About thirty years ago, Rabbi David Shochat shlita was asked to lecture to a group of Jews and gentiles in New York. He debated what topic could be suitable for Jews and gentiles. And finally he decided to talk about the subject of charity, which is a universal value for all people. He opened his lecture with the well-known story of 'Yossele a holy miser' and said: "In the city of Krakow lived a very wealthy Jew who was known as a great miser who was not willing to contribute to any person or to any organization. Moreover, when a person came to him and asked for charity, he would ask him for his name and address, and in the end he would disgrace him and say, 'Don't you know that I am miserly? And no one receives a donation from me?' After his death, they decided to bury him in a side plot in the cemetery, which was known as a plot for the deceased, who were socially condemned for their evil deeds.
In the weeks following the funeral, many poor people began to visit the home of Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman, the author of the Tosafot Yom Tov, with all of them asking for help for Shabbat Kodesh. 'How have you managed to this day?' the rabbi asked, and everyone had the same answer: 'The truth is that every Friday night we would find an envelope under the front door with a considerable sum of money that was enough for us for Shabbat and the needs of the following week... However, this support stopped coming abruptly, so we have no choice but to turn to the rabbi. Now it became clear to the rabbi that the mysterious philanthropist was none other than the well-known miser Yossele, who had now been revealed to be a man of kindness who had been doing many charities all his life and giving many charities in secret. The rabbi held a central memorial rally in the Great Synagogue and there, in the presence of all the members of the community, he eulogized Yossele, detailing his great deeds. Finally, they opened the Holy Ark and asked Yossele to forgive him for their false suspicion of him and for the humiliation he had caused in his life and death. At the same time, the Rav instructed the members of the Chevra Kadisha that upon his death, he would ask that they bury him near Yossele's grave, and this was indeed done.
At the end of the fascinating lecture, one of the participants, who was a Christian priest, approached him and asked him to repeat the story... The rabbi told him that he was in a very hurry now and that if he wanted he was welcome to come to the hotel the next day. The priest did appear at the appointed time, and the rabbi repeated the story to him... During the story, the priest ran back and forth while contemplating restlessly. At the end of the story, the priest approached the rabbi and said to him, 'Honorable Rabbi, I want to tell you that apparently that holy miser Yossele in the story you told is one of my ancestors... Rabbi Shochat was surprised by the statement, was silent for a moment and answered, 'It is impossible... Are you not a Gentile, and Yossele was a Jew?' 'Rabbi, now I have a story to tell you,' the priest began and said, 'I was born in the state of Tennessee in the United States, my father was a major in the US Army during World War II, in Europe my father met a Jewish girl, he brought her home with him as his 'war bride' and no one knew where she came from. Shortly after their wedding, they had a child whom they raised devotedly according to the Christian Catholic tradition, the child grew up and studied in a Christian seminary and turned to continue his studies as a teacher. The priest's mother died in her later life when her son was still young. On her deathbed, she revealed to her embarrassed son the secret of her identity, after reciting the Shema + Confession she turned to her son and said, 'My dear son, I want you to know that you are a Jew.' She informed him of his heritage and told him that one of his ancestors was buried in Krakow next to a great Jewish sage named the Tosafot Yom Tov, and then she told him the whole story about Yossele... Literally word-for-word, like the story the rabbi told. After his mother's death, the priest repressed the whole story from his heart because he thought his mother had fabricated it before her death. He returned to his routine and the matter was forgotten. 'Your Honor, the priest concluded, 'This child is me... Now I know that the story I heard from my mother is true, because it's exactly the same story you told, but I don't know what it says about me and what I'm supposed to do now?' ... 'Honorable Rabbi' the priest added and said, 'After all, I am a renowned pastor, I have a large community of devoted believers, I am really at a loss.' They parted cordially and cordially, the rabbi had not seen or heard of the priest for many years.
A few years ago, Rabbi David Shochat visited the Western Wall and prayed, and at the end of his prayers, a bearded religious man approached him and said, 'Shalom Aleichem Rabbi Shochat'... "Peace be upon you," the rabbi answered, "Who is his honor?" "The rabbi doesn't remember me? I'm the former priest you met in New York... Almost thirty years have passed, thank God I have been privileged to leave Christianity and return to Judaism... After all, a Jew never detaches himself from his people. The stunned Rabbi Shochat hugged the former priest and blessed him from the bottom of his heart. And that's not the end of the story yet... Recently, Rabbi Shochat revealed that he is a direct descendant of the author of the Tosafot Yom Tov. And so, at this miraculous crossroads, a descendant of the Tosafot Yom Tov met the descendant of Yossele Kadoshan – the hidden benefactor of Krakow – and changed his fate with miraculous private providence.
