The following exemplary story came from a personal testimony from a faithful source from Rabbi Neta Shlomo Zilber of New York, who sent it to the Gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Silberstein shlita. And the incident that happened was as follows:
In a quiet residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Monsey, New York, lived Rabbi Kalman A., who was known among his acquaintances and friends as a God-fearing Jew who made his living from imports from China. Several times a year, Rabbi Kalman bids farewell to his family and acquaintances, and boards the plane to faraway Beijing, where he purchases a variety of goods at bargain prices, which he sells in the United States at a handsome profit, and hence his livelihood. For years, Rabbi Kalman's business was conducted smoothly, until one entanglement occurred. It was in the middle of winter, and Rabbi Kalman was surprised to discover that this time his sharp senses could not stand him, and that the goods he had imported at the beginning of the winter were of less value and poor quality. He was forced to return the money to the buyers, and found himself – for the first time in his life – dealing with a huge hole in the budget... Rabbi Kalman's livelihood was severely damaged, but his main concern was for the next trip. In order to travel to China to import goods, he needed a huge sum of money, tens of thousands of dollars in cash. Usually he had no problem with this – because the amount of money was already from the income of the previous import trip. But this time – the money is gone, what do we do? How do we cope? And from where will the family make a living until the business is rehabilitated from the severe damage? For several weeks, Rabbi Kalman walked, with a cloud hovering over his head, until he felt that there was no other choice. One Wednesday, he decided to get up and take action, despite the great unpleasantness involved. With his head covered and his eyes embarrassed, he approached his friend Rabbi Moshe in the synagogue and asked to talk to him about an important topic.
'Rabbi Moshe,' began Rabbi Kalman, 'I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but I have an important question'... In the next few minutes, Rabbi Kalman explained his distress, about the stuck business, the severe damage, the worry of making a living, and the next journey that he could not make without cash in hand. Finally, he dared to ask: 'Maybe you have to lend me money for a while?' At that moment, Rabbi Moshe had a difficult struggle in his heart. He knew very well that in the basement of his house was the old shoe box, which he had recently converted into an improvised safe, in which he had hidden close to $100,000 that he had kept for his daughter's marriage. This sum could save Rabbi Kalman now and return long before his daughter becomes engaged, but on the other hand, there is also the risk that who knows what will happen in business. And maybe Rabbi Kalman will lose again, and maybe, and maybe, and maybe... Only after long minutes of thought did Rabbi Moshe bravely regain his composure: 'I have it at home,' he lowered his voice, 'a huge sum, close to 100,000 dollars, that I have saved over the years for the marriage of my eldest daughter. Until then, there is still some time, and I trust you and am sure that you will succeed, so I am willing to lend you the money in full for five months. Until then, do business with it and see blessing and success!'
They were still talking, and they had already both gone up to Rabbi Moshe's house. Rabbi Kalman was asked to wait in the living room, while Rabbi Moshe hurried down to the basement. To his surprise, he noticed that the cleaning assistant had been particularly diligent that year, and had already cleaned the basement without warning. A slight fear for the safety of the money crept into his heart... He turns to the corner where the money was well hidden under a pile of old scrap, but discovers that the corner is free of any scrap, free of any box, shiny with all dirt. It took him a few seconds to digest the new and shocking information – 'The money is gone, the shoe box has been thrown in the garbage with its precious contents' – he pondered with immense sadness and unimaginable heartbreak. Robbery and breakage! Rabbi Moshe's heart was about to break, his mind was spinning. A huge sum of money, a fortune, went after honor for the garbage! Nothing more and no less! It was not used, it was not lost in a failed deal, it was not wasted for nothing – but it went to the garbage, it became garbage! Is there a way to find it? Maybe it has already reached the municipal garbage dump? "What's there?"
The cleaning worker was startled by the rushed phone call and the inquiry about the missing shoe box, 'Do you need the shoes? Maybe they're still in the trash... I only cleared them yesterday – Tuesday, and in Monsey they remove the garbage on Monday and Thursday. Today is Wednesday – it turns out that the shoes are still in the garbage, maybe it's not the most pleasant to get to them, but it's possible!' said the cleaner... Rabbi Moshe heard this, and Zik sparked in his eyes. "It's not pleasant, yes it's pleasant," he thought, "it's so urgent!" he put gloves on his hands and hurried to the garbage room, which was packed endlessly. As quickly and quickly as in a panic, he took out the garbage bags and carts one by one, and spilled their contents on the sidewalk. He opened bag after bag, and suddenly something familiar appeared in the distance – it was the shoebox! With dance steps, Rabbi Moshe ran home, embracing the box in his hands, and his mouth muttering praise to the Creator.
In an indoor, closed room, open the box and count the bills again. One of them was not missing... "I can't believe it, tens of thousands of dollars have been thrown in the garbage can, and they've been spending more than a day there! If I hadn't discovered the loss today, I wouldn't have seen them again!" He left the room and found Rabbi Kalman sitting in the living room, biting his nails nervously. A very long hour had passed since Rabbi Moshe had gone down to the basement to get the money, and he still hadn't returned. His eyes lit up when he saw Rabbi Moshe come in with the bundle of cash in his hands... "What a miracle that you asked me for a loan," said Rabbi Moshe and thanked Rabbi Kalman warmly, "You saved my money! Without you – I wouldn't have remembered the money, and I wouldn't have rushed to look for it! The desire to lend you the money saved the money, and saved me from losing such a large sum of money!"
R. Kalman looked at him with complete incomprehension. He did not understand what loss he was talking about, he did not understand what he had saved from and how. Only when R. Moshe calmed down was he able to tell his friend the whole sequence of events, and only then did R. Kalman understand his part in this miraculous story ... 'If I hadn't volunteered to give you the loan,' Rabbi Moshe concluded, 'I would have lost an amount that I had saved for years. If my heart had given in to the instinct that said, 'There is no safe place for money like mine,' I would have discovered that this is the least safe place... Thanks to the fact that I trusted you and went to get you the money, I found out about throwing it in the garbage just before it was too late..."
Although it seems that a loan may cause difficulty, it is certainly not. A loan is an important mitzvah, which entitles you to many profits, even physically – economically. You don't always get to see it with your own eyes, but the loan is heavenly 'insurance' for our money... How much effort should we try, maybe we can still lent, maybe we will somehow succeed in helping... And even if we don't have anything to lend at the moment, how important it is to at least give the encouragement and support! The saying, 'I would happily accompany you, maybe I can help in the future,' also has a meaning, much better than a casual statement, 'I don't have any.' The mitzvah of lending shines a precious light on our responsibility to give our fellow the key to success, to give him the tools. And from the moment we have helped the friend succeed,
