these kind of stories not for it letting me off the hook, and not for its inspiration, but because in a world where G-d is hiding so much, these experiences allow us see that G-d is real, even more real than a $100 bill.

Shabbat Shalom, 

Rabbi Abrams

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