"I'm a resident of Herzliya Pituach, the manager of a very successful company. The company I owned, which my father founded, and which made our family wealthy by any standard, ran into difficulties that threatened the family's existence and economic future. What hurt me the most was that it meant that my elderly father had been taken out of the sheltered home he was in, to a nursing home run by the state. I didn't sleep at night, and one morning, when I knew that the sword was hanging at me, I got up early in the morning. I took the tefillin that I had only put on at my Bar Mitzvah party and went to Bnei Brak to pray Shacharit to G-d. I wasn't religious, but I got to a place where I knew there was no other hope. I asked a passerby where one can pray at such an hour? He immediately said, "In Itzkowitz," where there are many rooms where there are minyanim one after the other. I got there, put on tefillin and started praying. Suddenly tears started flowing from my eyes, and I cried like I'd never cried before. I wasn't ashamed of anyone, I don't have any acquaintances here.
While praying, I noticed a 30-year-old ultra-Orthodox man sitting next to me, who was also crying in his prayers, his crying was more restrained, but it seemed that something was bothering him, I thought to myself, maybe I would help him and then G-d would help me. At the end of the prayer, I approached him and asked him gently - with apologies for the intrusion into his private life - what was bothering him, I convinced him to tell me, in the end he agreed and told me that he had found himself in a difficult financial situation through no fault of his own and that he owed 46,800 NIS and had no idea where he would pay it back. He prays to God to send him money to repay the debts that burden him so much, since he is a kollel student and only his wife works. Without thinking, I took out a checkbook, filled it with 50,000 shekels, and told him: "Cashing the check and repaying your debts, but I have two conditions: one, write down my secretary's number, call her to declare that you received a check from me – so that I won't get into more trouble with the income tax than I do, and second, pray for me incessantly throughout the day so that my company will get out of the crisis it is in." To my surprise, he said: "I don't want to work on you, I don't pray all day, I study Gemara in the Kollel most of the day, I pray 3 prayers. I have another kollel in the evening, which I might be able to cancel and instead say Tehillim about you, the amount you give me saves me, but I won't lie to you that I pray all day, I'm studying." It moved and amazed me. His honesty completely captivated me, I was smart enough to understand that this man's Talmud study is worth as much to me as prayer, maybe even more. And I said, "Leave, continue your study as usual, but dedicate it to me." I took the phone number from him to let him know when the company was on its feet and he was relieved of his commitment. And the unbelievable happened. That same day, at noon, I received a phone call from a 23-year-old man. 3 years ago his father turned to me and said to me: "I have a genius son who invents something in computers, come invest in his invention and get a percentage", I paid a million and a half shekels and since then I have not heard from him nor have I been interested, and now they have received an offer from a company in the United States in exchange for his invention, he calls to update on developments, "You see, it was probably worth investing", this is not the million and a half but the fifty thousand that I gave to this yeshiva student this morning, I thought in my heart. The deal hasn't been executed yet, but I knew that at least there was someone studying and praying about it.
A month later, the deal was made that was published in all the newspapers, and the company I owned was on its feet, and I breathed a sigh of relief. A few years passed, my son and daughter-in-law still hadn't had a baby, and all the treatments they had done were unsuccessful. One evening, my son came to us and asked to speak with us. He said that the doctors had discouraged them and said that there was no chance, and now they were thinking of going abroad to adopt a child from there. Just before he suddenly left, I told him, "Wait a minute," and for the first time I told them about the crisis I was in...
A few years ago, I didn't even tell my wife, they didn't know at all about the danger that hovered over their heads, they sat in front of me, stunned, "Try to go to Bnei Brak, find an ultra-Orthodox there who studies all day, ask him to study and pray for you, maybe it will help." He thought for a while and then said, "No problem, I'll do it, but I'm giving a one-month window, I'm not going to cancel the flight." A month passed and they still hadn't traveled, another week passed, I called him to ask him when their flight was and he replied: "Dad, we're on our way to the tests, we may not have to travel...", "What"??? I was completely shocked, "How is that? Why didn't you tell me" ?... "Dad, we'll come in the evening and tell you."
We waited nervously for the evening and when they arrived, my son said: "I went to Bnei Brak at 00:10 in the morning and asked people to lead me to the Kollel, they led me to a kollel called 'Kollel Chazon Ish', and I saw people there sitting and studying, no one looked at me, they were just immersed in their learning. I watched and locked on a man of about 30 years old when he went to make himself coffee, I approached him and asked him if I could talk to him personally, and when I answered yes I asked him if he had debts that he would be happy to get rid of, he replied: 'Yes, I have a mortgage that I pay for, other than that I am doing well', I said to him: 'Come with me to the bank and I will repay your mortgage'. He looked at me and didn't move, 'I'm not working on you, come with me and see, I'm paying you the mortgage, just pray for me to have a child.' 'I believe you, but if you don't mind, we study until 00:13, and the bank is open until 30:13.' I waited like a good boy for about three hours, not thinking that the day would come when someone would make me wait for him to give him money – instead of chasing me. At 13:00 we went to the bank and I repaid the mortgage in its entirety, immediately afterwards we went into another treatment and a week ago it turned out that he probably succeeded, but to be sure, we waited another week, today we went for tests and the trip is probably unnecessary." It is difficult to describe the excitement and tears that were shed on that occasion, I felt that I had a part in this miracle, by opening my heart and telling what saved me. "Adopt a student" I would call this story even though I'm not entirely sure who is helping whom.
