It Doesn’t Matter Who Ask

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

The Chovot HaLevavot writes in the Sha’ar HaBitachon, perek 4, that if a person needs something and is contemplating asking someone for help, he should not feel that he has any more chance of getting what he's asking for if he asks a powerful, prominent individual as opposed to asking a less prominent individual. Rather, he should believe it's all the same, being that it will be Hashem who is giving him what he's asking, not the people he's asking from. And if Hashem wants someone to get something, He could give it to them through anyone. A man told me, he made a wedding for his daughter this past year, but still owed the caterer $11,000 months later. His son's bar mitzvah was approaching and his wife was anxious about getting the wedding bill finished with before they started a new one for the bar mitzvah. One night, she was speaking about this dilemma with a friend of hers on the phone, just to vent a little. Two weeks later, this friend of hers went on vacation and there was a very wealthy man staying in the same hotel. One day, this wealthy man was relaxing and had a little too much to drink. He said in a loud voice, “Tonight is Tu B'Shvat. I need the fruits for it. If anyone can get me the Tu B'Shvat package, I'll give them $500.” When nobody responded, he upped it to $1,000. This friend of the woman's went over to him and said she could get him the fruits for Tu B'Shvat, but instead of giving $1,000, she wanted him to donate money to two people that needed help. She told him the amounts of money that each needed, including this friend who needed $11,000. The man said okay, and amazingly, a week later, mailed a check for the full $11,000 for this person to pay the caterer. Here, this woman who was told about the issue, was not even in a position herself to help, but Hashem used her to bring about the help through another individual. Another man related, he purchased a large property in Europe with a partner. The partner put down 60% of the money while he put down 40%. The property was registered under the name of a company that they made up, but legally, the one with the higher percentage was the one authorized to make decisions about the property without consulting the other partner. One day, this partner called the man and said he wanted to sell, and when he mentioned the price, it was shocking because it was an extremely low number and would only give each of them a very small profit. The man knew they would be able to sell for much more at a later date. He was planning on earning in the hundreds of thousands of dollars from this property, and now his partner was selling for so cheap. He figured his partner was swindling him, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. He decided to go to the kever of a great tzaddik and pray to Hashem for help. While he was there, he noticed another man who appeared to be a very distinguished rabbi. He went over to him and asked him if he would include him in his prayers and explained his situation. They got into a conversation, and he quickly understood this was not a rabbi at all. He actually worked as a taxi driver and helped collect money for various organizations. When the man heard that, he stopped telling all the details of his story. The taxi driver encouraged him to finish telling the story, and so he did. And at the end, the taxi driver asked him for his number. Several days later, the taxi driver called him and said he had someone who was willing to help him, and he gave him the phone number of a friend of his who was very wealthy. When the wealthy man heard the story, he said, “Your partner is definitely swindling you. If you want, I'll offer him more money than he said he's getting, and if he sells it to me, I'll take it.” The man was so appreciative. The wealthy man offered more, and the partner declined, saying he decided he wasn't going to sell after all. The man was saved, and where did his help come from? The “rabbi”/taxi driver's friend. It doesn't matter who we ask the help from, as long as we know it's Hashem and only Hashem who will send the help.