Parshas Lech Lecha 5787
אם מחוט ועד שרוך נעל ואם אקח מכל אשר לך ולא תאמר אני העשרתי את אברם ... (יד-כג)
Years ago, a man named Yankel worked in a small cubicle located in New York’s bustling diamond district on 47th Street. Yankel’s daily routine involved traveling from store to store, connecting with different vendors and merchants to hawk his wares. It was a cash business that required immense care, constant travel to different cities, and strict attention to detail.
More importantly, Yankel was a devoted follower and chasid of the Klausenberger Rebbe, R’ Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam zt”l. The Rebbe frequently taught him a profound lesson about livelihood, explaining that sustenance comes directly from Hashem. Because nobody can predict where their blessings will originate or how much they will receive, the Rebbe stressed that a person must meticulously value every single penny and treat each coin with utmost responsibility.
As part of his diamond business, Yankel frequently traveled out of town to conduct transactions. One of his regular stops was in Detroit, where he frequently did business with a wealthy Armenian merchant named Harry. Known to all as “Harry the Armenian Goy,” he was a straightforward man who bought large quantities of diamonds from various dealers on 47th Street, including Yankel. Their professional relationship was built on trust and efficiency: Yankel would visit Harry’s office, showcase his selection, and Harry would immediately select what he wanted, paying for the goods in cash right on the spot.
During one particular visit to Detroit, Yankel brought a very large selection of diamonds to Harry’s office. After looking through the goods, Harry chose a large amount of stones, resulting in a very significant transaction total. When they calculated the exact amount due, Harry piled the cash bills onto the desk along with the remaining loose coins. Wanting to follow his Rebbe’s teaching about cherishing every single coin, Yankel made sure to include the loose change in the payment.
As Harry pushed the stack of bills and coins forward across the desk to pay Yankel, one of the coins suddenly rolled off the edge and dropped straight underneath the heavy desk. Faced with an awkward situation, Yankel hesitated to crawl under a client’s desk. Remembering the Rebbe’s lesson about never ignoring a single penny, however, Yankel politely asked Harry if he could search beneath the desk. Harry readily agreed, and Yankel crawled down into the dusty space underneath. While reaching around in the dark floor dust, Yankel felt the fallen coin, but his fingers also brushed against another unusual object right next to it. Curious, he scooped up both items and crawled back out from beneath the desk. Opening his hand, Yankel revealed the fallen coin alongside a large, magnificent, and highly valuable diamond. He immediately looked at Harry and suggested that he must have accidentally lost the precious stone under his desk. However, Harry firmly insisted that the diamond could not possibly be his, stating that he kept meticulous track of every single item in his inventory. Even though Harry urged him to keep it as a gift, Yankel refused, explaining that he could not accept something that rightfully belonged to someone else. Unable to resolve whose stone it was, they placed the diamond inside Harry’s safe to wait for its rightful owner.
A while later, Yankel was back in his cubicle on 47th Street, listening to the usual background chatter of fellow diamond dealers discussing their clients and deals. Suddenly, he overheard two colleagues talking about another dealer named Yossel who was tragically going out of business. Intrigued and concerned, Yankel leaned over to ask why Yossel was failing. His colleagues explained that Yossel had suffered a devastating loss when he misplaced an extremely valuable stone and could never recover financially from the blow. Realizing the connection, Yankel immediately called across the room to ask if Yossel happened to be a client of Harry the Armenian Goy in Detroit. When his colleagues confirmed that Yossel indeed did business with Harry, Yankel’s heart skipped a beat. He urged them to have Yossel call Harry immediately to inquire about a lost stone. Sure enough, Yossel made the call, and it was discovered that the magnificent diamond Yankel had found beneath the desk belonged entirely to Yossel. Harry joyfully returned the stone to Yossel, allowing him to recover his losses and save his business. Through this remarkable event, Yankel saw firsthand the profound truth in the Rebbe’s teaching: that every single penny is sent from Heaven with a purpose, and no act of honesty or care for Hashem’s blessings ever goes to waste.