In the building where I live there was a pleasant apartment that was vacant. For years it had been rented out, but after the last tenant moved on it remained empty. Many people wanted to buy the apartment. They asked the owner to sell, but he wouldn’t hear of it. “This apartment is for rent, not for sale,” he reiterated to everyone who asked. People offered large sums, higher than what would have been expected, but he stood behind his words. The apartment was only up for rent.
Among those who expressed interest in buying the apartment was a precious avreich who was looking for an apartment in the area. He saw many advantages to the apartment, so he called the owner, and he received the same response as all his predecessors. But he wouldn’t give up. He said all of sefer Tehillim and asked Hakadosh Baruch Hu from the depth of his heart to enable him to purchase the apartment.
Afterward, he called the owner again and told him, “Look, you aren’t young, and if we take into account a certain number of years of rent, you’ll earn a certain amount of money with it. When I buy the apartment from you for the sum I offered, you’ll earn much more money!”
Before this conversation the owner of the apartment was sure of himself, but now he suddenly expressed doubts, for the first time. “You know what?” he said as he concluded the conversation. “I’ll ask my lawyer for his advice.”
It wasn’t long before the owner of the apartment called the avreich back and told him his proposal was a good one, and he invited him to come to sign the contract.
The contract was drawn up and the deal was signed. People were wondering about it and asked, “Is it possible? The apartment was sold? And for such a sum?!” They had offered the seller much higher sums, but the seller said, “A promise is a promise. I told the avreich that I would sell it to him, and I’m not going back on my word.”
This is the power of tefillah from the depth of the heart.
