A wise Jew was Rabbi Yosef Weinberg, a man of Jerusalem, and his cleverness was harnessed for the benefit of the public and the individual. He was close to Chazon Ish, who greatly admired him. When the Chazon Ish was once asked about Rabbi Yosef for a match with one of his sons, he said: "Rabbi Yosel is a very clever Jew," and as proof of this, he told his interlocutor about the next event that took place with him, and expressed himself with a smile: "Would I have imagined such a clever invention? He was smarter than I was..." And the incident that happened was as follows:
The story took place about 70 years ago, with the end of the British Mandate in the Land of Israel. The economic situation was very precarious, and the residents looked for every way to obtain foreign currency abroad, since the value of the dollar on the black market was twice as high as its legal value in the official banks, and the authorities strictly prohibited bringing foreign money into Israel and converting it illegally. Anyone wishing to receive money from abroad would be forced to deposit the money or the dollar check in the bank. and to prove the deposit in full. The authorities began to examine every letter that arrived in Israel, and when they discovered foreign currency with it, they would put a warning note in the envelope, in which it was written that "a certain amount of money in foreign currency was attached to this letter, and therefore you must deposit the entire sum in one of the banks in Israel, and send to our office official proof that the money was deposited in the account." This was a crushing blow to money changers and traders. For no one has hesitated to exchange the checks they have received unofficially, since they must prove afterwards that they deposited the money in a bank account, and how will they do so?! As a result, trading in checks and foreign currency has almost completely stopped. The only one who found a way out of the thicket was Rabbi Yosel Weinberg, who, as usual, always found solutions to every problem that arose. He did so out of a lack of choice, since people were literally hungry for bread, and it was to save lives, and not, God forbid, with the aim of getting rich and making a profit by fraud. His trick was ingenious in its simplicity: he opened fake bank accounts in various countries, and ordered many checkbooks from there. Anyone who wanted to exchange a check he received abroad, And he had to prove that he had deposited the sum he had received in an official bank, he would have come to Rabbi Yoschel, and he would have given him his own check for the exact same amount as it was written on the foreign check he received, he would have deposited the fictitious check in his bank account, received official confirmation from the bank, and presented it to the government offices as proof that he had indeed complied with the law as required, and deposited the money he received in the bank. After about a month or two, when the forged check would be repeated, after it became clear that it had no cover and the account did not exist at all, the depositor would pay the return fee and throw the false check in the trash. And despite the fine, the deal was still worthwhile.
Rabbi Yosel did well with his brilliant idea, and in the meantime succeeded in saving many Jews from the disgrace of famine, but his competitors, in their jealousy, began to restrict his steps and spy on him, until they discovered his secret, and in their despise, they reported him to the police, who began to follow him, and in the end, Rabbi Yosel was suspected of fraud and forgery of checks, and was put on trial. However, Rabbi Yosef preceded the plague, and all the people who were involved in commercial relations with him and were summoned for interrogation, were asked by him to tell us that the checks had been transferred to Rabbi Nachum Roth, a merchant in Mea She'arim, who would pay them the bank fee. This was not a danger to Rabbi Nahum, for he was dead at the same time, and when the police investigators came to interrogate him, they found the mourning notice hanging on the door of his house... Rabbi Yossel therefore managed to evade the accusation, but there was one person of weak character who became a state witness, and he said that Rabbi Yossel himself had exchanged his check. In his distress, Rabbi Yossel traveled to the Chazon Ish, and together he began to give advice on how to get out of the thicket. The Chazon Ish offered to take a walk in the street to discuss the matter, and in their conversation the Chazon Ish stood as a plaintiff and asked Rabbi Yosel to answer him every question and argument, as if he were now in court. R. Yosel, the superintendent, found an answer to all the questions, but he did not find a suitable answer to one of the questions, and the Chazon Ish advised him to take advantage of the right to remain silent as the only way out. Rabbi Yosel's lawyer was the jurist Yitzchak Tunik, who was at the beginning of his career, and he had difficulty accepting the advice of the Chazon Ish, but in the end it turned out that a sage was better than a prophet. Rabbi Yosel was acquitted, since the prosecution's testimony was full of contradictions and the evidence was insufficient.
Shortly after the successful trial, Rabbi Yoschel's lawyer met the judge who was sitting in the trial, and he said to him: "You should know that it was a miracle for your client to keep silent, for I planned to interrogate him in the trial and stumble him with a certain question," and here he mentioned the same question that the Chazon Ish asked Rabbi Yosel and to which he could not find an answer, "And since he remained silent, I was forced to release him," "I must meet your rabbi!" Attorney Tunik said to Rabbi Yosel with admiration, "For I would like to meet a clever man like him, who knew how to calculate such an ingenious move in advance, and to surprisingly acquit you"... And the wonder will be multiplied by the fact that even before the court session was held, the Chazon Ish expressed himself to the son of Rabbi Yosel, who was studying in Bnei Brak, that his father had been acquitted of the law, and that this prophecy of his had been fulfilled in full.
