How to Become a Rothschild—Wealth Through Bizyonot

How to Become a Rothschild—Wealth Through Bizyonot

The tzadik Rabbi Moshe of Chortkov related that the founder of the Rothschild family, Rabbi Meir-Anschel, became wealthy on the night of bedikat chametz through bizyonot. This is how it happened. When Rabbi Meir-Anschel was a young man, he served the holy Gaon Rabbi Tzvi-Hirsch of Chortkov, the father of the holy Gaon Rabbi Shmelke of Nikolsburg. Later, Meir-Anschel married a woman from the town of Sniatyn, opened a store, and achieved a modest degree of success. Rabbi Tzvi-Hirsch had five hundred gold ducats, which he had saved for his daughter's dowry. The money was kept in a drawer of his desk. Throughout the year, the Rabbi hardly ever opened the drawer. Only on the 14th of Nisan, during the search for chametz before Passover, did he open it to inspect it. This happened in the year Meir-Anschel got married. When the night of the 14th of Nisan arrived, Rabbi Tzvi-Hirsch came to inspect the drawer to make sure it contained no chametz—and suddenly saw that the money pouch was missing. The Rabbi was frightened, and all the members of his household were frightened as well. The Rabbi's family decided that no one other than Meir-Anschel, who had served in the household, could have stolen the money. After all, it was known that his wife had opened a store and, according to rumor, he had become wealthy—and this had all supposedly been accomplished with the Rabbi's family's money. The Rabbi ordered them to be silent. He said that they were wrong to suspect Meir-Anschel, because everyone knew that this young man was upright, honest, and G-d-fearing, and could always be trusted. But the members of the household continued to trouble the Rabbi with their suspicions, and eventually forced him to travel to Sniatyn. When Meir-Anschel and his wife saw the holy Rabbi, they rejoiced, showed him great respect, and welcomed him with great honor. With a broken heart, the Rabbi told the man who had once served him what had happened in his home. Trying to speak as gently as possible, the Rabbi hinted that Meir-Anschel was suspected. Upon hearing his Rabbi's words, Meir-Anschel immediately said: — It so happened that I really did take the money. But I have only a little left—just 200 ducats. I will return the rest very soon. The Rabbi returned home greatly relieved. It was a twofold joy: first, that the suspicions had not been unfounded, and second, that he would soon recover what had been lost. Meir-Anschel sent small sums of money over time, and before long he had returned the entire amount. But in truth, Meir-Anschel had not taken the money. What had really happened? That year, as usual, the Rabbi's home was being cleaned, tidied, and painted for Passover, and a non-Jewish woman from a nearby village was hired to help. When she discovered that there was a desk in the house with a locked drawer, she took an interest in it, obtained its key, opened it, and took the money pouch. When she came home, she showed it to her husband. He hid the pouch for a long time, but eventually it seemed to him that everyone had forgotten about the incident, and he finally decided to use the stolen money. He took one gold coin, went to the village tavern, bought wine and vodka, drank his fill with his friends, and felt happy and content. When it was time to pay, he gave the tavern keeper one gold coin and said: — I found this. Go into town, exchange it, take whatever I owe you, and return the rest to me. The tavern keeper did just that. The following week, the peasant came to the tavern again, bought more wine and vodka, and got completely drunk. As before, he gave the tavern keeper a gold ducat and said that he had found it. He did the same thing a third time. When the tavern keeper had seen and heard this several times, he realized that gold ducats could not be lying on the road like stones, waiting for anyone to find and take them. He quickly understood that the peasant had stolen the money, went to the Polish ruler, the voivode, and told him the whole story. The voivode said to him: — The next time he comes to you, pour him plenty to drink, so that he becomes thoroughly drunk with his friends. When the wine enters him, the secret will come out. That way, you will learn the truth. The tavern keeper did as he was told. When the peasant was completely drunk, his friends began pestering him to tell them where he had obtained the gold ducats. Under strict secrecy, he told them that his wife had stolen the money pouch from the Rabbi, and that the money was hidden in a certain place in his house. The tavern keeper took along witnesses who had heard the conversation and hurried to the voivode. The voivode immediately sent his servants to the peasant's house, and they began digging at the place indicated by the tavern keeper. There they found the pouch, containing all 500 ducats intact and in good condition, except for the few that had been spent on liquor. The peasant was arrested and brought before the voivode, who immediately sent for the Rabbi. The Rabbi was frightened. Who knew what false accusation or slander the enemies of the Jews had whispered to the voivode against him and his community? But there was no choice—he went to the ruler. The voivode began indirectly. He questioned the Rabbi about how many sons he had, how many daughters, how much he earned each week, and so on and so forth... Finally, the voivode asked: — Do you have the means to marry off your daughter? The Rabbi explained that he had had 500 ducats for his daughter's dowry and wedding, but they had been stolen. However, the thief had apparently confessed everything and returned the money. Nevertheless, the ruler asked the Rabbi what identifying marks the pouch had. The Rabbi answered, and the voivode then returned the pouch to him and told him the entire story of the theft and the drunken peasant. The Rabbi returned home with both joy and sorrow. He rejoiced because his former attendant had proved to be an honest man, and he grieved because he had suspected an honest man of theft. He hurried to Sniatyn to find out what had compelled Meir-Anschel to confess to a sin he had not committed and to return money he had not taken. Meir-Anschel explained that he could not bear to see his teacher suffering. So he had taken everything he had managed to save by that time and given it to his Rabbi, so that the Rabbi's holy soul and the souls of his beloved family members would not suffer. Afterwards, he sold or pawned all his possessions and sent his righteous teacher more money to make up the shortfall. When the Rabbi heard all this, he sincerely asked his former attendant for forgiveness for having suspected him and returned the money to him. Then Rabbi Tzvi-Hirsch blessed Meir-Anschel that he should prosper in his affairs, rise higher and higher, and merit great wealth—he and his descendants throughout all generations. From that time on, Rabbi Meir-Anschel began to grow increasingly wealthy and successful, and eventually became the founder of the large and renowned Rothschild dynasty. (From the book “Secrets of the Aggadah” by Rabbi I. Niyazov)   More about bizyonot:  Bizyonot – a segula against death Bizyonot — How Humiliation Can Save One from Death and Enable One to Bless Others Tehillim on Bizyonot - Why It Is So Important to HaShem That We Remain Silent