Harav Yosef Gottlieb of Bnei Brak, a maggid shiur in Yeshivas Vizhnitz, related:
Many years ago, when Reb Shmuel still lived in the Neve Achiezer neighborhood [before 5732/1972], Harav Yishai Mandel of Bnei Brak contacted me and asked me to accompany him to Reb Shmuel. He wanted to ask for a donation for a chassan who had no means to pay for his wedding expenses.
On the way, we discussed how much money we were hoping to raise, and for what amount we would feel that our efforts were successful; we decided on ten liras. It should be noted that the average monthly salary at the time was about fifty liras, so that meant a sum equal to almost a week’s pay.
We arrived at about ten o’clock at night, and told Reb Shmuel about the cause we were collecting for. He heard us out and I could see the distraught expression on his face. “It’s a shame you came so late; I brought plenty of cash home from my office today to distribute to tzedakah, but it’s all gone already...”
We were quiet. Suddenly he got up and said, “But I can’t send you off empty-handed; let me see if I can find something for you.” A few minutes later, he returned with a bill in his hand. He gave us the bill and apologized that that was all he still had.
We looked at the bill in disbelief. One hundred liras! That was what this man of chessed called “I can’t send you off empty-handed”? He was apologizing for giving us a sum equal to an average salary for two months!
