3. Where's My Money?

00:16 Once upon a time, there was a little boy. His name was Zvi Elimelech, Zvi Elimelech. This boy later on became a very big tzadik. He wrote a very famous sefer called Bnei Yisaschar. But when he was a little boy, his tati-- His tati's name was actually Pesach. You know, like the Yom Tov Pesach, that was his first name, Pesach. So when his tati, um, wanted to make a living and wanted to make money so he can feed the family and get money for the family, what did he do? He was teaching children Torah, but he couldn't find a job in the city, so he had to travel. So he traveled to another little village, a tiny village where there lived a one Jew alone in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a farm where there were no other Jews, and he had little children, and he wanted somebody to come and live in his house and teach his children Torah. So he sent a message to the big city where Pesach lived and said, um, "Can anybody come and teach my children Torah and live with me for four months, and then I will give them, I will give them, uh, um, food and everything, and I'll pay them also money so they can go home, uh, after three, four months for Pesach, and then after Pesach, he comes back and teaches again, and he goes back for Yom Tov, for Rosh Hashanah. And for Yom Tov, he can go back home, but

01:48 during the year when it's not Yom Tov, he'll come and stay in my house and teach my children Torah, and he'll leave his wife and children in the city. They won't come and join him. They'll stay by themselves, but he'll bring them money every few months. Every few months, he's gonna bring them money that he earned from this farmer." Did you get the story? Do you s- understand what I'm saying? If not, ask your mommy or tati. So this Pesach went and lived with this farmer, Jewish farmer, who had little children. And the farmer was a rich man. He had a lot of money, a lot of cows, a lot of chickens, eggs, milk, cheese, and he sold a lot of it, so he was very rich because he had sold a lot of his cows and chickens and eggs and milk and, and cheese and butter. Now, the Pesach lived in his house for four months, for, um, till Pesach. When Pesach comes, the Yom Tov of Pesach comes, he was gonna go home to be with his family for the Seder and for Pesach, and, and the farmer was gonna give him money, and pay him for, for teaching his children. So while the Pesach was living in the house with the farmer, he noticed that whenever a poor man came to the door and knocked on the door and says, "Please, please, I'm hungry. I'm poor. I need some money for tzedakah so I can buy myself some food. My children don't

03:20 have any food. I need to buy them food." So they would, they would ask for money and, and the Pesach would-- and, and, and the, the rich man would give them very little. He would give them like a tiny penny or something, like a little bit. And the Pesach was a little upset by this because he's such a rich man, this farmer. Why couldn't he give more money? He could give more money. He had a lot of money. So the Pesach approached the farmer and said to him, "I don't understand. Why are you not giving a lot of tzedakah? You have so much money. Hashem gave you a, a blessing with so much money. Why can't you give more generously, nicer, and give more money to the poor so the poor could live nicely?" And the farmer said, "Well, I don't care. I work very hard for my money. I give only a little bit away. I like to keep the rest for myself." The Pesach said, "Well, that's not right. A Jew is supposed to give more tzedakah." So the farmer says, "Okay, you know what? If you want me to give more tzedakah to anybody who comes to my door and knocks on my door, then okay, I'll give them more, but then I'll take it off from your salary." Salary means the money that you pay someone for working for you. Since the, the farmer said to the Pesach, "Since you work for me, and before Pesach, I'm gonna have to pay

04:43 you for all this time that you stayed in my house and taught my children, so I'm gonna have to pay you a few thousand rubles. Well, every time a person comes to the door and I'm giving him a nice donation, a large donation, I will take that money away from you. I will pay you less at the end of the four months before you go home for Pesach." Rab Zvi Elimelech says, "Okay, I don't mind. I don't wa-- I want you to give nicely to these poor people. These poor people have nothing to eat. You should give them generously. If it has to come off of my money, okay, you can take it off of my money. It's fine." So a few months went by, and the farmer would give large sums of money for tzedakah, but he would always write down how much he gave, and he would take it off from the amount that he has to pay Rab, Rab Pesach. By the end of the four months, before Rab Pesach went home, Rab Pesach said to the farmer, "I have to go home. It's almost Pesach, and my family is waiting, and I need to b-bring them some money because if they don't have any money to live, how can I come back to work another four months? They need to have money while I'm not there. So why don't you pay me, and I can go home for Pesach, and then I can come back after Pesach." So the farmer said,

