The Hovot HaLevavot tells us that the Baal Bitachon has an advantage when it comes to how he views his monetary issues. He says,
ואם איננו בעל ממון, יראה כי חסרון הממון טובה מטובות המקום עליו,
If he doesn’t have money, he views the lack of money as a favor that G-d did for him.
This is an important concept that we see again and again: The Baal Bitachon has the power of reframing. He sees things differently from other people.
In Gemara Bava Batra (10a) there’s a story told about about Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai. But the following statement precedes the story:
כשם שמזונותיו של אדם קצובין לו מראש השנה כך חסרונותיו של אדם קצובין לו מראש השנה
Just like a person’s mezonot/income is decided on Rosh Hashanah, so too, his losses are decided then as well.
If you merit, the losses will go to charitable causes. If not, they won’t.
The story is as follows:
Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai, the Gadol Hador, had a dream one night that his nephews were going to lose a large sum of money ($100,000 for example). He didn’t tell them about the dream, but all year he kept calling them about various charitable causes, each time with the goal of trying to get them to donate the total amount of the loss that he saw in his dream. He got them very close to it (let’s say $91,000).
Then, on Erev Kippur the nephews found out that they owed back-taxes in the sum of $9,000. They were nervous-It just so happened that this was on Erev Kippur? So they asked their uncle about it. He surprised them when he knew the dollar amount they were fined, and he explained that he knew all about it because he’d had a dream that they’d lose $100,000. He told them how he’d been working all year to get them to give Sedaka in that amount so their Sedaka would be the loss, rather than the fines. When they asked him why he hadn’t just told them about the dream earlier, he said he wanted them to give l’shma (for the right sake, without ulterior motives).
The Chafetz Chaim asks a question about this. Income and losses are both decided separately? Isn’t that a funny way to put it? Isn’t the final outcome all the same? Why not just say that the final outcome (including both income and losses) is determined on Rosh Hashanah? He explains that the nephews were supposed to have all kinds of problems that year- various Gezerot/decrees. But Hashem says that monetary losses can be a a kaparah for gezerot. So, for example, if someone, lo alenu, is supposed to break a leg, they might instead lose $100,000.That money lost would serve as a kaparah, and that is a Hessed that Hashem does for us.
But Hashem says there is another, more beneficial way to lose that money- by giving Sedaka. You’re either going to lose it one way- like in the stock market , or another- like when the rabbi calls you for a donation.
The Baal Bitachon knows this. He can look at his losses as kaparah. But moreover, he sees every knock on the door as an opportunity that Hashem is sending to him to not only to earn a kaparah but to turn the monetary loss into a spiritual gain, by giving Sedaka. That is the Baal Bitachon’s outlook throughout the day and throughout his life.
An example of this concept occurred in my house a while ago.
The cleaning lady accidentally broke a faucet. The whole mechanism would have to be replaced and it was expensive. But my wife had taught me a rule that Rav Segal once told Rav Kalman Krohn. She said that anytime there is a loss, it means something bad was supposed to happen, G-d forbid. So that broken faucet was a kaparah. But it could’ve been better. The Shabbat before the faucet broke we had a drive in shul for the Semahot fund. I wasn’t sure I had $100 per month to commit, but had I donated the money for the Semahot drive when they asked me, maybe my faucet wouldn’t have broken. I didn’t think I had the money to donate, but then I ended paying $500 to fix the sink! I messed up. But BeH I’ll fix it by signing up at Semahot.com