I’ll tell you a maaseh. A chassid once went to his Rebbe, the Chozeh of Lublin, and asked him whether he should get involved in a particular business venture. His business sense told him this was a very lucrative idea, but he wanted the Chozeh’s blessing before making his investment.
Much to the chassid’s surprise, the Chozeh, the great “Seer” of Lublin, looked at the kvittel and told him that he did not see hatzlachah here and did not recommend he move forward with it.
The chassid could not understand how anything could go wrong with such an incredible business opportunity, and he wasn’t quite ready to take the Chozeh’s suggestion. He decided to seek a “second opinion.”
The Chozeh himself was a talmid and chassid of the Noam Elimelech, Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk, so he decided to find the opportunity to travel to Lizhensk to consult with Reb Elimelech. When he arrived, he gave the Rebbe the kvittel and told him about this lucrative business opportunity that he wanted a brachah for, without telling him that he had already asked the Chozeh for a brachah. Reb Elimelech looked at the kvittel and gave him a clear brachah that he would be successful in this business venture. The chassid was thrilled! Brachah in hand, he jumped at the business opportunity.
It only took a few weeks before he started to see how terrible this investment was. His business partner was very difficult to deal with, and if at first the business was simply not profitable, the time quickly came when he started to incur debt, and the business started to fall apart in front of his eyes.
To make matters worse, he started to see other businesses he was involved in start to fall apart, even ones that had no connection to this particular investment. It seemed clear that the vision of the Chozeh of Lublin was accurate.
Finally, after about half a year, slowly but surely, the tide began to turn. His business partner became easier to deal with, and their joint venture started to turn a profit. One by one, all his businesses began to flourish again, and besides recovering all his losses from the last few months, he started earning a very strong parnassah. Now it seemed clear that the vision of the Rebbe Reb Elimelech was accurate!
A little while later, the chassid attended a wedding, where both the Chozeh and Reb Elimelech were attending. He was pretty uncomfortable to meet both of them in the same place, because as far as he knew, each of the Tzadikim did not know that he had consulted with the other one as well!
Sure enough, he met them both and gave them “Shalom Aleichem,” without mentioning the incident. At that moment, Reb Elimelech turned to the Chozeh and said, “Everyone calls you the Chozeh. You have very good vision. With this chassid, you were able to see until the potch (smack). But I was able to see beyond the potch.”
Take It To Go!:
The Rebono Shel Olam should bless each and every one of us with no potches at all. But if, G-d forbid, a person encounters any difficulties, whether in ruchniyos or gashmiyus, we should be zoche not only to have the eyes of the Chozeh, to see the difficulties as coming from Hashem, but also to have the eyes of the Noam Elimelech — to believe, to hope, to wait for the nechamah and brachah that will come after the potch as well.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 36.