Pesach Expenses with Emunah

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

A lot of money needs to be spent to prepare for a holiday, especially a holiday like Pesach. Whether it's food, clothing, or matzot, the money adds up. Shulchan Aruch writes in siman 529 that we are supposed to honor the holiday, and when it comes to something that will bring more honor to the holiday, we should not be cheap about it. The Mishnah Berura explains, because parnasa is determined on Rosh Hashanah, but the money that we spend on Yom Tov is not included in that allotment. The more a person spends on Yom Tov , the more Hashem will give him to cover it, and the less he spends, the less he'll be given towards those Yom Tov expenses. Part of honoring the Yom Tov is spending with happiness rather than complaining about all of the expenses. Hashem has unlimited funds to help us pay for all of our Yom Tov needs and that is how we are supposed to feel about them. A man told, he began learning Hilchot Shabbat during all of his Shabbat meals. They learn two halachot at each meal and last year at one point, they came to a halacha regarding how Shabbat and Yom Tov expenses come back to the person. It said there, the reimbursement applied to four areas, Talmud Torah , Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and Yom Tov and the Rabbis gave an acronym to remember them, TiShReY. One of the children in the family got very excited when hearing this halacha and he said to his father, “Is this true? Everything we spend comes back?” The father answered with steadfast emunah saying, “Absolutely, every last shekel we spend comes back.” The child then asked the father how Hashem gives the money back. The father said, “The Ribono Shel Olam has His ways of providing.” The child then asked, “Could it be that someone would just come over and put the money in your hand?” The father said, “Yes, that's possible.” A short while later, it was coming to Erev Pesach. This family had strengthened themselves in emunah and had bought everything they needed, relying on the open hand of Hashem. On Chol HaMoed , they went to the park for a short outing and a car stopped right near them with the driver calling to one of the children to come to him. The father saw what was happening and got suspicious. He went over to that man himself and asked what he needed. The man said he had an envelope to give him and he proceeded to hand it to him. It was obvious that there was a lot of money inside. At first, the father refused to accept it, asking why he would be giving him this envelope being that they didn't even know each other. The man explained that he and his wife put money aside to give to a family with children for the holiday. They decided they were going to go to Bnei Brak and give the envelope to the first family that they would meet. So he said, “You are the first family we met, so this money belongs to you. Please take it.” Considering the incredible series of events, the father understood this was HaKadosh Baruch Hu sending him the money, and so he took it happily and thanked the man. At home, they counted the money and, amazingly, saw that it equaled the exact amount that they had spent on Yom Tov expenses. Not only that, but for some inexplicable reason, on the envelope was written one word that explained everything - “Tishrey”. They were all in awe. Hashem is the One who gives us money and He told us whatever we spend on Yom Tov , He will reimburse us for. And therefore, we should spend with happiness knowing that we are honoring the holiday the proper way.