It is well-known that the first question that a person will be asked on the day of judgment is “Did you conduct yourself honestly in business?”. There are people who say that nowadays a person’s livelihood is so difficult to come by that one who tries to deal honestly and decently will not be able to eat even bread and salt. They use this argument to permit themselves to deceive others and to steal, rob and encroach on the livelihood of others as well as many other evils, besides for wasting time not learning Torah and not praying with a quorum, profaning Shabbos etc.. These people do not even think about the bad things they have done. They must be petrified because of the day of judgment.
One can recognize a person by his attitude towards money, for one who believes in Hashem that He is the One who gives the power to each person to achieve things, and that all the livelihood of a person is fixed on high from the beginning of the year, cannot believe that by sinning against Hashem he will be successful. Even if by any chance one is successful by doing this, it must be wealth that is kept for its owners to be bad for them. This is quite apart from the punishment which awaits him in the next world.
If one sees an honest person who always does the right thing and deals in a scrupulous way whose livelihood is limited, it is forbidden to believe that he is losing out by being honest. Instead, there is another reason why heaven has limited his livelihood. One who believes in Hashem honestly and completely, will have full trust that everything that Hashem does is perfect and all His ways are just. All of the ways of Hashem are only for good, to be able to give goodness to all people in the world which is completely good. Even though it is true that Klal Yisrael are believers the children of believers, it is not enough to believe; one must also act with that belief. It all depends on the actions which show the belief.
