Dear Friends,
How did Rothschild get rich? Haven’t you always asked yourself that question? Last week I found out the answer.
A wise friend told me the whole story: When Rothschild was ten years old, he would go to the marketplace after school, buy beautiful red apples cheaply, and then would immediately go to the main road and sell them to passing travelers at double the price. For ten years, this is what he did every day.
And then, when he turned twenty, his father died and left him 2 billion dollars…
A similar process happens to us on these days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
Raba in tractate Rosh Hashana brings a verse from Yeshayahu: “Seek Hashem when He can be found, call upon Him when He is near.” And he says about this that it is a reference to the ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
What does this mean? When Yeshayahu Hanavi (the prophet) said Hashem is accessible – when He can be found, and is in a state of being near us – he meant that this happens during these days, the Aseret Yemei Teshuva (Ten Days of Repentance) The Sages were arousing us to take advantage of this special time of the year and repent.
The Rebbe adds a Chassidic idea here:
The word B’Himatzo (when He can be found) has a connotation of a Metzi’ah, of a “find.” There’s only one problem. Finding objects is not usually something that comes after a lot of conscious effort. In fact, the Sages said that a Metzi’ah comes especially when one is not paying attention – a person walks down the street and suddenly finds a ten dollar bill. If so, then when Yeshayahu Hanavi defines Hashem’s closeness to us as being like a find, that means that it comes without effort, without hard work – when you’re least expecting it.
And then the question arises: If Hashem’s closeness during these days is like a find that doesn’t require hard work, why do we have to go through all that accounting and repenting? In other words, would Rothschild have inherited those billions even without selling all those apples?
It’s a good question, but not the right one. The right question is, What do we do with this precious find? Do we make good use of it, connect to it and thereby raise our spiritual level?
Or, in other words: The question is, Did Rothschild know how to use and expand the billions he inherited?
The answer, I think, is pretty simple: whoever knows how to profit from apples, will know how to handle billions correctly as well. And yes, someone who arrives at the Aseret Yemei Teshuva ready, after having taken account of himself properly, will know how to make good use of the G-dly revelation that these days contain.
Shabbat Shalom and Gmar Chatima Tova,
Rabbi Zalmen Wishedski