06:05 "Okay, let me look at my books because you promised that I can take off all the tzedakah that I'm giving to other people. I can take it off from your money. So let me make-- Let me look at the numbers. Oh, okay. Um, actually, I don't owe you anything anymore because I gave so much tzedakah because of you, and you told me I can take it off from your salary. So now it turns out I gave more money than I owe you. That means all the money I gave for tzedakah, I'm gonna have to take off for the money I pay you, and which means you get nothing." You guys understand that? Rebbe Pesach looked at the numbers and said, "Oh, okay, you're right. I guess I have to go home without any money." But how is he gonna make a Seder if he has no money? He has to buy matzahs. He has to buy wine. There's no money. Well, he had no choice. He went home to his city where he lived, and he realized he has no money to bring home, and what is he gonna go home for? His wife is gonna ask him, "Where's the money? We need to buy matzahs for Pesach and wine for Pesach, and maror and charoses." And so Rebbe Pesach thought, "I won't know what to say. I have no money with me." So then she's gonna say, "But you were away for four months. Didn't you earn money?" "And I would have to tell

07:24 her that I gave it all away to tzedakah." So he decided not to go home, but to stay in shul, because he was too embarrassed to go home. And meanwhile, the little boy, Zvi-Elimelech, who was the son of, who was the son of Rebbe Pesach. His mother says to him, "Zvi-Elimelech, go to the shul. See if your Tatty is there. I don't know why he's not home yet. He should be home by now." Zvi-Elimelech runs to the hou- to the shul, and he sees his Tatty there learning Torah. Says, "Tatty, come home. Mommy's waiting for you." So Rebbe Pesach says, "Okay, if Mommy wa- is waiting for me, then I'll go home." And he pi- he takes his son's hand, and they walk together holding hands in the streets, going from the shul to the house of Rebbe Pesach. And Rebbe Pesach is thinking in his head, "Ah, what am I gonna say to my wife? I have no money. How are we gonna make a Seder? Nothing." While they're walking down the street, there's this Parets. Parets, a nasty, mean Parets who's very rich, a goy. He's riding on a big horse, and he saw Rebbe Pesach and his son walking, so he wanted to bother Rebbe Pesach and his son because he didn't like Jewish people. So he took a bag which was attached to his horse and threw it at them to hurt them. But it missed them. It didn't touch them, luckily, luckily. And he left. The, the, the goy, the

08:58 Parets left. But as the bag fell, it split open, and there was lots of coins, lots and lots and lots of coins. It seems that the Parets forgot that he had put money in that bag, and that's why he threw it, because had he known there's money there, he would not have thrown it to them because it's a lot of money. But he was already gone, so they took the money and they went home, and they made a beautiful Pesach. They made a beautiful Pesach. But guess what happened? Something really amazing. It was the night of the Seder, and you know there's a place at the Seder, first we say Kiddush, and then we say Ma Nishtana, and then we read the Haggadah, and we eat matzah and maror, and then we bend, and we eat a mo- uh, drink another cup, and then we say, "Shefoch Chamascha." We say a special tefillah. You remember? I don't know if you remember. We go and open up the door of the house for Eliyahu Hanavi to come in. Everyone does that. In every Jewish house on the first night of Pesach, you open up the door of the house to go greet Eliyahu Hanavi. He's coming to visit every Jewish house. When it came to that place when we open the door for Eliyahu Hanavi, Rebbe Pesach said to his son, Zvi-Elimelech, "You go open the door for Eliyahu Hanavi to come in." And as he opened the door, he sees a person in front of

10:31 him, and he yells to his father and says, "Tatty, I think the Parets came to get his money back." And the father laughed, "No." Because the father understood that this wasn't a regular Parets. This was Eliyahu Hanavi that was dressed like a Parets, and he showed up at the door again, uh, when we opened the door. So they thought it was a goy that made a mistake and threw a bag, but it was really Eliyahu Hanavi that Hashem sent to dress up like a goy as if he threw the bag by accident, and there was a lot of money, but really it was Eliyahu Hanavi who did this, and now he came back for when they, when they opened the door during the Seder. So this is the story when you have trust in Hashem, you believe that Hashem will help you, even if you can't see how it's gonna happen. You see, chas v'shalom, terrible things happening, and you say, "Oi, oi, how is Hashem gonna help us? It looks so terrible." You say, Hashem can do anything. We're in Hashem's hands. He takes care of us all the time, even when things seem difficult, difficult and very, very bad. It's still Hashem is with us and watching over us all the time. So that's really when you feel, when you have that level of trust and b'tachain in Hashem, then Hashem helps you, and you can do well and be healthy, and you have all the money you need. And Hashem should bless

12:06 you all to have a great, wonderful Pesach.