The outside of the iconic Boro Park – Shomrei Shabbos shul.
Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein related a story that a man from Boro Park shared with him. The man said: One night, I went to daven Maariv at the Shomrei Shabbos Shul in Boro Park, when a man approached me and introduced himself as a visitor from Eretz Yisroel. He showed me a check that had been made out for a very large sum, and he asked if I knew the person who had written the check.
I told him that I knew the man. He is a wealthy individual who lives near the Shul, but I also knew that he was not in the habit of giving out such large donations. I asked him , “How did you get that check?”
A Most Incredible Story
The man told me a story that was completely incredible. He said, “I live in Eretz Yisroel and I have fallen into terrible debt. After being pursued continually by my creditors, I realized that I had no choice but to come to America to collect money, simply so that I could have a way to feed my family and to pay off my debts.
“I have been here for two weeks already, and I barely managed to cover the cost of my airfare. Today was a particularly hard day, and I didn’t manage to collect even one penny. At the end of the day, I felt that I had reached the edge of despair, and I began to lose hope. However, I knew that I couldn’t go home without having collected a decent amount. On the other hand, I couldn’t simply stay here forever.
“My family is waiting for me in Eretz Yisroel. For a while, I walked around in a state of depression, and I couldn’t imagine how I would be able to help myself and my situation. Suddenly, a thought came to me. ‘Am I alone in the world? I know that I have a great Father in Shamayim, and He can do anything!’
“I decided that I would simply pour out my heart before Hashem. I came to this Shul and I began to prepare for Maariv. When I began davening, I felt a sense of elevation, the sort of feeling I experience only during Maariv on Yom Kippur. When I was in the middle of the brachos of Krias Shema, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I didn’t even look around to see who it was. I was completely immersed in my davening.
A Most Enthusiastic Davening
“I davened Shemoneh Esrei with more feeling and enthusiasm than I have ever felt before. I cried to Hashem that only He can save me, and that there is no true power in the world other than Him. When I finished davening, I felt as if a great weight had been lifted from my heart. The next thing I did was to rub my eyes in astonishment. Right next to my Siddur was this check, which was made out for the exact amount of money that I had hoped to collect throughout my stay in America!”
“I said to him, “I know the man who wrote that check very well, but this is totally uncharacteristic for him. He is generous and he gives a lot of Tzedakah, but he would never normally do something like this.”
I decided to make my way to this donor’s house and to find out the real story. I mentioned about the visitor from Eretz Yisroel, and asked if he knew the man, and he replied that he didn’t. I told him, “I saw this man with a check from you that was made out for a very large amount of money, and I wanted to find out if you really wrote that check.”
When the man heard my question, he paled and his hands began to tremble. I asked him what had happened? In response, he told me this story. “I went to daven Maariv in Shomrei Shabbos and I saw a man standing off to the side and davening. It immediately occurred to me that he must be a visitor from Eretz Yisroel who had come to raise money.
Felt Compassion for the Man He Thought was from Eretz Yisroel
“I presumed that he had probably left a family with children behind in Eretz Yisroel, and I imagined that he longed to be with his family, but his financial situation left him no choice but to remain here. It also seemed, based on his appearance, that he couldn’t have been very successful in collecting more than a small sum. I assumed that he was probably disappointed and dejected over not being able to raise more money, and I imagined his wife’s reaction when he returned home with only a small amount.
“I found myself overflowing with compassion for this person, and I tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he had come from Eretz Yisroel, but he didn’t answer me. I decided to write a check and leave it on the table in front of him, and I left. After I wrote the check,” he continued, “I started thinking about what I had done, and I began wondering if I had made a mistake. Maybe this man wasn’t from Eretz Yisroel? Why did I assume that he was poor? What if he didn’t even have a family? I began having some feelings of regret for what I did, and I went somewhere else to daven Maariv. Even now, I am surprised at myself when I think about it.”
Making the Wealthy Man Feel Very Happy
I quickly corrected his bad feelings and reassured him, and I said, “Don’t worry, the situation is exactly as you thought it was before you wrote that check. This is just like the story in the Gemara of the man who gave his friend the benefit of the doubt, and it turned out to be correct in every detail. The man you saw in Shul is indeed a Talmid Chacham who has many debts to many creditors, but he was very ineffective in raising money. It’s true that he was feeling broken, and your check came at precisely the right time. That check saved him, and as soon as he received it, he began preparing to return to his family in Eretz Yisroel.”
This made the wealthy man very happy, and he acknowledged that it could only be Hashem who had guided the events in this, and in every situation!
Reprinted from the Parshas Bo 5784 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
