When the Jewish month of Adar begins, we are supposed to increase in joy. To that end, we flew in Israeli comedian, Ori Chizkiya, to perform at our Chabad center.
We planned every detail meticulously. We rented an auditorium in a prestigious private school on Fifth Avenue and made sure we had everything we needed with regards to acoustics and stage lighting.
Thank G-d, tickets were selling well. In fact, they were selling too well! A full week before the show we were completely sold out. All 400 tickets sold and accounted for. Still more people wanted to join and were upset to hear there were no tickets left. “Doesn’t Chabad accept everybody?” they wanted to know. “We don’t need seats, we’ll stand!”
The day before the event I called the school to confirm a couple of details and the principal told me, “You know, Rabbi, there’s a major snowstorm headed our way…”
“Oh, that’s no problem,” I answered. “We’re used to storms. We don’t cancel events. In fact, last year we had a beautiful Shabbat dinner with over 250 people in the midst of a snowstorm!”
“Well, you may not cancel if there’s a snowstorm,” she said, “but we may cancel if there’s no school. No school, no show.”
“But what about our show? We have a contract! Can’t you open just for us?” I begged.
“Absolutely not.”
At this point, we began to panic. I phoned numerous auditoriums in Manhattan, and understandably most of them couldn’t schedule anything on such short notice. Finally, I found one place, a beautiful venue, willing to take us, but at four times the price! And they were pressuring me for an immediate answer since it was already the end of the day.
I was torn. I’ve been living in New York for long enough to know that when the weather report says, “Severe alert! 100% chance of snow,” that’s exactly what will happen. So, if I cancel the show, I lose lots of money because I still need to pay the comedian’s cancellation fee and refund all the tickets. If I take the new venue, it’s considerably more expensive and very late notice. What if people don’t check their email and go to the wrong place? Two very un-ideal options!
Our Chassidic masters taught a revolutionary concept – “Think good and it will be good.” The Lubavitcher Rebbe explained that positive thinking generates positive outcomes. With that in mind, I decided to think good thoughts and stick with the current plan – having the event at the school auditorium.
I told everyone who called that night the show would be going on as planned, in the private school. When people asked, “What about the snow?” I answered, “Think good and it will be good.”
I was up all night, making sure to think positive thoughts, and obsessively checking the weather reports to see how bad the storm would be. Finally, at 6am, the mayor’s office announced that public schools would be open.
I was still unsure, though, because our event was to take place in a private school, and a number of other schools were closed. Finally, at 11:30am I got an email that we were definitely on for the show!
“Think good and it will be good” is something we need to internalize and live with every day, no matter what challenges and obstacles we face. With a positive attitude, we can overcome almost anything!