There’s a story told with one of the esteemed disciples of the Alter Rebbe. It was towards the end of a lengthy private audience in which he had discussed his service of Hashem in great detail. His learning, his davening, his spiritual character. The Alter Rebbe then turned to his student and asked, “And how is your livelihood doing?”
“Eh,” answered the chassid. In other words, it wasn’t going so well. The Altar Rebbe responded by giving him a blessing for an abundant livelihood. Immediately, this chassid’s fortunes changed. He started doing well and his livelihood prospered. The difference was drastic and his neighbor soon noticed. “How did this happen,” he asked.
“How did you suddenly become a wealthy man?” The Chassid replied simply, “It was a blessing from the Rebbe.” Hearing this, the neighbor decides to pay a visit to the Alter Rebbe. Now, this man was not a Chassid, and had never met the Alter Rebbe before. He travels to the Rebbe and asks him for a blessing for his livelihood.
The Alter Rebbe looks up and says, “I don’t give blessings for material matters.”
“What do you mean?!,” The man protests. “My neighbor, your chassid, told me that the reason he became so successful is because you blessed him.”
“Ah, you’re comparing yourself to this chassid?” Replied the Rebbe.
“Let me share a story with you that will explain the difference between your situation and his.
There was once a merchant who used to travel to the Great Fair in Leipzig to conduct his business. Over the years, he connected with a particular vendor. They had a great partnership and did a tremendous amount of business with each other. One day, as the merchant prepared to return home, he commented to his associate that he’s not sure how he’ll get back home as his wagon was giving him some trouble.
‘You’re in luck,’ replied his friend. ‘You see, before I got into this business, I used to be a wagon driver. I could help you.’ Sure enough, he takes a look, and he’s able to fix the merchant’s wagon in no time. As the merchant prepared to head out from the inn he was staying at, he commented to another traveler how he was having wagon trouble and that it got fixed.
‘Wow,’ says this traveler. ‘Who fixed it? I need help with my wagon.’
The merchant pointed to his associate and the traveler walked over and asked if he could fix his wagon. ‘Not at all,’ answered the businessman. ‘I’m not a wagon driver.’
‘But you just fixed this merchant’s wagon,’ the traveler exclaimed. ‘You’re comparing yourself to him?,’ said the businessman.
‘I’ve done business with this man for years. We have a long and fruitful relationship in which we have both benefited greatly. He happened to mention, as an aside, that he needed help with his wagon, so I helped him out. But I don’t fix wagon wheels anymore. It’s not what I do.'”
The Alter Rebbe concluded, “Your neighbor, my chassid, we’ve been doing business for years, spiritual business.
I’ve instructed and helped him serve Hashem. So when he mentioned that he needed help with his ‘wheel,’ that his livelihood wasn’t doing well, I gave him a blessing to help him out.”
This story provides a powerful framework on how to approach Rosh Hashanah. We can approach Rosh Hashanah shopping cart in hand, with a list of what we want to get.
We want health, we want happiness, we want tranquility, we want Nachas. And these are all good things, but that’s not the underlying theme of Rosh Hashanah or the primary business of the holiday. The main business of Rosh Hashanah is to coronate Hashem as our King. We’re here to renew our relationship, to reinforce our commitment, to get in touch with our identity as agents and ambassadors of the Almighty.
When our relationship is defined by our commitment to serve Hashem, the connection is so potent and all inclusive that, of course, if our wills need to be fixed, if we’re lacking in parnassah, health, or any other material matter, Hashem is happy to shower us with blessings the way we take care of our loved ones.
We can focus on how good of a living we will make, or we can focus on how to make our living more good, more elevated, and more divine. Wishing you all an inspiring and meaningful Rosh Hashanah.
