I asked at home, “What piece of jewelry would you like in honor of the Chag?”“To be honest, this time I would be really happy if you bought me a wet-dry vacuum — it would really ease the work at home for me!!!” When a wife makes a small request for help, the husband very much wants to buy it. Especially since hiring help costs quite a bit, and an aishes chayil who manages without a cleaning lady surely deserves a robotic assistant.
It turns out that the prices aren’t exactly cheap — especially the better models — and if we’re already buying, we want to buy the best one on the market. A device that really works, delivers results, and doesn’t require a lot of maintenance.
I did some research, and I prayed to Hashem to help us choose the best model and determine the budget needed.
This morning, my mother calls me, as she usually does, to check how I’m doing. In the course of the conversation, she tells me about my younger sister who wants to get rid of her wet-dry vacuum, because her apartment is small and cramped, and she has no place to store it. “What kind of vacuum?” I asked in astonishment.
“The best vacuum on the market!!! Don’t you know your mother?! If we buy something, it has to be the best!” It turns out that my mother had bought the wet-dry vacuum for my sister after her wedding, and it’s brand new, never used, and she’s more than happy to give it away to make room in her small rental unit, where she wipes the floor quickly with a small mop.
I rejoiced greatly in HaKadosh Baruch Hu, who answered my prayers and fulfilled my wife’s wish.
I saw that when HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives generously, He gives the best model!!! As the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch quotes in the laws of charity, Siman 34, seif 5, and this is the language: “One who wants to merit for himself should overcome his evil inclination and open his hand generously. And anything that is for the sake of Heaven should be from the best and the most beautiful. If he builds a house of prayer, it should be more beautiful than his own home; if he feeds the hungry, he should feed them from the best and sweetest on his table; if he clothes the naked, he should clothe them with the finest of his garments; if he donates something, he should donate from the best of his possessions. As it is said: ‘All the fat is for Hashem.’”
