We are discussing the first advantage of the Ba’al Bitachon over the alchemist: The Baal Bitachon doesn’t need material because he’s connected to the force called something from nothing. Of course we aren’t going to see that overtly, but it happens all the time on a certain level.
We can see an example of this in the headlines of a few months ago, when it was thought that Amazon would open a warehouse in NewYork: Home prices surged after Amazon announced their future factory in Long Island City. We had nothing- just a headline, and people with real estate in that area saw its value increase tremendously. Nothing had actually happened yet, but the prices went up. That’s something from nothing.
We have a great example of this phenomena in a family I know in the Syrian community of Flatbush.
About 6 years ago, a man in his 60s had to close down his textile business. He and his 2 sons were out of work and in a tough spot. They each had to go out on their own, looking for work. Meanwhile, his wife happened to be interested in health and had taken an on-line certification course in nutrition. She was barely able to use the computer- her daughter had to help her with it. She started experimenting with juices and was often seen walking around with odd looking green juices. People got curious, asked her to try it and she started making them for her friends. Very quickly the business took off and grew. She’d get up to prepare the juices from 4 am to 6 am, and her husband, who was still out of work, would deliver. Three months later this man went for a checkup, and was told that he had high cholesterol and would need to take Lipitor. His wife, the nutritionist, resisted and said she would take care of it naturally. She did some research, created a juice diet for him and after following her plan for a few months, his cholesterol was normal! Business really took off! They began waking up at 3:30 am to prepare for the day’s orders and delivered them all day, supporting their family on one flavor. The summer came and they added another two flavors, then developed a juice cleanse. That summer, they opened a store in Deal for the summer- they were sold out on the first day. They then opened a store in Brooklyn. At that point, about a year and half into the business, one of their sons, who had been working for a friend, got a call that the company he’d been working for was going to close down his division in the company. He called his father, worried about his future. His father decided that since they’d been getting so many orders from Cedarhurst, they should open a store there and this son came aboard to run that store. Then in 2015, they started a website and with publicity from Groupon business really took off and they starting shipping nationwide.
They now have 4 stores and a website and are supporting 3 families. All from some green juice and a check-up at the doctor. Something from Nothing. This is similar to the story we told recently about the Popinsanity popcorn company. We should not make a mistake, though, and think that the “nothing” means these people did nothing. On the contrary, they were up at 3 in the morning and worked hard all day. But that was their hishtadlut to cover the miracle.
The son of this couple is happy to share the story of their company, Jus by Julie, to give people hizuk. They were worried, stuck, with no work, and Hashem turned it all around, into a great success. This is the force called Something from Nothing. This could happen in business, in housing or in warehouses in Williamsburg. It could be anything.
Hashem has endless powers.