The Nisayon of Parnassah: Avraham’s Famine, Bitachon, and V’atem Tacharishun

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. A nisayon that everyone goes through in life, one of the big nisyonos, nisyonos hachayim, and that is the nisayon of parnassah. There's no person that doesn't have to go through this nisayon at some point in his life. If it's in the beginning when he starts out, that there's no money, and even later, those that make money, ... nispateh from that nisayon. They're not patur from the nisayon of parnassah, because as Chazal tell us, Mi sheyesh lo maneh, rotzeh masayim. A person is never satisfied searching money. Life, the life of having to pay the bills, the life of having to support and to finance a mishpachah. Everyone at some point and at some level goes through this nisayon. It is one of the avodos, one of the the arbit of a Yid, through the nisayon of parnassah v'haYid. How does a Yid go through the nisayon of parnassah in life? The emunah, the bitachon that it requires, the ... hashkafah. Of how to view the nisayon, and how to act and behave and react to the nisayon. And the greatest lesson, of course, is Avraham Avinu that went through the Aseres Nisyonos, all-encompassing, all different types of nisyonos. And as the meforshim tell us, Avraham Avinu, because he was Avinu, he was the father. The Mishnah in Avos says, Aseres Nisyonos nisnaseh Avraham Avinu. The diuk Avinu, say the meforshim, because through his actions, he paved the way. The atta is madrich. The way a father is madrich a child, he was madrich Klal Yisrael, his children, viduchkein the nisyonos hachayim. Avraham Avinu went through a nisayon of parnassah. He went through it. And it is incumbent upon us all to learn the parshiyos of the nisyonos of Avraham and take lessons from it. It's brought in the me'oros hagedolim that the Chofetz Chaim k'seidah learned Bereishis, because this was a guide on how to live. The parshiyos of Bereishis guide us through life. And if Avraham Avinu went through the nisayon of parnassah, as we shall soon see, and as we shall soon learn. Darf men durchgein the parsha, oplernen vi, un vu un vos is nisayein a parnassah, and how do we go through it, the hanhagah yid? How do we pass the test, rabosai? We find that the Ribono Shel Olam tells Avraham Avinu, Lech lecha me'artzecha, umimoladtecha, umibeis avicha, el ha'aretz asher ar'eka. And he gets tremendous havtachos if he does this, Ve'eescha l'goy gadol, va'avarechecha. Rashi says, b'mamon; he was promised money, wealth, if he follows through on the nisayon of Lech lecha. Yet the minute he came to the el ha'aretz asher ar'eka, we know that that was not the instance, that was not the case. The moment he came, Vayehi ra'av ba'aretz, the pasuk tells us, Vayehi ra'av ba'aretz, vayeired Avram Mitzrayim lagur sham, ki kaved hara'av ba'aretz. It was very difficult, a very bad ra'av, a very strong ra'av, so he had to go down to Mitzrayim. This is one of the asarah nisyonos, according to all Rishonim.

