Rav Shraga Freedman relates a story that was told to him by the Rav of a Shul.
“One of my Mispalelim once found a purse in the street. It contained $5,000 in cash, along with some documents indicating that it belonged to a non-Jewish woman who lived nearby. The man called a Rav to ask what to do, and the Rav told him that it would be a tremendous Kiddush Hashem if he returned it to the woman.
The Rav reminded him, ‘Keep in mind that your Parnasah is decreed on Rosh Hashanah, and no matter what you do, your bank account balance will be the same.’
After a difficult internal struggle, the man decided to return the money, and he contacted the stranger. The woman was moved when she heard that she would be getting her purse back, and soon after, she was even more impressed when she saw there wasn’t even a single dollar missing from her purse.
The Woman Showered the Finder with Blessings
She told this man that her father had just passed away, and the cash was for his burial expenses. She offered the finder $1,000 as a reward, and she showered him with blessings.
The next week, the man received a phone call from his health insurance company, and they informed him that the company had decided to pay a $4,000 bill that they had previously been refusing to cover! The man recognized that the Hashgachah Pratis, the Divine Providence, was unmistakable. He had received exactly the amount of money that he had chosen to return, and he had gained the merit of a great Kiddush Hashem as well.”
The Rav said, “I shared this story with my Shul, and I made it clear that this Kiddush Hashem was a reason for celebration, and it was an example that everyone can emulate!”
Reprinted from the Parshas Tzav 5784 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
