Welcome to the Daily Chizuk. The Gemara in Masechet Pesachim says, “All the money that a person will earn this year is predetermined during the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe).” If you do your normal hishtadlut (effort) and pray to Hashem to send down His Beracha (blessing), every dollar that you are supposed to earn will find its way to your pocket, and there’s nothing anyone else could do to change that.
In the 1800s, a student of the Divrei Chaim once had a competitor open up his store right across the road. He felt that this man was going to take his livelihood, and he had so much anguish that he couldn’t eat or sleep. He decided to travel to his rabbi and seek guidance. He arrived at the rabbi’s house and poured out his heart. The rabbi asked him, “Did you ever watch your horse drink out of the river?” The man said, “I never really analyzed it, Rabbi.” So the rabbi said, “I’ll tell you what happens. The horse bends over to drink. He drinks the delicious fresh water, and he sees another horse that also looks like he’s going to drink this water. Of course, it’s his reflection. So he starts kicking and kicking until the water is so muddy that the reflection goes away. And when he’s satisfied that he got rid of the other horse, he starts to drink the murky water.”
What happened here? The horse imagined that someone else was going to take what was his and thereby ended up ruining his own. So too, Chazal (the Sages) tell us, “A person cannot take away even a dollar from you.” No competitor could take anything from you. By imagining that a competitor can, you will end up ruining your own life for nothing.
People might ask, “What do you mean, he can’t take anything? Look at the numbers. Ever since this competitor opened up, my sales are down 30%.” The answer is that Hashem doesn’t make open miracles. Most probably, when a competitor opens up, sales will go down. But Hashem has millions of ways of ensuring that by the end of the year, you will make every penny that you were supposed to. You might have had another investment that does very well, or someone gives you an inside tip, or a relative might give you a nice sum of money, or you get a bonus at work. It’s all part of the equation.
The problem is that we feel, “Oh, if I had earned more money from my business plus this investment, I would have had so much.” That’s the wrong answer. That’s the wrong attitude. This investment only did so well because you lost from the business. If a person does a good deed and, because of it, loses out on a big business opportunity, that’s a test. Don’t think for a second that you really lost. You will still get exactly what you’re supposed to. Maybe not today or even tomorrow. It could be six months from now. The Yad Hashem (the hand of Hashem) is not always so obvious.
A person could do something dishonest or work on Shabbat and see immediate gains. Again, that’s a test. That’s because Hashem deals with us through nature. But ultimately, no one can gain from doing the wrong thing. A person might take a loss much later on down the line, and it will seem to have no connection whatsoever to the dishonesty. But Hashem is the fairest judge and will always ensure that everyone gets exactly what they are supposed to have.
There’s no reason to lose sleep over a competitor. If you are supposed to have the money, Hashem will get it to you. And if you aren’t supposed to have it, you wouldn’t lose sleep over a competitor. You wouldn’t have gotten it even without the competitor opening up.
A student of the Chazon Ish owned a printing press in Bnei Brak, and someone opened up the same shop nearby. Initially, this man was very upset. But he realized, “Hashem’s not going to take away my Parnassah (livelihood) because of this.” So, in order to be mechazek (strengthen) in his bitachon (trust), he befriended the competitor and even offered his assistance.
He came home that night, and he was going over his bitachon notes. He was in such a state that his family asked him, “Why are you so happy? You have a new competitor.” He said back, “Until now, I had to work so hard, and I had so much stress with the customers. Now this guy will get half the customers, and he’ll have half the headaches, and I’ll still make the same money.” It sounds far-fetched, but the baal bitachon (person of trust) knows that it’s really the truth. Have a great day.