The Sale Could Wait

by Dovid Zaklikowski for Hasidic Archives

Montreal businessman, Nussen Fellig would go to the mikvah at 8:30 a.m., daven, eat breakfast with the yeshivah students, and then take time to study Torah until 11. He hired Ezriel, a member of the community, to run the warehouse until he arrived.

One day, while enjoying the hot mikvah singing as he always did, “Meein Olam Haba iz der heise mikvah,” this hot mikvah is a taste of the World to Come – a student came in and said that Ezriel was on the phone. “It is a nice mikvah,” Nussen told the student, “I give Ezriel permission to pass the message along through you.”

It was quite the scene, with all the students as front-row spectators.

At the time, there had been a fashion craze for bell-bottom pants, but it had already passed, and Felco was left with thousands of unsold pairs. Someone wanted to buy them on closeout, and Ezriel wanted to sell them at a small loss to clear the warehouse space. Nussen told the student, “If the man wants them, he should come meet me at the warehouse at 11 a.m.”

That Shabbos, Ezriel was still fuming at Nussen for what he saw as a missed opportunity. The buyer had a flight to catch and couldn’t wait, and Ezriel was frustrated. But Nussen wasn’t about to miss his cherished time davening slowly with the students and learning Torah. “I had a chance to get rid of the pants,” Ezriel said in front of the entire community, clearly upset, “and now we’re going to end up throwing them out.”

The businessman shrugged. “It was a nice mikvah. I don’t rush it. Too bad…”

The following Shabbos was no less entertaining. Nussen pulled Ezriel by the ear and demanded that he tell everyone the rest of the story. Embarrassed, Ezriel resisted, but Nussen warned him that if he didn’t share it, he would be dismissed.

Everyone gathered around as Ezriel finally relented. He explained that while bell-bottoms were out of style in Canada, they were just starting to become fashionable in South America. That week, a South American buyer came to the warehouse and inquired about purchasing the bell pants at a discount. This time, Nussen was there.

He told the man that it had taken months to perfect those pants. At first, they were too narrow, so they were sent back. Then they were too wide and again sent back. What they had in storage now, he said, was the perfected version. “You can try manufacturing them yourself,” Nussen told the buyer, “but it will take you months to get it right. Here, they’re ready and you’ll be ahead of your competition.” The two negotiated, and Felco made a solid profit on the deal.

When Ezriel finished telling the story, Nussen quipped, “What was he thinking? That I should give up the minyan and breakfast with the bochurim for a little bit of money?”

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