Nine for Me | Rabbi Reuven Schmeltzer

R’ Zalman Sorotzkin, the Rav of Lutzk, was one of the Gedolei Yisroel. He had gone to a wealthy man to receive from him a nice donation. He sits down. The wealthy man gives him a lot of respect and courtesy, as deserving of such an important man like him. And the Lutzker Rav says, I would like you please to give me 500 rubles. And the man says: 500 rubles? That's a fortune. Even the Chofetz Chaim, when he was raising funds after the fire in Radin, he raised 200 ruble, and that only built up half the town, and you're asking me for 500 ruble? Isn't that a joke? So the Lutzker Rav said: Yes. So the man said, You're the Rav, you're the Torah giant, you're the Halachic authority. Could you please explain to me why it's legitimate for you to demand of me such an exorbitant sum? So the Lutzker Rav answered him, You know, there's a law in the Torah called Maaser Beheimah. Everyone has to give every tenth animal for a sacrifice. How does it work? They bring all the sheep into a pen, there's a narrow entrance, and each animal has to pass through, as the owner counts, One. Another one passes by out of the narrow entrance. Two. Three. Four. Five. He gets to ten, Maaser Beheimah, he puts a red mark on the animal and that one is Maaser Beheimah. And he does it until he's finished the entire pen. What happens, I ask a question, says the Lutzker Rav, if you have a wealthy man who owns 120,000 cattle? He has to give 12,000 of them for Maaser Beheimah. He also has to go through the process of counting: One, two, three, four... ten. Ten. He has to count them all. You know how long that job is going to take? Why does he have to go through such an arduous task? Why can't he just count out 12,000 and put the red dye on it and make them Maaser Beheimah? Why go through the whole counting? It’ll take him days. The answer is Because it's too difficult for a person to give away 12,000 animals at once. My hard-earned money. How could I give it away? But if a person counts slowly, One for me, two for me, Hashem gave me three, Hashem gave me four, nine, He gave me nine animals. Okay, I could give one for Him. One is for Hashem. Again. One, two... Look at all the blessings Hashem has given me. Nine animals. Tenth one is for Hashem. That's the only way a person could part with his funds and give away to Hashem, when he realizes the gifts that He gave him. How much Hashem has given me. Okay, so let's see. My friend, said the Lutzker Rav, you have investments, I believe, in many banks. I think you own a bunch of forests of lumber. And I think you have real estate in Otvosk and you have in Lodz. I think you have real estate in... Stop, stop, stop. The wealthy man said: Okay, I'll give you the 500 ruble. When we realize everything we have is directly from the Aibishter, and this is something that doesn't come easy. We have to work on constantly thanking Hashem, because we have to realize that whatever we have is a direct gift, the Ribono shel Olam prepared everything to give me. He owes me nothing. The entire world, the world was created for me, is only for me, whether we understand it or not. And He gives me the gifts even though I'm not deserving. Thank you. And the more we thank Hashem for things, the more we're able to say, Hashem demands of me things. It’s so hard. I have to give of myself. It's difficult. I don't want to do it. But you know, He gives me so much. How can I let Him down? Especially if what I'm doing for Him is ultimately only for me, my own benefit.