I once heard the following story, which was confirmed to be entirely true. The man, in fact, who relayed it knew the individuals involved.
Before the Holocaust, the vast majority of families were very poor. There was the occasional exception, but by and large, the Jews were peasants with close to no money. One known family in Poland was a bit more well off than others. Though not rich, the father decided to purchase a pair of boots for his son to make it through the cold winter months. In those days, under such otherwise impoverished conditions, a pair of boots was a gift above and beyond. The father knew that his son would gain a lot of good use from them, and wear them through until they were worn out on every stitch.
And so, he did. The father bought the pair of boots for his son, and off he went to school. Two days later, the son returned from school wearing his shoes. His boots were not on his feet nor in his knapsack.
“Meir, where are your new boots?”
He Gave the Boots to His Fatherless Classmate
“Well, there is a boy in my class and his father died, and they have no money and no food. His shoes have big holes in them, and my shoes don’t, so I gave him my boots.”
Hearing this, the father didn’t know what to do. Should he tell his son to ask for his boots back? That wouldn’t be a great lesson in chinuch (educating his son). But to allow his son to so easily forego a new pair of boots was not a simple matter. Money was short and hard to come by, and the decision to buy his son these boots had made sense because his son could really use them. What was he to do?
After thinking it over for some time, he decided that he’d say nothing. On his own, his son would come to weigh the value of his own actions and see their merit. Every time it would be cold and his feet would be freezing and wet, he’d remember the chesed he did by giving up his shoes. That action would mean something to him, whether positive or negative, and the father awaited what lesson it would be for his son.
The following year, the father bought a new coat for his son. The winter months had rolled around once again, and a nice, warm coat would do the job of staving off the bitter cold. A few days later, though, the son returned with no coat.
“Where’s your coat, Meir?” asked his father.
He Also Gave the Coat to His Freezing Classmate
“Remember the boy I gave my boots to? He’s freezing, and I have a coat from last year, so I gave him my new one.”
At this point, the father began growing curious. It was one thing for his son to give away his boots, but now his coat? But what was he to do? He knew he didn’t have the money to buy another coat.
But that was that. Just like he had done with the pair of boots, he’d do with the coat. He’d let his son be. And he was. His son layered himself up with several sweaters and walked around that way.
One day, the son returned home and told his father the following. “The boy I gave my boots and coat to just lost his mother and he doesn’t have a place to sleep. He has no parents. Could he stay with us?”
Immediately, the father thought of all the implications and ramifications of opening his home to this orphaned boy. There was minimal space in their house and, moreover, they didn’t have enough money to support another child.
A Chesed the Father was Unable to Do
“That I can’t do, Meir. Maybe you can find someone else in the class who can do so? We don’t have any room.”
Later that night, the son was nowhere to be found. He had left the house earlier in the afternoon, but he never returned. The father, as the minutes ticked by, turned more and more nervous. It was Poland and it was dark outside!
“Where could he be?” wondered the father over and over. Had his son been kidnapped? It wasn’t a far-off possibility, however dreadful the thought was. Perhaps something had happened at school and it had bothered him, so much so that he wanted to be alone. With these thoughts swirling in his mind, the father along with a small group of other neighborhood families began looking for him.
Until the father found him. The boy had been in the Esras Nashim (women’s section) of the shul sleeping on a bench together with the other boy whose mother had died. He didn’t want the boy to sleep alone.
Fast forward to years following the Holocaust ...
Both Boys Survived the Holocaust
Both boys survived, with the boy who had given the boots and jacket away moving to Israel, and the other boy whose mother died immigrating to America. The latter boy in America wound up becoming very wealthy, whereas the former boy ended up studying for several years in yeshiva and becoming well-learned. He also was blessed with a large family. That being said, he lived in a relatively small apartment in Israel.
One day, in walked a wealthy American to the yeshiva where the other now grown man was learning. Remembering what had happened many years before, the American inquired if his old childhood friend was around? He indeed was. Being pointed in the direction of where he was studying, the American approached the man. Introducing himself, the American reminded the Israeli man who he was.
“Remember, many years ago... we used to attend at the same school? You bought me a pair of boots and a jacket. You remember that one time when you kept me company at night, and your father found us...?”
“I can’t believe it!” exclaimed the Israeli man. “I’ve thought many times about you. I didn’t know if you’d make it out of the war, and here you are now!”
“Come outside,” then said the American. “I want to talk to you.”
“I knew that you were alive and living here. And I came here to tell you something. But I must preface my words by letting you know that I am not taking no for an answer. You have nine children, and I am going to pay for their nine weddings. Not only that, but all of the clothing for these weddings is on me. You gave me your boots and you gave me your coat. In addition, I will buy every one of your children an apartment when they get married because of that night you came to join me in the shul and you didn’t let me sleep alone. I am never going to let you be alone.”
The Man Did Exactly as He Promised
This man did exactly as he said he would. For nine weddings, everything was covered, including the wedding attire and apartment.
Now, you hear this and think, “Wow, what an amazing story!” But I want to tell you something that hit me when I thought about this. What is incredible about this story is not what you might think it is. What’s incredible comes back down to the father of the boy who gave away the boots and coat. Had the father made his son retrieve the boots, all that happened never would have. The father understood what education to a child means. Even though he just bought him a pair of boots and he gave it away, if he would have told him to take them back and not to share, what would have been gained? The few dollars that he spent.
Now how much does a pair of boots cost? Let’s just say ten dollars. And what about a coat? Fifty dollars. So, this father lost sixty dollars in total. He feels bad that he bought boots and a coat for his child when money is limited, and he lost it all because his son gave it to a friend. It would certainly be a lot of money in those days. But what did Hashem give him back? Hundreds of thousands of dollars, perhaps even millions.
An Incredible Return of Father’s Decision
Think about it. You give away sixty dollars and get over a million in return. Now that’s a very different picture when you think of it this way. Why did the father do this? Because he understood that chinuch (educating a child) comes before personal wants and needs. The immediate, natural reaction might be, “Don’t give away the boots I especially got for you!” But this father took an entirely different route. He lived for something bigger than himself. He had Hashem and the Torah in his life, and that led the way to educating his son in a way that perhaps was less conventional.
But less conventional sometimes means more impactful.
The boy did an incredible act of kindness. But as it goes for the father, he would often be overlooked in this story. But when you really think about it, he is the true, quiet, silent hero. Silent literally and silent figuratively, but loud and clear in the Heavens Above.
Reprinted for the Parshat Tazria 5784 edition of the TorahAnytimes.com Newsletter.
