Rav Zundil agreed, and took their life’s savings and started out for the city. When he reached the city he was told that the fair would continue for an entire month.
“Why hurry,” thought Rav Zundil. “I have a full month’s time to purchase the merchandise. In the meantime, I can study the Torah.”
Yarn Sold Out
Rav Zundil went to the beis hamedrash in that city and studied Torah the entire month. On the last day of the fair he went to the merchants to purchase yarn. He was shocked to learn that all the goods were sold and none remained. Only one type of thread remained, a very expensive kind that only the very rich could afford.
Having no choice, Rav Zundil purchased as much yarn of this type as his money would permit. He returned home and turned it over to his wife.
She took one look at the yarn and began to cry. “Woe to us,” she moaned, “our life’s savings tied up in this merchandise! Don’t you know that our poor customers could never afford this thread, and we have no rich people in our neighborhood? We are ruined.”
Rav Zundil attempted to calm her.
“Our sages tell us,” said Rav Zundil, “that a person’s sustenance is decreed on Rosh Hashanah for the entire year. Therefore, if it is decreed that we should have a nice income, what difference does it make what kind of thread I purchased? Trust in the L-rd and He will help us.”
Cheerfully, Rav Zundil left his tear-stricken wife and went to the beis hamedrash to study.
Orders Expensive Garment
The following day a messenger came to Rav Zundil’s store to order a very expensive garment. The baron’s daughter was to be married and the proud father wanted a garment which contained only a very expensive yarn which no local merchant possessed. Rav Zundil’s wife showed him the yarn her husband had bought at the fair and the messenger jumped for joy.
“This is just the thread we have been looking for!” he exclaimed. He ordered the entire stock for various clothes for his household and he paid very handsomely. The money was sufficient to sustain the gaon’s household for an entire year.