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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Do not give up on the blessings you have asked Hashem for, even when the situation looks hopeless; trust that Hashem knows better than you. The story centers on a farmer who, after a Shmita-year appeal, was asked to speak about his failed crops and mortgage, and who ended by sharing that after 20 years of marriage without a child, he had a baby this year. The farmer's message, in his own cryptic words, is that 'a fool tells Hashem, pay me back' — implying that one should trust Hashem's judgment rather than demand repayment.
Key Points
- The story is told as an inspirational story from Stories to Inspire, framed around R' Fischel Schachter's appeal years ago for Keren Ashley.
- In the telling, a farmer's field produced nothing, and he faced losing his farm because the bank would take it if he could not pay the mortgage.
- The farmer's personal turning point was a child: after 20 years of marriage without a baby, he had one this year.
- The farmer's lesson is that asking Hashem to return what you feel you are owed is foolish, because Hashem knows better.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: The transcript gives no specific steps, amounts, or preparation methods; the only actionable advice is the general attitude of trusting Hashem's judgment rather than demanding that He return what you have lost.
- The Shmita context: the story is set in a Shmita year, when the land is left fallen, which the speaker ties to the crops failing to grow.
- The story involves earlier farmers in the appeal whose crops (cinnamon, oregano) grew, contrasting with this farmer's failed field, and a garbled reference to grasshoppers not eating certain crops.
- The transcript is partly garbled, so some names and details (such as the exact Hebrew phrases and the "Ragna old Nissan of the Floyds" reference) are unclear and are not reliably reported here.
- The transcript is a loosely transcribed oral story, so its exact wording should be treated as approximate.
Bottom Line
The story's core point is that a seemingly failed situation can still end in blessing, and that trusting Hashem's timing matters more than demanding immediate returns.
