At the beginning of 5782, R’ Yehuda Blumenfeld, a yungerman from Kfar Saba, received a call from R’ Betzalel Homnick, to enlist his help to teach a special boy, Shuli. Shuli was an energetic young boy that no one was able to buckle down, and R’ Betzalel, the director of Lev L’achim, Rānana, knew that that the right man for the job was R’ Yehuda. R’ Yehuda taught a group of Lev L’achim teens in Kfar Saba, and had experience with such cases. R’ Yehuda stood up to the plate. Every week he would make the trip to Rānana from Kfar Saba to learn with this boy, and after some time, he saw his efforts bearing fruit.
Several months later, R’ Yehuda received an additional call from R’ Betzalel to participate in their upcoming melava malka to benefit their famed organization. The event was being held in Ulamei Vagshal, and he was requested to participate. R’ Yehuda tried dismissing the request, but R’ Betzalel persisted. “We need you! Participate in whatever way you can — even if only for half an hour!”
“Of what benefit will my half-an-hour attendance be?” R’ Yehuda wondered. “I already make an exerting trip to learn with this boy, and now I must travel to Bnei Brak for their dinner?”
But R’ Betzalel insisted that his participation was beneficial and necessary, and with that he ended the call.
R’ Yehuda couldn’t refuse the personal invitation and attended for the promised half-an-hour. While he was there, R’ Yehuda heard the speech of R’ Eliezer Sorotzkin and was impressed by the awe-stricken stories of the mesiras nefesh that Lev L’achim’s teens experienced while returning to Yiddishkeit.
A week later, R’ Betzalel informed R’ Yehuda that his participation at the melave malka brought in the largest donation of the evening.
“Largest donation?!” R’ Yehuda repeated in disbelief. “I didn’t bring in any money, let alone the largest amount.”
“No, you did. Because of you, we received a donation of 420,000 shekels!”
