As we said, this week we're dedicating ourselves to appreciating the power of Sedaka and the great Mitzva charity. My father-in-law Rabbi Nosson Scherman told a beautiful story that he heard not long ago. And as he said before he told the story, he reads a lot of stories (as editor of the Artscroll series). But he said this one really hit him strong.
The story goes as follows: There is a yeshiva, called Chevron Yeshiva, that the Elder of Slobodka decided to open, in the old town of Chevron in the 1920s. Soon after, there was a terrible, terrible massacre perpetrated by the Arabs, who literally butchered close to 60 of the townspeople of Chevron. Many of them were Yeshiva boys, some of them were Americans. It was horrible.
The Chevron Yeshiva had to relocate to Yerushalayim proper, and they needed a building. There were not wealthy people in Yerushalayim at that time, so the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna, decided, like many other great rabbis, to travel to far away America to raise funds for his new building. He needed $20,000, which, in our times, would be millions. He didn't have the time to go around collecting, so he decided go to one person, borrow a large sum and then collect over the years to repay that sum. There were no mortgages in Israel back then and there were no lines of credit. He found a man who was a wealthy, well-known fellow, and said, “I would like to borrow $20,000.”
The man laughed and wondered how the Rosh Yeshiva would be able to pay him back, but he said, “I trust you,” and agreed to the loan.
He was probably thinking that he'd never get the money back, and in his mind, like it says, when you’re in such a situation, you should think it's going to be a gift. And that's what he did.
Years passed. Rav Yechezkel Sarna collected dollar by dollar and finally had the $20,000 that he needed to repay. He just had to find the man. He went back to the old town, to his house, but the man was no longer there.
He did some research and found out tragic news. This man was hit hard by the depression and lost everything. He lost his business, his wife lost interest in him, and his family left him. He was basically sleeping in local synagogues. He was practically homeless. Now Rabbi Sarna was on a mission to find this man. When he finally found him, (we'll call him Jack), the Rabbi approached him and said, “Jack, do you recognize me?”
He said, “Of course! You're Rav Sarna, I know who you are. I remember you.”
The Rabbi said, “I'm here to pay you back the $20,000 that I borrowed from you. I heard that you’ve come on hard times and now's your opportunity. $20,000 is a lot of money. You can rebuild your fortune; you can get back everything.”
He gave him some inspiring words.
But Jack said, “Absolutely not. I won't take it.”
Rav Sarna asked, “Why not? This is the hand of God. Here's your money. You gave it to the Yeshiva and we're paying you back just in the nick of time.”
But the man said, “You know my story. I lost my business. I lost my money. I lost my position in my community. I lost my wife. I lost my family. After 120 years, I'm going to go up to the heavens and they're going to say, ‘What did you do? What did you accomplish?’ And I'll be able to say, ‘I gave the money for the Chevron Yeshiva.’
I'm not going to let anyone take that away from me. I will not take the money.”
And he didn't.
Why did he lose his money? He didn't lose the money because he gave charity. He lost the money for whatever reason he was supposed to lose the money. But Hashem gave him the opportunity, when he had the money, to use it, and he knew and appreciated what the merit of giving Sedaka is.
We should never come to such tests, but we can walk away with this important lesson: to appreciate that the Sedaka you give is something that lasts forever. It's something that no one can take away from you. The Gemara in Bava Batra talks about Munbaz Hamelech. When he was giving out the monies and fortunes of his treasure houses, the people said, “Your forefathers raised so much money and you're giving it out?!”
He answered, “They hid their money in a place that the human hand can reach. They hid their money in a place that's not eternal.
I'm putting my money in a place that's eternal and lasts forever.”
If you need a place to invest your money, we are collecting money for Lev Chana, an organization that helps families in need during the holiday season. We give out clothing cards that work in local clothing stores.
To donate:
Click this link,
https://www.rayze.it/levchana/
Zelle, or email to be billed at
Or mail a check to
Lev Chana
c/o Rabbi Sutton
1059 East 10th St
Brooklyn NY 11230
Thank you very much.