The following story was told in Torah Wellsprings. A community near Monsey was renovating their Bet Midrash. They decided, “If we're spending thousands of dollars to make our Bet Midrash more beautiful, we should also invest in checking and beautifying the Sefer Torah.” A sofer reviewed the Sefer Torah and discovered that it was passul—invalid. He said it would cost five thousand dollars to fix it.
The Rosh Hakahal refused to give so much money. “I'll pay you five hundred dollars, but not a penny more.” It didn’t really make sense. He was paying tens of thousands of dollars to beautify the Bet Midrash, but for the most important part – the Sefer Torah – he wasn't ready to spend money. The sofer explained the immense work involved in fixing a Sefer Torah, to no avail. The Rosh Hakahal refused to pay more than five hundred dollars.
The sofer called up a colleague and requested help towards correcting the Sefer Torah. He said, “This community is using a passul Sefer Torah, and if we don’t fix it, they will continue using it. Let's work together to make the Torah kosher. We will do it just for the mitzvah.” His friend agreed.
On the day they completed fixing the Sefer Torah, satisfied that they were able to do this mitzvah, they began their trek to Monsey. On the way there, they needed to make a stop to use the restroom. The only restroom in the area was in a Christian cemetery, so they went there.
The guard stationed at the entrance asked for their names, addresses, and telephone numbers. The men gave the information and went inside. A few weeks later, they received a phone call from a lawyer. At first, they were afraid that they were being accused of some crime, but the lawyer was telling them that they would each receive $62,000. The day they were in the cemetery, a funeral of a wealthy person was taking place. This wealthy man didn’t have any children, so he stipulated in his will that his money should be distributed among those who attended his funeral. Being that they had registered with the guard at the entrance, they were endowed with this large sum of money.
These men made a sacrifice to help a congregation have a kosher Sefer Torah, and Hashem paid them for their dedication. The word נתן – give is a palindrome; it reads the same way forward and backwards, because when you give, it comes back to you.
