There was once a man who bought a lottery ticket and didn’t win. He went to Rav Yisroel Salanter and complained, “How could it be that I didn’t win? I had complete Bitachon that Hashem would make me win.” Rav Yisrael told the man to buy another lottery ticket. The man did as Rav Yisrael Salanter said and bought a new lottery ticket. The day before the lottery was to be drawn, unbeknownst to the man, Rav Yisrael Salanter sent a person to try to buy the lottery ticket from him. The man refused to sell the ticket. The messenger said, “I will give you up to half the earnings of the lottery ticket (at that time around 5,000 rubles).” The man thought about it and agreed to sell the ticket for that value. When he demanded the money from the messenger, the messenger replied, “I won’t pay you now. I will use the money from winning the lottery to pay you for the ticket.” They had a disagreement, and as a result the man decided not to sell the ticket. The next day, the lottery was drawn. The man did not win the lottery, and quickly went back to Rav Yisrael Salanter. “How can it be that I didn’t win the lottery this time? I had complete bitachon!” Rav Yisrael Salanter replied, “A person with bitachon doesn’t sell a ticket worth 10,000 rubles for 5,000 rubles.”
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