The Mishnah in Avos, Perek Hei, the Rambam, the Meiri, Rabbeinu Yonah, all the Rishonim learned that this was one of the asarah nisyonos shenisnasah Avraham Avinu. Avraham passed the test, as they state in the Mishnah, Ve'amad b'kulam. He passed the test of Vayehi ra'av ba'aretz. I'm going to try to understand clearly what was the nisayon, but l'cheira from the Mishnah is mashma clearly that amad b'kulam. Yet the Ramban, famous Ramban, says not so. Says the heilige Ramban, V'da ki Avraham Avinu chata chet gadol bishgagah. Avraham sinned. Avraham tuch gefallen, sheheivi ishto ha-tzadekes b'michshelei lavan, mipnei pachdei Pharo. He brought his wife down to Mitzrayim, put her in danger. What should he have done? It was hunger, starvation. He covered the rav — you look at the Brisker Rav, it lined up like the Rambam — he covered the rav. You can't go down to Mitzrayim. You can't leave Eretz Yisrael stam al Shabbos l'hungerik because there's a little bit famine. It had to be, ki kaved ha-ra'av, there's mamash no food. That's why the pasuk is madgish, the pasuk emphasizes, ki kaved ha-ra'av ba'aretz. It was worse than just he couldn't pay the bills, much worse than that. Shtickel bread — there was no bread on the table. And yet the Ramban says clearly, chet gadol chata. Good, bishgaga, but chet gadol chata. He shouldn't have done this. He put his wife in sakana. He should have had bitachon. And then the Ramban continues, Gam yetziaso min haaretz. Even the actual leaving Eretz Yisrael to go down to Mitzrayim was also a chet. Avon asher chata. It's a chet. Ki Elokim b'rov yifdenu mimaves. He should have relied on the Ribono Shel Olam to save him from hunger. And the Mishnah says not like that. Ramban. What do you do with the Mishnah, v'amad b'kulam? He passed the test. According to Ramban, he didn't pass the test. There's a very chashuv sefer, the Sifsei Chaim from Chaim Elazar. He's one of the chashuv talmidim of the Alter of Slabodka. He's metzayen that actually the Ramban is a mefurasha Zohar. Found a mekor from the Ramban that it was a chet that he went down to Mitzrayim. L'maaseh, the Mishnah, it's pretty clear in the Midrashim that he was amad b'kulam. The lashon of the Medrash is, v'lo kara tager. He could have complained. He could have said, Ribono Shel Olam, what's tut a chop? Du host mir gezogt. I listened. Ich hob gefolgt. Ich hob gezogt, v'yiten lecha Elokim mital hashamayim. Ich hob gezogt. Ich hob gefolgt. Getan alles, alts vos du host gezogt. V'lo kara tag. Azoy is loshon haMedrash. So there's a machlokes, good, the Zohar and the Medrash. But pashut is omad b'kulan. What's the pshat in the Ramban? So I was thinking, b'davzogen a yesod, rabosai. B'dafashtein, what is the nisayon of parnassah? What is it? What exactly is the nisayon? Avu liegt. Where is it laid in the nekudah of the test, the difficulty? And I believe there are four parts to the nisayon of parnassah, of vayehi Rov ba'aretz, when there's no food. The first part of the nisayon is how one lives. Does he become bitter? Does he become angry? Does he make everyone around him miserable? Does he be misya'esh? Does he walk around hopeless, sour, bitter, angry? And you can fill in the rest of the adjectives that you'd like. We look around, many people walk around like that. They don't have parnassah, can't be in their daled amos. They're angry, they're bitter, they're upset, they're shrek.

That's one part of the nisayon. There's another part of the nisayon, which is bitachon, emunah, to work on trusting the Rabbeinu Shleilam. It's the second part of the nisayon. There's another part of the nisayon on how you go about getting your money when you're hungry and you're not being able to pay the bills. Do you do honest work? Do you deal yashrusdik, or do you look for loopholes? Do you try to do hishtadlus, which is the correct hishtadlus? Are you ehrlich? People with emunah are usually very ehrlich. The Rabbeinu Shleilam says, I'll have parnassah if I do A and B, and this is what the Torah and the Shulchan Aruch tells me to do, I do it. That's the third part of the nisayon. And then there's the last part, which I think is how much time do we put into the parnassah. Does it consume us completely, that we don't go to oursdarim, we don't learn, mekayem hishtadlus, and the cups and gansse fatumult? It's also part of the nisayon. And maybe there's more, but to me this seems to be the four categories, the prakim of the nisayon of parnassah. How does a person react? Is he happy, or is he hopeless and bitter and angry, which is the loshon of the Medrash, Loy kara tager, you didn't complain. The second part is the bitachon chelek, because you have bitachon, emunah. The third part is— How does he handle? Does he handle richtig? Does he handle ehrlich? Does he handle eidel in business? Handle an eidel. A person has to be eidel in business. It might not be very good business advice. From where I sit, the Torah zugt uns azoi. To be eidel. A person has to be noyeh malichus. And the last thing, which I think is