No, I had nothing in mind other than the words of Chazal about the great zechus of being someone who is insulted but who does insult in return.
The episode ended. A quarter of an hour later I got a call from a lawyer’s office: “The sum of 3 million 600 thousand shekels is waiting for you. You need to come sign and get authorization to withdraw the money from its account.”
“What?! Do you mean me? For real?! It’s probably a mistake...”
“It’s not a mistake,” the caller responded. “It’s the fact. We rejoice with you. Your grandmother took care of you; say thank you...”
My grandmother! I hadn’t known that she’d had so much money. During the last several years of her life, I would travel to visit her every week and see to her welfare. My uncles live far away, and throughout long periods of time I was the only family member whom she saw face to face.
In all those years, I never thought for a second about an inheritance. I had a simple goal: to do the mitzvah of kibbud horim. Seeing how much light and joy I was bringing her with my visits gave me the strength to continue with the mitzvah. And now, what a surprise!
When I recovered from the shock, I understood that it was not so simple. Who said I was supposed to take the money? Maybe it should go to uncles who had rights to the yerushah? Perhaps it was too large a portion in relation to what my brothers were getting; they were also my grandmother’s grandchildren.
I called my father and asked him all the questions.
“Yes!” Abba affirmed happily. “Savta had tremendous hakaras hatov to you. She loved you very much and was so happy about your visits. You remembered her at a time when others forgot, and that’s why she wanted to remember you when the time would come.”
“And what about everyone else?” I asked. “Is this money not on the cheshbon of other yorshim?”
“It’s not on the cheshbon of anyone else,” my father emphasized. “Each one got their part, and this is your part.”
After fifteen years of renting, in one shot I got a sum of money that enabled me to buy a nice, spacious apartment, and we even had some left over for the rest of our needs.
I relate both stories here. It seems these are two separate stories, but — the timing! The amazing timing, when fifteen minutes after I absorbed such insults that I do not wish on anyone, and I kept quiet — I got the apartment; this is something that one cannot ignore. Hakadosh Baruch Hu arranged it this way so that I would see tangibly how the zechus of silence is great beyond our imagination.
And between us, that silence was worth much more than 3 million 600 thousand shekels.
