Every Person's Financial Mission

The Gemara in Masechet Chulin, daf 63a, teaches us a very important lesson about parnassah. There it discusses one of the non-kosher birds mentioned in the Torah called the shalach . The Gemara says it is called shalach because it has to draw its food from the depths of the sea. Every meal requires tremendous effort. By contrast, there is the tiny ant, whose food seems to be readily available wherever it goes. The Gemara says that whenever Rabbi Yochanan saw the shalach , he would recite the pasuk, " מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ תְּהוֹם רַבָּה ." And when he saw an ant, he would say, " צִדְקָתְךָ כְּהַרְרֵי אֵל ." Rashi, in his second explanation, says that Rabbi Yochanan was marveling at the different ways that Hashem provides sustenance. One creature receives its food with ease, while another has to struggle for every bite. Both are exactly the way Hashem wants them to be. We look around and see that some people struggle to earn even the most basic necessities, while others seem to have more money than they know what to do with. Some people work day and night and barely make ends meet, while others appear to have great opportunities simply fall into their laps. Hashem has a different mission for every individual. He determines exactly how much a person will have, how it will come, when it will come, and even how much effort will be required to receive it. Every person's financial circumstances are tailor-made for his unique mission in this world. Recently, I received a heartbreaking letter from a woman who grew up in a family filled with trauma. She described how several members of her family desperately needed therapy, psychiatric care, and other treatments that they simply could not afford. Some of her siblings had already been hospitalized. She wrote about watching her parents suffer as they longed to provide the best care for their children but lacked the financial means to do so. Then she asked a question that many others may wonder: "If money can save so many terrible situations, why doesn't Hashem just give people the money they need?" Of course, we can never understand the ways of Hashem. But we do know that a person's problems are never due to his financial circumstances. They are there because Hashem, in His infinite wisdom, decided that this is the path that is best for that person's unique mission in this world. When it comes to money, Hashem can give a person money even if he doesn't even have a job. I read a story about an avrech from Yerushalayim who learns every day with a yeshivah boy from Switzerland. One day, before they started learning, the boy mentioned that his father was involved in real estate in Switzerland. The avrech casually replied, "That's interesting. I have a friend in Bnei Brak who also does real estate in Switzerland." The boy then told his father about it, and they got the contact information of the man in Bnei Brak. Around that same time, the avrech's son became engaged. Because of the circumstances of the shidduch, he committed to contribute an additional forty thousand dollars toward the couple's apartment—money that he didn't really have. Naturally, he wondered where he was going to get such a large amount of money, but he gave himself chizuk, saying that if Hashem wanted him to have forty thousand dollars, it was no more difficult for Him than forty dollars. A few weeks later, the boy said to the avrech, "My father wants to thank you. Even though you weren't trying to be a broker, he feels you deserve compensation for introducing him to your friend because of the great deals they made together." Two days later, the avrech received $39,500—almost the exact amount he needed. He never negotiated any deals. He didn't work as a real estate agent. He wasn't even trying to make money. All he did was mention a name in the course of a regular conversation. Hashem showed him how easy it is for Him to give a person forty thousand dollars, and through this story, He showed us the same thing. When we see someone struggling financially, especially with things as important as medical care, therapy, or other