0154 - Levi Yitzchak Schapiro - Not to Buy Bakery

00:01 When our family lived in Cleveland, Ohio, so did the family of my uncle, Rebbe Levi Yitzchak, alav ha-shalom. We lived in an apartment building, both of our families in an apartment building on 105th Street, and across the street was a whole line of stores. One of the stores was the kosher bakery, and they were interested in selling. So my uncle, Rebbe Levi Yitzchak, was ready to buy it, and he spoke to them and negotiated. It looked like it was a growing business. It looked like it was worthwhile to buy. So he said he's going to buy it, but he said before he buys it, he wants to ask the Rebbe. So he asked the Rebbe. This was at the beginning of the Yud, maybe Yud Dalet, Tes Vav. He asked the Rebbe, and the answer came back not to buy it, and everyone was surprised. No one understood why not. It seemed like all the things showed that it's a worthwhile deal, and it brings profit. Why shouldn't we buy it? But not long after that, the whole side of the street, all the stores caught fire, and they all went up in flames, including the bakery. I remember I went that morning to cheder, and when I finished cheder, came home, I couldn't get -- we, our family, we couldn't get into the, our apartment because the flames were still burning across the street, and it was dangerous. And inside the apartment, when the fire started, I wasn't home, I was in cheder, but

01:18 they said, the family said, "Poshe, you could feel the heat. It was boiling because of the fire across the street," and they had to evacuate. And the store, the bakery, went up in flames. So that's when they understood why the Rebbe said not to buy it, because had he bought it, and then it would go up in flames, I don't know how the insurance would be. I don't know what would be. It definitely would be a big problem. So we understood why the Rebbe said not to buy it.