emes, how much time does it consume us? Do we take away from our avodas Hashem because of it? Ken zayn a beisai, there were two parts to the nisayon. One part that the Rishonim are telling us that Avraham was matzliach, and that's the medrash, lo kara tagar. He could have complained. The Ramban didn't say he complained. That's not what the Ramban said. The Ramban did not say chet, God will chata, because he complained, or because he did hishtadlus which is nicht richtig. That's not what it says. It's al teidi emes. Whatever you're going to say, I agree with you, because the truth is, I'll be very honest with you, my body shakes when I talk this Ramban. I'd rather leave the Ramban for the way it is. I'd be better off if I didn't touch this Ramban. And I just said the Ramban is the Ramban. It's a zoya lefi dargasi shel Avraham Avinu, andndich farshteynisht. But the Ramban does use a lashon of, again, b'yiras hakavod, b'yiras hakavod, b'yiras... I have to learn up the Ramban. That's what memusarim, the uplanderishonim. Avadah, he was omed b'kulam, lo kara taga, like the Medrash says. Chas v'shalom, he didn't complain, he wasn't bitter, and he was mekabel it b'ahavah. Vos shteit shteit. And I want to explain to you how deep and how big and how much stress this nisayon was for Avraham Avinu. The Medrash says, Vayehi rav ba'aretz, me'olam lo haya rav ba'olam. Till this point, there was never hunger in the world, says the Medrash. And the Medrash says, V'afilu harav lo haya ela b'Eretz levad. It was only there where Avraham came, finished. A peledike zach. The first time they see hunger, and it's only pumped where Avraham came. Gives you a minute to think, a person, that tracht, something is, no? Lo kara taga. And I want to tell you more about this. There's a Medrash that the Ne'im Elimelech brings, and he says that the real nisayon was that they blamed Avraham for the rav. They said—

Rabosai, if you have, if the Rabbeinu Shlolem is true, and you represent the Eibishter, and the Eibishter told you, Vavarechecha, I'll give you a bracha. Nu? Nu? Avuz the bracha? Avuz the Rabbeinu Shlolem? Ayeh Elokecha? V'omer hagoyim, Ayeh Elokecha? It's tremendous lachatz. This is what Avraham was up against. He comes with a reid that the Rabbeinu Shlolem matzugezagt, and the next day the market drops. That's what happened, Rabosai. Good. It doesn't say in the Torah the market dropped, but you understand the mashal and the nimshal. Avraham Avinu gets the shmues the night before, between Mincha and Maariv, Avraham Avinu gets up and he says, Rabosai, beir olam, the Rabbeinu Shlolem matzugezagt, it's geit zayn bracha. Next morning, ... Could you imagine? ... the tremendous nisayon of emunah, the lachatz, the stress, for lack of a better term, that Avraham Avinu had to go through. I want to tell you over a meirdige vort from the Ostrovtzer, Rabosai, hafla vafela. The Ostrovtzer says that if you open up the large fish that they catch in the ocean, They usually cut the stomach to open the... You'll find that the fish that he swallowed and still didn't digest are not tail towards tail, towards his tail. Which means, a fish runs after another fish to swallow it, to be running, swimming, catching, so the tail should be coming in first. That's not what it is you'll find. You'll find that the heads of the fish are towards the tail. Okay. I see this vat, dacht basich, d'atsraftsa became a marine biologist. How does he know this? I did my homework. It's true. The marine biologist's taina, that most of the fish, some of them, of course, are the other way around, and some of them are מסתמא already gefullt the fish in the stomach. Aber b'reiv, the fish are, the face of the fish towards the tail. So I researched it. It's doctor true. Biologist tainas, marine biologist tainas. Zogt, דאס טרעפט זיך a limud. What's the limud? The fins of the tail of the fish are sharp. If the fish would swallow tons of this fish tail first, it would cut its tongue, the inside of its mouth. So he runs after a fish. And as he opens up his mouth, as it says, harchiv picha va'amaleihu, the Ribono Shel Olam fills it up by a whole swarm of other fish are swimming the other direction towards his mouth. And that's how he's maizen, that's how he gets his food, his sustenance. I researched the Chafetz. I also thought, is that true? Great. I think they have a tremendous aquarium in Florida. The head of the marine biology in Florida, gezogt a gantze shiur of their inyan here, that actually the fish are coming from a different direction, swimming. And as he opens his mouth to get this fish, the other ones swim in. Zogt ostroft, so why is that? The Ribono Shel Olam is mamtzi the parnassah from a different direction, bichlal. He's running after this fish. If he would eat a bunch of them, it would cut him. It would be no good for the fish. Rachamav al akdeilim. The Ribono Shel Olam makes it from another direction which he didn't even notice or see. All his sustenance comes from. Zogt ostroft, and that's why we eat fish on Shabbos.

