The Bagel Seller of Kraków: A Powerful Lesson in Trust in God

On the main street of the city of Kraków in Poland, an elderly Jewish man stands beside a small cart, calling out loudly, “Bagels! Bagels!” He is trying to sell the bagels his wife worked so hard to bake. Not far from him stands one of the city’s wealthy men, watching the old vendor. He notices that about once every fifteen minutes, someone stops to buy a bagel. When the customer leaves, the vendor resumes calling out, “Bagels! Bagels!”

This scene repeats itself day after day, for long hours, without pause.

A Tempting Offer

The wealthy man can no longer tolerate watching this and approaches the elderly Jew.
“Rabbi,” he asks, “how much money do you earn in a day?”
“Five rubles,” replies the vendor.

“Let’s make a deal,” says the rich man. “I will give you five rubles every evening. And during the hours when you used to stand outside in the sun and snow, you will sit in the Great Synagogue and recite the entire Book of Tehillim each day, with full concentration.”

The old man immediately jumps at the opportunity and agrees. The very next morning he begins reciting Tehillim, and the wealthy man faithfully brings him the five rubles every evening.

A Sudden Change of Heart

Two weeks pass, until one day the old man asks to speak with the wealthy benefactor.
“I want to cancel the deal,” he says.

“What happened?” asks the rich man. “Would you rather stand again in the snow and the sun?”
“I suggest we go to the city rabbi,” the old man replies. “There I will explain everything, and he will decide between us.”

The Vendor’s Explanation

Together they arrive at the rabbi’s house, where the elderly vendor explains his decision:

“Honored Rabbi, this dear Jew standing beside me took pity on me and promised me five rubles a day. He deserves great praise. But over time, I realized that this arrangement is harming me.

“Until now, when I stood in the street and cried out ‘Bagels,’ I was simultaneously praying from the depths of my heart to the Holy One, blessed be He: ‘Please, send me a customer.’ When a buyer finally arrived, I thanked God with all my heart. Then I would return to calling out ‘Bagels,’ once again filled with supplication. If two customers came at once, my gratitude doubled.

“So it went dozens of times each day: ‘Please, God, save me,’ and ‘Give thanks to God, for He is good.’ Honored Rabbi, I felt completely dependent on Heavenly mercy. My trust in God grew constantly. My old eyes were always lifted heavenward, not toward people.

“But over the past two weeks, although I recite Tehillim with concentration, I no longer feel dependent on Heaven. Along with the Tehillim, my trust in God has weakened, because I now feel secure in a fixed daily income.”

The Rabbi’s Ruling

The rabbi, a renowned kabbalist and scholar, was deeply moved. With tears in his eyes, he ruled in favor of the elderly vendor, allowing him to return to selling bagels, and to his profound bond with the Creator.

Just before this incident, the rabbi had resolved to leave Kraków for another city that urgently wished him to serve as its rabbi. But this story caused him to change his mind.

“If these are the bagel sellers of Kraków,” the rabbi said, “then I am staying here with you.”

The Lesson of the Manna

In this week’s Torah portion, we learn about the manna. The Jewish people left Egypt with almost no provisions, yet they trusted completely in their Creator to provide their sustenance. It was no coincidence that they merited manna from Heaven; it was solely due to their great trust in God.

Let us study a few brief excerpts from a longer teaching found in the book Be’er Mayim Chaim on this Torah portion:

The Boundless Value of Trust

“It is well known that trust in the Creator, blessed be He, has no measure or limit. Know that even if a person exerts himself with all his might, increases his efforts through his wisdom and physical strength, and works tirelessly day and night for his livelihood, he will not earn even a single coin more than what the Creator has decreed for him to earn that year, that week, or that day.

“Likewise, if a person minimizes his efforts and works for his sustenance only one or two hours a day, nothing will be reduced from what God has decreed for him. Nevertheless, a person must engage in some effort and action for his livelihood; he should not abandon all work and sit idle, for blessing rests only upon some form of action.

“No amount of effort will help him earn more than what has been decreed. Therefore, one who has bread today but worries, ‘What will I eat tomorrow?’ and exhausts himself working for tomorrow is considered lacking in faith. Surely tomorrow God will provide him with what he needs.

“For this reason, God performed a kindness through the miracle of the manna: each day there was only the exact amount needed for that day, so that a person would not labor today for tomorrow. Instead, he would say, ‘Blessed is God, day by day,’ and believe with complete faith that the One who provided today will also provide tomorrow, with minimal effort. Even with the manna, there was some effort involved, such as gathering it and bringing it home.

“Moshe our teacher was commanded by the Creator to preserve a jar of manna for future generations, to teach them that a person should not work all his days out of fear that he will lack sustenance in the future. Rather, when a person has provision for today, he should no longer occupy himself that day with earning a livelihood, but instead devote his remaining time to serving his Creator — and so should he conduct himself throughout his life.”

Trust in Our Times

In our era, salaries are paid monthly, and work is structured as a continuous obligation rather than day by day. Clearly, a person must make appropriate efforts according to his own needs and those of his family. Yet he should always remember that in the end, only what is decreed from Above will reach him.

He should not chase ever-increasing earnings at the expense of Torah study, prayer, or quality time with his family. In our times, we see with our own eyes how vast sums accumulated through hard labor can disappear in an instant. Thus, “The blessing of God — it is what enriches, and no sorrow accompanies it” (Mishlei 10:22).

The author is the spiritual director of Hidabroot and the head of the Ahavat Torah Kollel.