Welcome to the Daily Holy Story.
In the olden days, it was very common in Chasidic circles for Chasidim (devotees) to visit their Rebbe (Hasidic spiritual leader) for Shabbat. They would come from where they lived out of town and go to his town. One such Rebbe was Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl, who had many Chasidim living out of town. One Shabbat, the Chasidim from out of town decided to go to their Rebbe for Shabbat, and they hired a wagon driver to join them. They spent Shabbat with their Rebbe, and on Friday night they had a tish (Hasidic gathering). On Shabbat, he gave them many stories of Torah. He taught them a lot of Torah.
They had Melave Malka, the fourth meal of Shabbat, on Motza'ei Shabbat (Saturday night), and on Sunday morning they departed and headed home with the wagon driver. As they were driving home, the Chasidim discussed all the Torah they had learned over Shabbat from Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl. Once in a while, the wagon driver himself would say how elevating and inspirational the Shabbat had been for him. The Chasidim looked at him strangely, for he was not a learned person. He was only a simple wagon driver. After about a few hours of traveling, and after the wagon driver had said quite a few times how inspirational the Shabbat had been for him, the Chasidim turned to him and asked, “Tell us, what was so inspirational about the Shabbat with our Rebbe?”
The wagon driver turned to them and said, “When I approached your Rebbe and told him who I was, he spoke softly to me and asked me about the order of my day. I told him, ‘Rebbe, every day I wake up early in the morning, about 4.30, 5 o'clock, and I go to the market of the farmers and purchase the merchandise I need for the day. After I do my business with the farmers, I go to synagogue to pray. I learn a little Torah, and then I continue on with my day to make my livelihood.’”
“The Rebbe turned to me in a very soft way and told me, ‘My son, I want to tell you a story. There was once a man who had a wife and children, and he wasn't making a livelihood. He needed to find a job, so he left the town where he lived and went to a faraway town where he was able to find a good job. He worked for an extended period of about three years, until he was able to accumulate a sizable amount of money. At the end of three years, he left the town and his job to go back home and provide for his family with the money he had saved, and perhaps open a new business with that money.
“‘En route home, when Shabbat was approaching, he was very close to home, but he wasn't able to get home before Shabbat. So he checked in to a local inn in the neighboring town. As Shabbat was about to approach, he had a dilemma about what to do with the money he had from three years of work. He certainly couldn't leave it in his pocket, as it was muktzeh (set aside on Shabbat). If he left it in the room, maybe somebody would steal it. The third option was to give it to the owner of the inn. How did he know whether the owner was trustworthy or not? Maybe the owner wouldn't return the money to him. But, with no choice, he went to the owner of the inn and gave him the money, hoping that on Saturday night, Motza'ei Shabbat, the money would be returned to him.
“‘All Shabbat long, the man's heart was pounding as he worried whether or not he would get his money back. On Motza'ei Shabbat, the owner of the inn came to him and gave him the pouches with the money he had saved. He opened the pouches and counted the golden coins. Baruch Hashem, thank goodness, all the golden coins were there. Then he continued to look into the pouches, searching for something. The owner of the inn asked him, “What are you looking for?” He told him, “I had one copper coin that I want to make sure is in the pouch.” The owner of the inn looked at him in bewilderment and said to him, “You got all your golden coins. Do you think I'm going to steal a copper coin? Is that not foolish?”’”
The Rebbe turned to me, said the wagon driver, said the Chasidim, and he said, my dear son, Hashem gave you your neshama, your holy soul, which is like the golden coins, and he wants you to take care of that golden coin, your neshama. By doing this, you will be able to get your money back. By doing the mitzvot (commandments), by praying to Him, your parnassah, your livelihood, is like the copper coin. Do you think that Hashem is not going to take care of your copper coin? If you take care of Hashem, He will take care of you.’”
The wagon driver turned to the Chasidim and told them, “From the way the Rebbe spoke to me, I decided right then and there that from now on, I will no longer do my work before I pray in synagogue. The first order of my day will be prayer. Then Hashem will take care of me.”
Have a wonderful, wonderful day.