Person thinks that if he eats—I'm sorry, if he keeps Shabbos, he's not working, his business is closed, and machshich kedei techum, mechirah for Shabbos, he thinks he's going to lose out. Look at the fish. Fish gets its parnassah, the Ribono Shel Olam, from a different direction. It's not what he's running after is what's going to be meizen him. She'einav. I want to tell you, it's actually a pasuk in Mishlei. By the brachos it says, Uvo alecha kol habrachos v'hisigucha. What does v'hisigucha mean? They will catch you. Catch me? The brachos are coming. Why are the brachos have to catch me? So there's eidus like the ... It's kumt a chap, a p'seidah, a little, as they say, a nugget of a gem. The eidus is a cheinel of a brachah. When a person makes money, you know what happens? He's unavailable. You can never reach him. Call his secretary: Sorry, he's on the other line. Sorry, busy. He's not here. He's out of town. He can never reach him. So, Uvo alecha kol habrachos, and we should still be v'hisigucha, should be able to catch you, should be able to reach you. Chelek from the brachos. Tzavaktel a mechayeh. What's pshat v'hisigucha? So I saw Reb Chaim Elazar, he says it. It's really based on a Rishonah. A person sometimes runs from what you think your brachah is. He's oisek in learning and he says, I gave up a big business deal. So you think that you gave up on something. You walked away from your parnassah. You walked away from what your hatzlachah is. You're moving away from it because you sat and learned or davened. U'vo alecha kol habrachos v'hisigucha. They'll catch you. They'll run after you. If you do what you need to do, the Ribono Shel Olam will give you parnassah from somewhere you didn't expect, from another direction, and it's gonna get you without even you having to run after it. You do your hishtadlus here, and then you find hatzlachah somewhere else. V'hi sigucha, the brachos will catch you. Don't think that you need to run after the brachah. It's a maaseh from the Ropshitzer, the Zera Kodesh, beautiful maaseh. He once saw a Yid running, so he asked him, A vu laufstu? Where are you running to? ... Vanit veyst az du laufst tsu dayn parnassah? ... Efsher laufst avek fun dayn parnassah? Efsher laufst avek fun dayn hatzlachah? Maybe you're running away from it. How do you know where you... Maybe the more you run this way, you're running what? Away from where your hatzlachah is supposed to come from. Now let's go back to the nisayon of Avraham Avinu, a peledike zach, and let's learn up the parsha of Akeidah. Avraham Avinu was told that if he goes to Canaan, the parnassah of Yitzchak. He went to Canaan, and he thinks, Avada my parnassah is going to be there. The Ribbono Shel Olam promised. But he learned a tremendous lesson, and that is, you know, I have a kasha that bothered me, and it doesn't only bother me. He tells Sarah, You should say achosi at, l'maan yitav li ba'avurech, v'cheis nafshi biglalech. What do you mean? What's ba'avurech yitav li? Cheis nafshi, I hear it's a sakana. Bafishtadlus zayn, nitzl zayn fun a sakana. Ramban says it was a ta'ina on him, okay, but al kol panim, under Ramban, he did the right thing. But ba'avurech yiten li matanos? That's what Avraham Avinu in copy? Imagine the during World War II, they're running away, and they're trying to escape. They're in the biggest of danger. You know, if we go here, we might make a few dollars. Eicher, machen a parnassah.

