During general renovations of the house, we decided to change the master bedroom furniture. We planned on selling the old furniture for 1,000 shekels. We advertised secondhand furniture in good condition and waited for someone to call asking to buy it.
We didn’t have much time, because we had to get rid of the furniture quickly. Several days passed, and then my wife told me about an older woman who works with her, a widow, who told her that the beds in her home were shaky and broken.
“Let’s give her our beds,” I suggested.
“But we wanted to sell them. We’re building now, and every thousand shekels is really helpful.”
“True,” I agreed, “but it’s already been several days and no one has come up to buy the furniture. And besides, we’ll be zocheh to gladden an almanah; and one doesn’t lose out from giving tzedakah.”
My wife agreed, and I asked her to feel completely at peace with our decision. “It’s a zechus for us to enable her enjoy this.
The very next day my wife offered her friend the beds. She convinced her that it would be best for us if she would take them. The beds were really in excellent shape, and they suited her perfectly.
“Believe me,” the woman told my wife, “since my husband passed away, nothing could make me as happy as this new furniture does!”
This was enough for us, and we were thrilled with the mitzvah we had done, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu showed us that we hadn’t lost anything monetarily. On the day that we gave away the beds, someone called and asked to buy the closet. We sold it for 500 shekels. Then someone else asked for the chest of drawers, and so on. All the items were sold on that day, and the money we made on them turned out to be the price for which we had wanted to sell the entire room’s furniture.
The ad we had placed, which people seemed to have forgotten, suddenly came to life the moment we were zocheh to give something to a widow who needed it.
