(Kol Barama, Issue 294)
An elderly Jew who was scarce of means. That Jew found himself a source of additional income; he used to go to the Genizah in Jerusalem, where he would find all kinds of "treasures" such as textbooks in good condition that people had put in the Genizah and even books that looked like they were new and only their cover was gone, which he would arrange with some kind of piece of bristol or cardboard and so he would come with the books to a store that sells and buy second-hand books and get a few pennies for them. This was his custom for some time, until one day he found a cardboard box in the Genizah with books for the Genizah, and at the bottom of it were cash bills arranged in packages that had accumulated to a very considerable sum. Among the banknotes and books he also found a checkbook with details of the owner of the notebook. He located the owner and asked him if he had lost anything recently. The man denied and said that he had lost nothing. When he showed him his findings that he had found in the same Genizah box together with the checkbook he had found, The man turned pale and almost fainted. He said that a week earlier his wife had died of a serious illness and she had appeared to him in a dream and told him that she was not restless. He didn't understand the meaning of the dream, but now everything was clear to him. His wife was charitable. She used to mediate between a low-income family and wealthy people who were willing to finance that family and help it financially. Apparently, the money found was intended for some poor family. The story spread and reached the radio station "Reshet Moreshet" where they told the story and spoke in praise of the Jew who, despite his dire financial situation, was not tempted to take the money for himself and returned the lost to its owner. Then, during the broadcast, an idea popped into the broadcaster's mind. He suggested that with the help of the broadcast, listeners would repay the favor in return with that Jew. And so the radio station was flooded with many listeners who were moved by the story and wanted to donate to that Jew and repay him kindness, to the point that it was necessary to ask the listeners to stop calling and donate because they could not cope with the load... Then the broadcaster called the Jew with grace and solemnly informed him that a considerable donation had been collected for him as a reward for the noble Shabbat mitzva he had performed. The same Jew answered him in this way: "I have done my mitzvah, and I am in no way known to me!"