What does it mean? What does it mean, bavushit li matanos? What's meantos בכלל? I always thought pashut pshat is he owed money. He borrowed on the way down, Rashi, Chazal, and on the way back he wanted to pay back his choves. To him, das is a mitzvah, a mitzvah, pirayon bal chov, he owes the money. Bameila, that's just likt in a cup, bavushit li matanos. Rabosai, ס'דאך מערדיק, a meiradik yesod. Hert zu, rabosai, her meyudik. Avraham Avinu was teaching us life. Avraham Avinu was teaching us how to look at nisyonos. Avraham Avinu looks and he says, Hayitachen? What's the pshat? The Ribono Shel Olam sent me to Canaan, and then all of a sudden I have to go down to Mitzrayim, and the teretz is, Valdatan likt de matana, de matnas Elokim. It's all a present from the Ribono Shel Olam. Bavushi yiten li matanos. It's an interesting lashon, matanos. What does it mean, matanos? What is that? Matanos. He didn't say he'll give me money. I'll get a matana. When a person looks and he says, Ribono Shel Olam, I'm at the end of the road, I don't understand. Zogt Avraham Avinu, az ich מוז גיין קיין מצרים, נעם מתנות פון דעם. Something good will come from it. It's all for a matanah. It's all good. It's all a present from the Rabbeinu Shlolem. Because that is the kiyum of V'ahavta es Hashem b'chol... He believed and he understood that if it doesn't work out here, and the road is closed here, and the business is shut over here, and it's pushing me in a direction which I can't understand where, what, and why, you should know that only matanos will come from it, and your parnassah will come from there. Tell me something, I beseech. What was a person's mind thinking already? Ishi yafas mareh... Sameilif, they say, Achosi, he'll get matanos. It's a pretty far-fetched scheme, that they should come and they should believe that it's a... You have to be very inventive to think of this as a solution. And the answer is, it was based on emunah and bitachon. Az ich vil ton, vos der Rabbeinu Shlolem zogt, vil ich hoben a matanah. Father told me that my zeide was once wearing a watch, a new watch. Someone walked over to him and said, Rav, where'd you get the watch? He said, I got it as a matanah. Got it as a present. So he asked him, Who gave you the matanah? He said, the Rabbeinu Shlolem. What is giving matanah? We're so accustomed to the thing matanah means that someone gave it to me. Why should he give matanos? You know, rabosai, let me ask you a kasha. We find that Avraham Avinu doesn't want to take from Sdom. Shelo tomar, ani he'asharti es Avram. He went to war, he fought, he won. Bris keteirah, shlal milchamah was his. He really owned it. He really owned it. So once the shelo tomar, ani he'asharti es Avram, the shlaf, sharf, flekt the shlah and say, Avraham Avinu, what do you think? Your parnassah is going to fall out of the sky? What do you think, harubeh shemayim yiftachu, and you're going to get parnassah? You went to war, you won it, it's yours. This is it. Azoi fregt the shlah, emfert the shlah. He didn't want to be neheneh mimaaseh nissim. Since he saw that it was a tremendous nes, a nes, I don't want to be neheneh mimaaseh nissim. No. So let's go back to Mitzrayim. So I guess that's not maaseh nissim. I saw the Brisker Rav calls it iska toivah. It was a good business, hepesed. Avraham Avinu made a good business calculation with Achosi, made a good business calculation. Azoi, Brisker Rav, iska toivah.

