Building a $30M Empire and Losing It All

most people have a story of going from Rags  to Riches I had the opposite story I went   from riches to rags overnight I used to work  in my family business I built that business   with God's help from $8 million a year to  $30 million a year for personal reasons I   had to leave the family business every year  Rabbi Raskin from Montreal would visit me   in my office in my family's office and he would  ask me to pledge a certain amount of money to   sadaka and he would increase it a few thousand  every year but nothing crazy the last year that   he left my office he had pledged me before  rashash for $18,000 for the rest of the year   and to be honest with you it didn't pinch because  that's what I owed at that time for sadaka that   was my synagogue and that's what I was going to  do after I left my family business the rabbi came   to my office and when he walked in the door  his face was white he was used to seeing me   in a beautiful mahogany office with a beautiful  view at the command of 40 people running a a $30   million Empire and here he finds me in my desk  alone in a $10 folding chair on one of those   cheap white Walmart desks and he sits down in  the folding chair he puts L on the seat on the   table and he says to me I know you're going  through a hard time I know it's difficult and   that's why this year I'm not going to ask you  for $188,000 this year I'm going to ask you for $36,000 the first emotion that came over   me was such anger how could he ask me for  such a thing what aah doesn't he know that   myig my mother-in-law was just in town and  while she was in town I couldn't afford to   pay the electricity bill and my sh figer sat on  chabas in the dark and here he is asking me for $36,000 and then something came  over something came over me and   I remembered all the things that I had  learned over the years about giving Saka   testing Hashem with Charity testing Hashem with  sadaka and I sobered up and I came out of this   trance that I was in and the rabbi was sitting  in front of me and one word left my mouth with   one tear coming down my cheek I said to rabar  Rasin okay I told him it's not my problem it's   not my issue this is God's problem problem now  I will put my blood my sweat and my tears into   my business but you told me that God test me  with sadaka and if you're saying that that's   true then this must be true cuz if this isn't  true then none of it's true so I pledge you your $36,000 that year with hashem's help  with blood is sweat and tears and sat   the Shaya I fulfilled every  single penny of that $36,000 pledge and the year after that I  doubled it and the year after that   I doubled it and the year after that I doubled it again each person in this room right now has that  ability to raise your hand and you might say I'm   not a rich person I'm barely putting food on my  table and maybe the reason you're barely getting   by is because you're not being being a good  business partner for Hashem maybe Hashem is   waiting for you to raise your hand and say I am  ready to become wealthy I will be a good Steward   of your money scare yourself test yourself be  bold be big be brave and watch Hashem repay you [Music] [Applause]