No One Can Touch It

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

For a 20% discount on Rabbi Ashear's new book on Parnassah click the link below and enter Promo Code - Emunah20 https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422640708.html The Gemara says in Masechet Yoma , daf 38, that a person cannot touch what is meant for someone else. Whatever Hashem decrees a person should get, he will get. If we take this Gemara to heart, it will save us a lot of potential anguish in life and will also give us motivation to always do what's right. Sometimes we have an opportunity to make a certain business deal or buy a certain house and somehow things fall apart. And then we start second-guessing what we did and think if we had acted differently, things would have turned out differently. This Gemara teaches us, what happened was what was meant to happen and no matter what we would have done, the same results would have occurred. A man from Bnei Brak related, he was on his way to a bris one morning, and he noticed a nice chair in great condition that was placed by the curb. He had the same exact chairs in his house and needed another one. As he was walking towards it, he noticed someone else who seemed interested also walking towards it. He said to himself, “If someone else wants it, I don't want to cause him anguish by taking it first even though I know that I saw it first.” So he continued walking and went to the bris. On his way back, he saw the chair was gone. He kept walking and then saw an old acquaintance of his. The acquaintance said he found a beautiful chair that was left for taking and he saved it for someone who might want it. He then offered it to him. They went into his building together and saw it was the same chair. That other guy never took it. The acquaintance said he had a car and would be happy to drive it to his apartment. The man was so happy to see whatever is meant for a person he will get. By giving in, he even saved himself the burden of having to carry it home in the hot summer. A principal in a Talmud Torah related that he was happy with all of the rebbes who taught in his school, except for one. That one somehow always forgot everything he was told to do and the principal wanted to fire him. But that rabbi's students learned so well and the parents really liked him, so the principal never brought himself to do it. Baruch Hashem, their yeshiva was growing and they needed a new building. One day, a very wealthy man came down to the yeshiva to take a tour and see if he wanted to donate to the new building project. The rebbe, who the principal was not so fond of, had made a deal with his class that if they all did well on a test, he would let them turn over their chairs in the classroom and drive them like cars and have a game of bumper cars with them. That day, when the wealthy man came down to the yeshiva, was the day that this rebbe let his class play bumper cars. When the principal brought the wealthy man to the classroom, he was horrified by what he saw: twenty boys riding their chairs on the floor across the room with the rebbe participating. He tried to excuse the scene to the wealthy man but he was completely humiliated over it. Later that day, the principal fired the rebbe saying this was the straw that broke the camel's back. The rebbe pleaded with him to reconsider saying he would be left with no parnasa with ten children at home. But the principal wouldn't hear it. A couple of days later, one of the principal's children fell and broke his leg. The next day, a different child ran through a glass door and got injured. Two days later, another child needed to go to the hospital. Then his wife broke her hand. The principal realized he did something wrong and told his rabbi what was happening. His rabbi asked him if he hurt another Jew recently, and he told him that he fired a rebbe. His rabbi told him to go back and apologize to this rebbe and rehire him. The rebbe accepted the apology, but in the meantime he already got a different job. A week later, the wealthy man called the principal and said he wanted to sponsor the entire building. He expressed his delight at how things were operating at the yeshiva and was especially impressed with the class that took a break and played bumper cars. He loves a yeshiva that has a loose atmosphere. The principal said afterward, “I see from here, we're going to get what we're meant to get even if it seems that we made an opposite hishtadlut than we were supposed to. And therefore, I have to work on myself and not get angry or annoyed when things don't go the way that I want.”