There's an interesting Maharil Diskin on this. The Maharil Diskin sagt, if you notice by Avraham Avinu, he doesn't say that I will get money. Avur sheyeitev li ba'avurech, hatovah, which is really the diuk I was telling you, hatovah, presents, gifts, soft money. I don't know what they call it, believe me, I'm not so out there, but I think they call it soft money in the campaigns, the soft money, cheis, the gifts. A gift! It doesn't say. Sagt the Maharil Diskin that he didn't expect he should get, because ... didn't want to take. Sagt the Maharil Diskin that there's a Rambam. The Rambam says the special halachos that a talmid chacham gets first. He's supposed to give him matanos. Mimeila, that's ba'avur sheyeitev li ba'avurech, matanos, hatovah. Ul'Avram heitiv, the diyuk הלשון, ul'Avram heitiv. The Maharil Diskin says he didn't want mamash take money directly from ... He didn't want to take money because he didn't want to take from ... Take something from ... Heitiv. It wasn't mamash that he gave him, says the Maharil Diskin. It was around the belt, there was a present, there was soft money, it was ... No, you have to kasha ... you have to ... I want the ... he doesn't want to take from ... Ani asharti es Avram, shelo yomar, ... Mitzrayim, they won't say, Ani asharti es Avram. He came back with so much. What happened to Ani asharti? So the ... learned that Pesach was a maaseh nisim. And vos is dos? There's great maaseh nisim. Biskrav says a niska, tov, good, heitev, good. ... halacha shifin heipes ... You have ... halacha di ... heipes ... But what's takke the taich? Okay. I want to tell you something. Years ago I heard from Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, zicher tzaddik livracha, zicher tzaddik livracha. Tell me a .... Dovid HaMelech was cursed by Shimi ben Geira. V'hu kli .... He went out in front of the whole army and he started cursing Dovid. These are noyef, nimretzes, noyef mamzer, ... shreklach, nimretzes, noyef mamzer ... The worst, the worst of the worst. HaDovid HaMelech ... Hashem amar lo lekalel, leave him alone, leave him alone, ... What means this? Every person doesn't have ... leave him alone. Hashem told him to do it. You know, the meshugaim was ... mention, and they walk around. They were told by ... Now I know how old each one of you is. The young guy has no idea what I'm talking about. The older one remembers. No, but I'm a ... Backovich. I see already how old ... is. Okay. The son of Sam, the son of Sam with ... Hashem amar lo lekalel. What does it mean? And the teretz is, says Rav Scheinberg, when you see something is shloi kederech hateva, when you see that the Ribono Shel Olam is fearing, maaseh Hashem, that he should go down to Mitzrayim, vayehi rov, and that he should be sarim nachochi, and that vayinag Hashem goyim gedolim. Oh, dos is the Ribono Shel Olam. Dos is the Ribono Shel Olam. The Ribono Shel Olam was giving. Going to war, he could have thought to himself, Eh, I have good planes, no? Ah, there was only forty planes that won a six-day war. Good, the planes, the B-12s, the B-12s. Abba, it doesn't match, it doesn't clap. Abba, there's a makom to say in the velt, Ani esharti es Avram. And you know what ani is? The chiddush of Torah zogt, ani is going on Avram. Avram was afraid that people, including himself, would say, Ani esharti. Ani, it was me. It was me. I went to war.

I was strong, and I was victorious, and I made money. I only took Eliyazer mita... mita nes, mita... But by Pari—what do you mean? He took from Pari? Pari offered him. Pari, out of taivas, out of hatovah. First of all, I have a question for you: vi kum Pari tantoyves? Pari is a meitiv. Can you imagine a rasha, the rasha, all of a sudden becomes a meitiv? You gotta start trying to figure out what's going on. Something's wrong here. Pari, a meitiv? Imagine the greatest rasha walks into your store and says, You know, I don't know why, but I hated you for years, and I was ... you for years, and then I want to come and put down ten thousand dollars for you as a present. Think to yourself, what happens? Moshiach? Something's nisht glat. Avraham Avinu loses the loshon by Avuah sheyitav li ba'avurech. Yitav li—he's gonna do a tovah to me? Dos iz der peinish le'olam klal. No one's gonna think that Pari was a good guy; he was a harda goy. Kein vet es nishgleit. Avin devolchaneh? Kein vet a chacham kein zogn? Voh! Ani hasharti es Avraham. It was me. Avraham Avinu wanted that the Rabbeinu Shleim should send him the parnassah, that he didn't have to go and fight for it. The parnassah came to him. Now why am I telling you