Shabbos is coming. We want to start cooking and baking, preparing meat, fish and all the delicious foods, but there’s not a penny to be found in the house.
My wife saw the situation was literally, as Dovid Hamelech says, “Me’ayin yavo ezri?” And so she decided to daven with all her heart to the Creator of the heavens and the earth. She sat down to say some Tehillim with kavanah, davening that Hashem send us all our needs so we will be able to bring in Shabbos honorably.
The minute she finished, a family member called and said, “Remember that cake you prepared for the bar mitzvah?”
“Yes,” my wife said. This was a special cake that very few of her friends knew how to make. “Do you want the recipe?”
“No, I don’t have time to bake. Perhaps you could prepare it for me? We’re making a really special siyum for the kollel, and I want to serve that cake. How much would the ingredients cost?”
My wife agreed and said, “I think about 70 shekels.”
“I’ll send it right over.”
A short while later her son knocked on the door holding 300 shekels. We thanked him, and my wife called to ask what happened. How had 70 shekels become 300?
“Did you think I would take advantage of you like that? It’s payment for the work. You deserve it!”
Baruch Hashem! Joyfully, my wife bought the ingredients and set about preparing the cake. The change, however, was certainly not enough for our large family.
In the evening, a package arrived unexpectedly. Someone sends us a large delivery of basic food items twice a month. This package arrived exactly in time, and we were zocheh to bring in Shabbos with much shefa.
