A certain Jew managed an inn under lease from a landlord and managed certain accounts of his. The landlord also had a property manager to oversee his finances, who wanted greatly to inflict trouble upon the Jew. He asked his men to keep watch over him to find any wrongdoings on the part of the Jew, and if they did find any, he would reward them handsomely.
One man peeked in at night and saw the Jew forging the landlord’s signature. The manager seized the opportunity to have revenge on the Jew – he ran to the landlord and informed him of the Jew’s crimes. The landlord called the Jew in and threatened him that if he did not return the money, he had defrauded he would be punished with death.
The Jew rushed to R’ Pinchas Koritzer and told him the whole story. When the Koritzer heard the story, he turned away from him and faced the window and angrily asked: how can a Jew desecrate HaShem’s name so badly – deceiving a Gentile?
The Jew claimed that he was not at fault – this was a matter of Divine Providence. What does Divine Providence mean? It so happened that exactly then he had been spotted forging the landlord’s signature. At this point, the Jew retold an adage from the Besht that said that when a Jew goes outside and finds a piece of straw, this is Divine Providence that he should use it to clean his pipe.
The Koritzer asked him: And do you indeed honestly believe-
that this was Divine Providence? The Jew replied: Yes! Nu, says the Koritzer – you really are a true believer – go home and everything will be fine.
Indeed, so it was. The overseer regretted the turmoil he caused and even apologized to the Jew. The landlord also forgot all about his threats and the Jew retained his lease and inn.
Y.F.
R’ Dovid Cohen