A dear and pleasant man had just now finished davening for the amud on behalf of his father who had passed away. The chazzan had a sweet and pleasant voice so that everyone noticed when he approached the amud. After a month, I saw him again approach the amud and daven with all the Kaddishes—not for a day or two, but for two consecutive weeks. After davening I could no longer hold back, and I asked what had happened—after all, his father and mother had not been among the living for quite some time, and now he was again going up to the amud?! He looked at me and answered that he was davening for his uncle.
And he told me a wondrous story of Divine providence: “The parents passed away; they left no property to pass on to the children. I thanked Hashem that at least they did not leave debts. My financial situation was very strained, and I asked Hashem to send me salvation in a respectable manner. That very same day, my uncle, my mother’s brother, met me and asked to sit with me privately. We went to a corner, and my uncle asked me: ‘How much do you want as payment in exchange for davening for the amud with all the Kaddishes for a full year for the elevation of my soul [l’ilui nishmasi] when the time comes for me to be summoned to the Heavenly Court?’
I looked at him in embarrassment and said that, with Hashem’s help, he should live until one hundred and twenty, and in any case, I would say Kaddish for him without payment, of course! But my uncle would not agree to hear this answer and said: ‘Look, I thank Hashem that I have seven daughters, but a little “Kaddishel” (male child to say Kaddish) I was not granted. I heard you daven for your parents with a sweet voice and with clarity, according to the pace of the tzibbur, and therefore I request that you daven in exchange for fair payment...’
I did not agree to name a sum; he deposited into my account an amount beyond all imagination, which covered all the debts and left me with surplus profit. Three weeks did not pass, and he returned his soul to his Maker. That is the reason I am approaching the amud—because HaKadosh Baruch Hu arranged for me, against my will, and contrary to my desire, an honorable livelihood! It turned out that this uncle had not a small amount of money and left an additional sum in inheritance after the year, when I would finish the Kaddish...
He was a healthy and strong man and functioned with clarity until his last day; who would have believed that in such a short time he would return his soul to his Creator?”
May this publication be for the elevation of his soul. י.ו.
