On a scorching summer day in 2021, when the sun was beaming down so strongly that many people remained indoors, Reb Hillel Litwack, who runs a gemach, received a call from a widow that her AC was no longer working and that she needed a new one.
“The cost of a new one would be $598,” she told him. “People regularly give you tzedaka money to distribute, so I want to know if you have any extra funds.”
He answered in the negative, but he assured her that he would send her the money once he got it. She thanked him, and they hung up.
After rethinking the conversation, he thought to himself, “How can I leave a widow with eight unmarried children closed up in their apartment, waiting for salvation? I’ll lay out some of my own money, and we’ll get the funds afterward.” He immediately called her back with a credit card number, which she used for the purchase, and within a day, their new AC was installed and was cooling them down.
Five days later, as Reb Hillel was leaving Shacharis, a man came over to him with an envelope, “I know you run many tzedakos. Here’s some money for you to use toward anything you see fit.”
After departing, he opened it and found a total of $600 cash! He knew for what it was fit.
