Hashem is Always Helping

I’ll tell you a maaseh. There was a Yid, we’ll call him Yankele, who lived and worked in the city of Apt, where the famous Apter Rav, Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heshel, also lived. Yankele owned an inn that he rented from the local poritz, a non-Jewish landlord. Business started going down. Yankele was struggling to support his family, and on top of that, the rent he owed the poritz was piling up. The poritz was not someone you wanted to owe money to. He began sending letters demanding payment and warning of consequences.

Yankele was scared, but he didn’t know what to do. He simply did not have the money! Eventually, the poritz had enough. He sent a group of Cossacks to Yankele’s house to intimidate him. It was Shabbos afternoon when they barged in. They flipped tables, smashed dishes, threw food, and made a disaster of the house, sending him a clear message: pay up, or worse will come. After they left, Yankele and his family were left sitting in a home that looked like a war zone. Everything was broken. He still had no money, and now he knew the next visit could be even worse.

That week was Shabbos Hagadol. Despite everything, Yankele decided that instead of sitting at home in misery, he would go to hear the Apter Rav’s drashah. He arrived late, distracted and overwhelmed, and quietly stood in the back of the beis medrash, trying to listen. The first thing he heard was the Apter Rav discussing two brachos we say. One is “Baruch Atah Hashem Ga’al Yisrael” — Hashem redeemed us, in the past tense. The other is “Baruch Atah Hashem Go’el Yisrael” — Hashem redeems us, in the present tense. The Apter Rav was explaining that just like Hashem redeemed and saved the Jewish people in the past, He continues to do so, saving, protecting, and redeeming the Jewish people at all times. 

Then the Apter Rav gave an example. He said, “Let’s say there’s a Jew who rents a property from a poritz and runs an inn. Business slows down, and he falls into debt. The poritz sends Cossacks to wreck his home and scare him. That Jew should remember that just as Hashem redeemed us in the past, He is redeeming us now and will continue to redeem us.” Yankele heard those words and was filled with relief! That’s all he needed to hear. He left the beis medrash and danced his way home!

When he got home, his wife saw him smiling and happy. She thought he had lost his mind. But he told her what he heard in shul, and said with confidence, “Hashem is helping us. Everything will be okay.” 

Meanwhile, the poritz wasn’t finished. He sent the Cossacks again to see how Yankele was doing, looking forward to hearing the report that Yankele and his family were shaking in fear from the poritz. He expected to hear that Yankele was falling apart. But the Cossacks peeked through the window and saw that the house was still a mess — but inside, Yankele was calm. He was smiling, playing with his kids, sitting with his wife. The family looked peaceful and happy. The Cossacks were confused. They went back to the poritz and reported, “The house is still in ruins, but they seem completely relaxed and confident.” The poritz didn’t understand. “How can that be?” he said. “I need to see this myself.” So he summoned Yankele to come.

Yankele showed up. The poritz expected to see a broken man, but instead, Yankele came in with confidence and composure. The poritz said, “Yankele, where’s my money?” Yankele answered, “I don’t have it yet.” “Why not?” the poritz asked. “Business is slow,” Yankele said. “You’ll get your money when I can pay.” 

So now, all of a sudden, the conversation just shifts. It’s like Yankele is talking like the poritz, and the poritz is talking like a downtrodden person. So the poritz says, “OK, OK, fine. You’ll give me the money when you’re able to. What… what could I…” — the words just come out of the poritz’s mouth — “What could I do to help you?”

And so Yankele says, “I’ll tell you what to do. If you lend me some money, or even better than that,” Yankele says, “maybe give me a percentage of a particular business that you own. And from there, I’ll be able to build on that success, and I’ll be able to have the funds to pay you back.”

And without even realizing what’s going on, the poritz says, “Sure, whatever you say,” and he takes out some paperwork. He actually gives a part of the profitable business to Yankele! Yankele leaves, thrilled at what just transpired, and the poritz is left scratching his head at his own actions…

 And so Yankele goes, he builds on the business, and he becomes wildly successful. Within a matter of a few days, he has all the funds he needs to pay the poritz back — all from being a partner in this other business from the poritz.

A few days later, Yankele was by the Apter Rav, and the Apter Rav asked him how he was doing. Yankele told him the whole story, how he learned from the Shabbos Hagadol drashah that Hashem is always helping him, and how he was saved from a terrible fate. 

The Apter Rav smiled and said, “Yankele, the Aibishter is always saving our lives! This is just one example of the many nissim you’ve experienced in your life. You don’t even know it. This just happens to be a moment where Hashem showed Himself in an open way as the Go’el Yisrael. But you should know — the Aibishter is always the Go’el Yisrael, and He is constantly orchestrating and running our lives, saving us from trouble at every moment, even if we don’t always see it.”