Harav Avraham Moskowitz from Bnei Brak relates:
An askan who is involved in providing help for widows and orphans told me the following story:
One day a wealthy man called me and said, “I’m marrying off a son, b’ezras Hashem, and I want to give $5,000 for the wedding of an orphan, which will take place the same night as my son’s wedding, on 10 Shevat.”
I gave him the name of a family, and then I told the widow that a certain gvir wanted to give her money for wedding expenses, since her son’s wedding was slated to take place on the same night as his son’s wedding. I told her the date, but she corrected me: “I am not making a wedding on the tenth of Shevat, but on the eleventh of Shevat.”
I got back to the gvir and told him what she’d said. “If so, then it’s not the segulah that I wanted,” he said. “I’m only interested in giving to someone who is making a wedding on the exact same day.”
I was at a loss. How would I inform the widow that she would not be getting the money after all? I thought of an idea, and I told her, “If the chuppah takes place before shekiah, then it will come out on the same day, and you’ll be able to receive the money.”
But the almanah answered calmly, and with conviction and emunah, “I learned from my husband that one does not play around with the truth. I cannot promise that the chuppah will indeed take place before shekiah, because there can always be setbacks. If my son’s wedding is not on the same day as the gvir’s son’s wedding, then this means the money does not belong to me. Don’t worry about it. Everything’s okay.”
That gvir found another wedding, and several days later, a different gvir called me and said, “I want to donate $7,000 for a wedding that will take place during the month of Shevat.”
I immediately gave him the number of that almanah, and baruch Hashem, she received the money. I was so happy!
But the story doesn’t end there. Several days later the first gvir called me, all apologetic. “I haven’t slept in several nights. How could I tell a widow who thought I was giving her money that in the end I wasn’t giving it? Please give me her bank information, and I’ll transfer $5,000 to her, as we originally discussed.”
Ultimately, she got $12,000 for her wedding expenses, in the zechus of her honesty.
