Avraham Moskowitz from Bnei Brak relates:
My friend collects money in America for Torah institutions in Eretz Yisrael, and he told me something incredible:
I went to see a certain wealthy man, and he told me: Listen to this. Two weeks ago, a Yid walked in here and asked for a donation. “What for?” I asked him. He told me he was the manager of huge chessed institutions that help many people. Several years ago, the organization encountered difficulties and fell into debt to the tune of $750,000. In order to cover the debts, he traveled from time to time to collect money, and he had collected a lot, but he was still left with a very large debt.
While we were talking, he looked at his watch and told me, “Excuse me, I’m in a hurry. I’ll talk to you more very soon.”
I was amazed. He had hardly begun talking to me, and he wanted money. How could he leave before we even finished talking? “Where are you hurrying to?” I asked him.
“Thirty years ago,” he responded, “I took it upon myself, as part of a project in our chassidus, to learn with a Yid and be mechazek him. I learn on the phone with a Yid who lives in America every day at a specific hour, and now the time has come. He’s waiting for my call, and I can’t hold him up.”
An American Jew? I stopped him. Although I don’t know every Jew in America, this certainly might be someone of interest to me. “What’s his name?” I asked.
He told me his name, and I was blown away. “Tell me, do you know who you’re learning with? A billionaire! I can’t believe it. This man is rich as Korach, and you’re collecting money to pay off your debts? I’m calling him this instant.”
I called him, and he picked up right away. He was probably waiting for the call from his friend from Eretz Yisrael. “Do you know so-and-so from Eretz Yisrael?”
“Yes,” he answered, “I’ve been learning with him b’chavrusa for over thirty years.”
“Can you explain how something like this happens?” I asked him. “For thirty years you’re learning with him, and he’s collecting money for his chessed institutions because he has debts!”
“I didn’t know,” the billionaire said, apologizing. “Is he near you? Ask him how much money he owes.”
I asked the Yid from Eretz Yisrael and he told me that he was left with a debt of $200,000. I conveyed the information, and the billionaire told me, “Listen, if you pay half, I’ll pay the second half.”
We both agreed, and we closed the deal with mazal and brachah. We took the number of his Israeli bank and completed the deal.
The following day, the man of chessed from Eretz Yisrael already had $200,000 in his account, and he paid off all his debts.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu orchestrated that they would be learning together for thirty years only in order to come to this time when he would get the money he needed.
This is a story that was thirty years in the making.
