Seven years ago, I accompanied my son-in-law in a taxi. I had a wallet with sixteen thousand shekels in it, in which I planned to pay for the wedding expenses. A lot of blood, literally. G-d is witness to the difficulty and the tremendous efforts with which I deserved this large sum, and all this, for the sake of the mitzvah of Knesset Bride to marry my interlocutors with honor. At the end of the trip, I took out my wallet and paid the Arab driver for the ride.
Time has passed, and I find out that the wallet is gone! Not sixteen or a thousand, and where am I coming? I almost went crazy with worry, what would happen? How would I manage? Where would I raise this huge sum from? I have to pay many more payments, people are waiting for these funds, and I, what should I wait for the wallet to arrive? The driver is an Arab, and I can forget about the dream that the money will come back.
After the initial shock, I caught myself and told my son that everything was for the best. Nothing happens by accident. The Holy One, blessed be He, knows exactly what He is doing, He knows how hard I worked on this money, and what I have to pay with it. Who knows what disaster we were saved from. The money will be for the redemption of life. The main thing is that thank God we are alive and existing. Money goes and money comes, and just as Hashem has helped until now, He will continue to help.
From that moment on, I invested efforts in distracting myself. I met a Jew and talked to him about this and that, until the sorrow over the loss of the money faded, and what took center stage in my heart was the simple belief that everyone who is a good person is a good person. A few hours later, against all odds, the Arab driver called me and told me that he had found my wallet, and that my name was written on some kind of check. We arranged to meet at a certain place, and the driver, together with another Arab who was in the car with him, demanded 10 percent of the amount. True, it's a good thing that they decided to give me back 90 percent, but when I saw that the clock was ticking for me, I said, "Here, an important Jew is passing by, and he'll tell me if the deal you want to make is a fair deal." The Arabs agreed, and I asked the Jew to help me get my wallet out of them. Indeed, with God's help, they compromised and left only 1,000 shekels with them. I got the vast majority of the sum – fifteen thousand shekels back.
I feel that there is a close connection between the fact that I accepted the judgment, and the wonder that the wallet was finally returned to me.
