We continue to discuss that the Baal Bitachon has an edge over the Alchemist, in that he isn’t worried about competition.
Today we will look further into this concept. In August 2003, there was a major blackout on the East coast. Over fifty million people lost electric power. This was a major crisis for big dairy companies, among them Klein's and Mehadrin , both major halav yisrael manufacturers. Tens of thousands of dollars' worth of ice cream was melting. It was going to be a full two days before power could be restored to Mehadrin Dairy. Their competition, Klein's ice cream, had their electricity restored after just five hours.
Recognizing the predicament their biggest competitor was in, the Klein brothers did not hesitate to help. They said, "Hashem is in charge of our parnasa. Now we have an opportunity to help someone in need, and we're going to do it." They called the owners of Mehadrin and invited them to bring their trucks to the Klein’s warehouse and plug them in. They saved the entire Mehadrin inventory. Fascinating!
The point we are adding today is that Bitachon is a long term investment.
Using the stock market as an analogy, we know that some people look at their portfolio daily, or several times a day, and get nervous at every little hiccup- They’re short term investors or what we used to call day traders, constantly monitoring their profits and losses.
There’s another approach to investing- a more long term plan. Blue chip investors invest and wait. They wait 10-20 years. They don’t get excited at big fluctuations in the market. Many years ago people were in a panic over fluctuations that seemed to jeopardize their 401-K retirement plans, but 10 years later they’re back to where they were and more. Investors have the ability to see the long term picture. They don’t get nervous. They stick it out; they know it’ll be there for their retirement. They’re in it for the long haul.
The same goes for Bitachon. When I was researching the above-mentioned ice cream story, I stumbled upon a more recent article, from 2014, about these same ice cream competitors: Klein’s and Mehadrin. The article described the emerging Halav Yisrael ice cream market and reported that these are the top two companies of a $50 million business. The article said that they’re in fierce competition for new flavors, shelf space and advertising etc. The author of the article visited Evergreen, a kosher upscale supermarket, and found 16 freezers full of ice cream: 8 and 1/2 freezers for Klein’s, and 7 and 1/2 for Mehadrin! Both companies’ half gallon tubs were the favorites overall. They surveyed the patrons of the store, asking which of the two ice cream brands they preferred. The results indicated the two companies are evenly divided on shoppers’ ice cream preference.
So we can reflect back to 2003, when one company was at risk of going under and its competitor helped them leshem shamayim. Then we can see years later that they are still competitors- but they’re fairly even in getting the market share. Despite the competition, Hashem determined that they’d split the market. We know that whatever happens, though there may be ups and downs, it’ll work out the way Hashem wants.
Bitachon is a long term project. Don’t look at the temporary ups and downs. The competition might be better here or there but with Bitachon, slow and steady wins the race