Someone once told me that every person goes through journeys in life in order to rectify certain faults connected to his neshamah. “You think that you’re collecting tzedakah,” this wise Yid told me, “but in essence you are gathering the sparks that only you can rectify. This is a personal mission that Hashem gave you.”
He told me something else important: “Therefore, pay attention to any mitzvah you could do anywhere you go. You never know whether this is the specific mitzvah for which you came to this city or to this shul.”
I understood. You surely realize that to end up in a situation in which you need to collect tzedakah abroad, and the actual journey itself, are not the greatest pleasures at all. The idea my friend told me turned this journey into something uplifting. I hoped that indeed I would be zocheh to crown Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the world in every place I’d go.
Armed with this thought, I davened Ma’ariv in a shul located in a large Jewish city abroad.
After davening, I noticed a folded-up paper lying on the floor. A small, dirty paper that looked like it might have been some grocery list someone had made.
At first I thought I would proceed to the exit. I am not the gabbai of the shul and I am not responsible for its cleanliness. Let the person whose job this is come and put the note where it belongs.
A few seconds later I changed my mind and thought, What does it matter whose job it is to pick up the dirt?! Is this a simchah hall we’re talking about? This is Hashem’s House! A Mikdash me’at! And if I would do something extra for the sake of my own honor, then because of the kavod of Shamayim it would certainly be fitting that I honor Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s House by picking up the paper and putting it in the garbage.
I picked up the paper, and I happened glance at it. Here the surprise greeted me: This paper was nothing other than a voucher – a type of check written out for the sum of 75 lirot! This is a nice sum of about 330 shekels.
I looked in all directions. There was no identifying sign indicating whose it was.
I was zocheh to take it. A completely kosher find.
I had wanted to honor Hashem’s House, and Hashem immediately honored me with a nice gift.
