Striking it Rich | Rabbi Nachum Binder

We're living in times of financial turmoil, instability in the markets, people don't know what the future is going to bring. A friend of mine shared with me that his brother-in-law was recently by the Mashgiach, Maran R’ Don Segal, zol zei gezunt un shtark. And when he finished talking to the Mashgiach, the Mashgiach turned to him and said, I want to share some business advice with you. Interesting. He looked at the Mashgiach, and the Mashgiach said: Yes, business advice. Not a Segulah. Practical business advice. And the Mashgiach told him, If you want to be successful in ענייני פרנסה, be careful with Shemiras Einayim. The Torah HaKedoshah tells us that Yosef HaTzaddik, because he was careful, because he overcame such tremendous Nisyonos of Kedushah and Shemiras Einayim, was zoche יוסף הוא המשביר, הוא השליט על הארץ. Yosef was not only tremendously successful himself, but that success was a success for the entire country in which he lived. The Divrei Shmuel of Slonim tells us a very interesting thing. We know that on the word וימאן there’s a Shalsheles. Why is there a Shalsheles on the word וימאן? And the Divrei Shmuel says with a Mashal, Any person who works for a living, and has a job and he has a salary, he's limited to how much he can make. He might have an average salary, he may have an above-average salary, he may have a huge salary. But at the end of the day, he's limited to what his salary is. How does one strike it rich? One takes a risk. He enters a deal and he has major success on a huge deal. And in that one deal, he makes more money than he would make many years as a salaried worker. Zogt the Divrei Shmuel, All of us, Klal Yisroel, we’re working on a salary. Our day-to-day Avoda in Torah and יראת שמיים is our job. And there is Schar in proportion to how much we invest in our day-to-day Avoda. But once in a while, we have that opportunity of a huge deal, a Nisayon in Shemiras Einayim, a Nisayon in ענייני קדושה, and when one grabs that opportunity and overcomes the Yetzer Hara, he struck it rich, zogt the Divrei Shmuel. And as the Midrash tells us in Parshas Nasso, The Ribono shel Olam says, I have no choice, I have to pay him. I have to give him success for watching his eyes. So מוריי ורבותיי, as the Mashgiach finished, Shemiras Einayim is not a Segulah, it's a fact. If you're going to be careful in your Shemiras Einayim, you will have success, no matter what the market looks like.