Making Wealthy Men

Reb Itzikel used to go out at night collecting tzedakah. One night he made the rounds of the town's usual wealthy men and came home disappointed with what he had gathered.

He went into the beis medrash across from his house, where some of his chassidim were learning. "If the people of this town are not ready to give to tzedakah," he told them, "then I have no choice. I will have to make my own wealthy men, who will give me tzedakah." He asked those chassidim to go into business, and he gave each one exact instructions about which business to enter and how to run it.

From the first day, each man he had blessed and instructed that day enjoyed enormous hatzlachah. In time they became very wealthy and generous philanthropists. To this day, these philanthropists support Reb Itzikel's grandchildren.