this? I see the clock. I see the clock. You'll thank me afterwards. I want to tell you about Talmudic Chasam Sofer. What's today? Today's Tuesday. You came to learn even though today's the best day to do business. I didn't make it up, and I don't know anything about the business world. Trust me, I'm an eretz medaraisa. I don't even know how to pay a bill. They said, Kein zachnisht. If you have to come, electric bill, turn to my wife, you pay the... I don't even know where to send, what to send. So I don't have any inside trader information business. But I have a Chasam Sofer. Chasam Sofer in Teiras Moshe. Zogt דער הייליגער Chasam Sofer in Parshas Beshalach, veyadua, it's known that there are two days in the week which are the best days to make parnassah. ... Chasam Sofer, ki heim hayamim hamesugalim limei hamaaseh lachzor achar parnassah also. These two days, Tuesday and Wednesday. Why? Listen to Chasam Sofer. He says it's yadua, k'dei sefarim. Zogt דער הייליגער Chasam Sofer. You ready? Kosher mizeh neisav shel Adam k'kriyas Yam Suf. Does anybody know what by Kriyas Yam Suf happened? Now I'm not going to go through the different midrashim, but the Chasam Sofer, I'll trust him. I'll trust the Chasam Sofer. It was started on Tuesday and finished on Wednesday. Says the Chasam Sofer, Ki kashim zeh neis Kriyas Yam Suf, shehayu beyamim ha'eilu. It was on these days. Tuesday, Wednesday? Because Kriyas Yam Suf, the best time to make parnassah is Tuesday and Wednesday. Havei say, what the Gemara means, that it's difficult to make parnassah like Kriyas Yam Suf. So unless he meant to say was so, if Kriyas Yam Suf was able to happen, maybe parnassah is able to happen, huh? No, no, you don't understand me, no, yeah. Because it's kasha, but it happens. If it happens, so maybe I can have parnassah on these days. Ah, to me it needed more. So I was thinking, vos meint heilige Chasam Sofer? I see the clock, we're almost done with our beis. Let me tell you of another quick Chasam Sofer. Haflua fell, zogt the Chasam Sofer. There's a different Chasam Sofer. The Chasam Sofer is in Toras Moshe, Devarim. Zogt the Chasam Sofer, the Gemara in Gittin says, Kol mi sheyesh lo tzaar, ligmal chaveiro. If someone has a complaint that his friend is taking away his parnassah—see, everybody went through such a case, everybody.

Here, it's a Gemara: Kol mi sheyesh lo tzaarkus l'gimel chaveiroi. Rashi, shechaveiroi gazlu mimenu. This friend is taking away his money and he's ... chayav. The Ribono Shel Olam is yoshev. He sits and he takes care of it. Oiseh lo din. But there's one condition: you have to read the Gemara. The shoisek, he keeps quiet. You hear, chaveisai? It's a Gemara in Gittin, daf zayin amud aleph. פירוש, הקדוש ברוך הוא מצטער ... ... הקדוש ברוך הוא ... ... עושה לו דין. But that's only if he is shoisek. But if he fights—ah, if he fights, what happens? Not clear that the Ribono Shel Olam will come to his aid to protect him, that his money shouldn't get stolen. ועל זה נאמר בקריאת ים סוף ... ... ה' ילחם לכם. On the condition that אתם תחרישון. פרנסה ... בקריעת ים סוף, just like by Kriyas Yam Suf, you had to keep quiet and leave everything up to the Eibishter. ה' ילחם לכם, ואתם תחרישון. So if you keep quiet, the Ribono Shel Olam will be your best lawyer, and he'll run after the guy and get you back your money. And then the Chasam Sofer says, ילחם has two meanings. Yelachem is to fight, then yelachem also means, No! Bread! ... Hashem yilachem lachem. Hashem will give you bread. V'atem tachrishun. If you don't fight, you don't kill the other guy to get back the money. You see the guy is robbing you. Now you're all looking at me that you're ready to kill me for saying it. What should I do? ... and I have good news for you. It's the only thing that really works. You spend your years in litigation and fighting neighbors and money, you'll get nowhere. The Gemara tells us shoisik, and that's what he says, V'atem tachrishun. I end with the following Me'orei Einayim. The Me'orei Einayim says, ... fellow in brachos. He says, You ever notice you get angry in business? The guy is taking from you. The guy is not listening, and the guy is trying to take your job. I don't have to fill in all the blanks of how business could take away your life. All right, we got it. How it's a war to the end. ... Me'orei Einayim, ... brachos. He says a yesod: kaas is avodah zarah. Kol hako'es is k'ilu oved avodah zarah. So if a guy gets angry in business, so the money that he gained from it is takroves avodah zarah, and it's asur b'hana'ah. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.