The Ruby for the Wedding

One of the ways in which we can see the yad Hashem in this world is in the area of parnassah. Sometimes we make a hishtadlut in one area, and then the parnassah comes from a completely different source. Sometimes parnassah comes in the least expected ways, and very often it comes exactly when it is needed. Hashem provides for billions of people in wondrous ways. He makes us feel as though we are the ones earning the parnassah, while in actuality He is doing everything. We must believe that only Hashem decides if a buyer will buy our product, and only Hashem decides every opportunity we even get to meet a buyer. I read a story which recently took place that shows how obvious it is that Hashem is controlling parnassah. Yoel Tzvi is a broker of precious stones. In his business, things do not always move quickly. Sometimes there are long stretches with no income at all, and then suddenly one deal could change everything. One day, a dealer named Joe called him saying he had a buyer looking for a large red ruby, and if he could find the seller, he could earn a lot of money. Yoel Tzvi searched and found someone who had exactly the kind of ruby this buyer was looking for. They set up a meeting. The buyer analyzed the stone. It looked promising, but in the end the deal fell through. Time went on, and Yoel Tzvi became very busy preparing for his son's wedding. During that time, he did not make any deals at all. The day of the wedding arrived, and he still did not have the money to pay for it. That morning, he went with his son to receive a berachah from a tzaddik. The tzaddik told him that on the day of the chuppah, pipelines of shefa open from Shamayim. Later that day, just before they were getting ready to leave for the hall, the phone rang. It was Joe. "The buyer reconsidered," he said. "He decided to buy that ruby after all. He wants to do it today. Could you handle it?" Yoel Tzvi sprang into action, set up the meeting, and the deal was finalized. The profit he earned from that sale covered almost all of the wedding expenses. But it was not until a few months later that Yoel Tzvi truly appreciated the hashgachah behind what happened that day. Yoel Tzvi met a different broker, a friend of his, who deals with the same clients. That broker told him that Joe had called him around the time of the wedding, asking him to find a red ruby for a buyer. He found a different seller, and that deal was almost completed, but it fell through. Joe then asked him if he knew of another seller because the buyer desperately wanted to close on a deal. The broker said he could not think of anyone else, and that is when Joe decided to call Yoel Tzvi back to do the deal with the ruby he had originally found. Yoel Tzvi said, "That broker knew my seller very well. It makes no sense that he didn't think of him when Joe asked for another seller. The only explanation is that Hashem wanted me to get the sale to pay for the wedding, and therefore He did not allow that broker to think of my seller." This is the way it always works. Hashem decides who buys and who sells, and He has everything timed for the perfect moment. The more we recognize that Hashem is in charge of our parnassah, the more we will focus on praying to Him and doing His will, and the less we will feel the need to impress His messengers.