Rav Koppel of Likove was a great tzadik who earned his livelihood by selling whiskey to the local goyim in his town. Every year before Pesach he would make arrangements to sell the whiskey, which was chometz, to a man named Ivan.
One year, a new priest came to town, and told all his followers that he had an idea to get the whole city lots of free whiskey! The plan was simple: Ivan, as well as every other goy in the city, just needed to refuse to buy the whiskey before Pesach. Rav Koppel was a G-d fearing Jew, and if no one bought his chometz he would certainly declare it “hefker”, and then there would be free whiskey for everyone!
Sure enough, Erev Pesach came, and no one would buy Rav Koppel’s whiskey. With no choice, he shlepped all his whiskey to town square, and said out loud that this whiskey was now completely ownerless. Happy and grateful that he passed this test that Hashem sent him, Rav Koppel went back home. He decided to take his family to a nearby city for Pesach, so he wouldn’t ruin his simchas Yom Tov by watching all the locals drinking his entire livelihood throughout Pesach.
The moment he returned to his city after Yom Tov he was confronted by angry locals, who asked him “Is this what you Jews call “ownerless,” when you put your whiskey in public and then hire soldiers to stand guard over it until your holiday is over?!”
Rav Koppel denied this completely, and when the locals realized that he truly had no idea what they were talking about, they realized that Hashem had made a great miracle to protect Rav Koppel’s livelihood, which he was ready to give up completely for Hashem’s sake. The locals then cried out together “great is the G-d of Rav Koppel, who watched over his possessions and made it look like there were soldiers standing guard over it!”
When we show Hashem our love for Him, He shows us His love for us!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 75.