The summer of 2024 was coming to a close, and it was time for Yehoshua and his family to return home. They’d spent the last several weeks by his wife’s parents, and now they were discussing what would be the best gift to express their hakaras ha’tov.
Yehoshua suggested that they buy her parents a gift with $150 gift card they had received, but his wife opposed. “We should buy them something more valuable,” she stated.
Yehoshua made up his mind that he would not let this tamper with his shalom bayis. “Although I wasn’t planning on spending so much,” he thought to himself, “if that is what she wants, then that’s what we’re going to get them. And besides, who placed the thought in her mind? Hashem.”
So, he went ahead with her idea, bought a $300 gift, had it nicely wrapped, and presented it to his in-laws – without uttering a word of disapproval.
When they returned home, Yehoshua’s heart sank as he saw the yet-unsold mattress right before his eyes. With his growing family, he had been forced to turn his guestroom into a family room, and he had tried to sell the bed he no longer needed. For a whole month he had advertised it, but not one call came in. He thought to himself that he’d better just dispose of it, as no one seemed to want it.
That night, he received a call from an unknown number. On the other line was a young-sounding bachur. “I saw a sign about a mattress for sale. I assumed that it was already sold, as the sign looked old, but I figured I’d give it a try. Is it sold?”
“No, it’s available,” Yehoshua replied. He was thrilled at hearing that someone might want the mattress right before he was ready to discard it.
The yeshiva bachur boarding down the block was pumped over the “deal,” and was ready to buy it on the spot. “And how much does it cost?”
“$150” was Yehoshua’s reply.
The boy agreed, and within a short time, the bachur came with the money and two friends to help him lug the mattress back to the dorm. Everybody was happy over the deal, but Yehoshua was extra pleased to see how Hashem brought the $150 he spent toward maintaining shalom, and indeed returned it shortly after he’d spent it.
