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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Can the Rebbe Work Miracles?

Image
  People say that the Rebbe can work miracles.  Is that true?  What did the Rebbe himself say about this? In the fall of 1959, a group of college students with the “Hillel” campus organization came for a group meeting with the Rebbe.  At a certain point, the floor was opened up for questions, and one student asked this very question: “Rebbe, people say that you can work miracles.  Is this true?” The Rebbe responded by asked the students what the word miracle means.  And he continue to explain:  The world has “nature” and “miracles”.  Nature is the way things happen naturally.  The world has “rules” and some of them are not so kind.  The strong survive and the weak perish.  Nature dictates that there are winners and losers, “live-ers” and “die-ers”. But a basic tenet of Judaism is that this physical world is the last of a series of many spiritual worlds.  And it’s like a puppet with strings attached from on top.  “Playing with the strings” in the higher worlds has real-life effects in t
Read more

Should We Move To Texas?

Image
  I took a trip to Washington D.C. to visit my step-uncle and aunt and comfort them for the  loss of their daughters . Torah teaches that visiting mourners, especially in their home, is comforting to the mourners  and to the deceased. Indeed, the process of death is painful not only to the family of the deceased, but to the deceased themselves. The ability to do productive work, help people and do mitzvahs is only possible while alive in this physical world, and this is why death is painful (unlike what most people think, that death is the end of pain). We mourn  with  the dead over the lost opportunities to give light to the world. On the way back, I stopped in Dallas, TX for a day. It made $$ sense and gave me the opportunity to visit a couple good friends and supporters who have moved there. Here are some observations and reflections from the visit: Texas was very different than I expected. I wasn’t expecting the toll roads and traffic. Instead of Ford and Chevy pickup trucks, I was
Read more

The Rebbe is Alive

Image
  Gimmel Tammuz, which is the day the Rebbe passed away is a day of reflection and connection. I received a couple messages from people who were curious why I would fly across the country for less than 24 hours.  And then wait in line for hours to spend 30 seconds at a grave before being ushered out to let more people in. The Rebbe is alive.   So alive that even death can’t affect him. The Rebbe is not like other leaders who have passed away and left a “legacy”.  My Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Wagner was like that.  He was a special person, who gave a lot to the world, and left a tremendous legacy. Many effective leaders have done the same. The Rebbe is different. He is currently leading and guiding Chabad globally, and each individual Chossid specifically.   Who qualifies as a chossid? Anyone who accepts him as their “Rebbe”. The Rebbe is the “head” of the Jewish people, and we are the “feet” (or other body parts).   The head feels & controls the rest of the body.  In order for the body t
Read more