A man once walked into a rabbi’s office and told the rabbi he was having a faith crisis. The rabbi asked him what the problem was.
“You see, Rabbi, I’m phenomenally wealthy. I have three sons who are all phenomenally wealthy, and I have three sons-in-law who are phenomenally wealthy. I don’t see any way that Hashem could make me destitute. Even if I lost my money, my sons would support me. If they lost their money, my sons-in-law would support me. Barring any sort of global apocalypse, which God would not bring about just to make me poor, I don’t see any way for His hand to strike me down financially.”
The rabbi said, “You shouldn’t talk that way. Hashem can do anything.”
“Well, Rabbi, what can I tell you?”
“Okay, consider yourself warned.”
The man walked out of the rabbi’s office. As soon as he got into the street he felt an overwhelming urge to convert to Christianity. He had never felt that way in his life. He walked down to the local church and knocked on the door. The priest answered. Seeing a religious Jew standing in front of him, he said impatiently, “What do you want?”
“I want to embrace your religion.”
“What do you really want?”
“Seriously.”
“All right,” said the priest. “To prove your sincerity you’ll have to sign over all your material possessions to the church.”
He pulled out a form and gave it to him. The man signed, “I, Yankel Fischer, sign over all my possessions to the Church.”
The priest put the document in his desk drawer and told Yankel, “Come back tomorrow at noon and we’ll baptize you.”
Yankel walked out of the church. As soon as he hit the street, the urge to convert left him. Aghast, he thought to himself, What have I done? I’m penniless because I signed over all my possessions to the church. When my sons find out they’ll sit shivah for me. My sons-in-law will disown me. I am destitute!
He hurried back to the rabbi and said, “Rabbi, I’m having a faith crisis.”
“Haven’t we been through this once today?”
“Rabbi, I have a problem. I’m absolutely penniless and destitute and I can’t see any way for Hashem to extricate me.”
The rabbi said to him, “Do you believe?”
“Oh, I believe.”
“You really believe?”
“Oh, I really believe.”
They suddenly heard a fire engine go by. There was a fire in the church and the whole place burned down with the priest inside. No more church, no more paper, no more priest, no evidence. Yankel was right back to where he started.
COMMENT: HaKadosh Baruch Hu has many ways to change life situations. We often see no way out and give up hope. Sometimes, we can see no way that things can turn bad. One must realize, though, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is hakol yachol.
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