Welcome back to the Daily Holy Story. One of the students of the great Gaon (great scholar), Rabbi Shimon Shkop, was a very wealthy man who lived in the United States. He built a gorgeous mansion with many floors, and he spent a fortune on it. It was one of the nicest homes in the entire neighborhood. After the mansion was finished, a woman came knocking on his door, claiming that part of the house built on the property belonged to her. She brought proof in the form of documentation and said that, since they had not left her her portion of the real estate, she was requesting that he take down the mansion. The wealthy student was shocked, and he couldn't believe that after working so hard for a few years and building his mansion, he would have to take it down and suffer a tremendous loss. He offered the woman very good compensation, more than the value of the property, just to allow him to keep his house and not take it down. But she stubbornly stood her ground and insisted that he take down the house because, she said, "I don't need money. I don't need your money. I'm wealthier than you." The wealthy student was in tremendous pain and had sleepless nights. It put tremendous pressure on him that he would have to take down his mansion.
After a couple of days, the wealthy man heard that his Rebbe (rabbi), Rabbi Shimon Shkop, was coming to the United States. He decided to approach his Rebbe, tell him about his problem, and see if his Rebbe could help him. When Rabbi Shkop heard the whole story, he told his students, "I have an idea for you. If you listen to my advice, Hashem will help you, and the woman will go away. Go to the synagogue and tell the gabbai (synagogue official), the shamash (synagogue attendant), that you want to purchase the carrying of the Sefer Torah (Torah scroll). And when you carry the Sefer Torah, look closely at the letters on the parchment of the Torah."
The wealthy student did as his rabbi suggested. He purchased the raising of the Torah and looked closely at the holy letters on the parchment. Something unbelievable happened after that. One day later, after he picked up the Torah and looked at the letters, the woman came back to him with a surprising decision: she had decided that it was really not proper for her to ask him to take down the mansion, and she was willing to take compensation. After the wealthy student left the woman and settled everything, he went to his rabbi and asked him, "What was that all about?"
Rabbi Shimon Shkop told him, "It's brought down in Shulchan Aruch by the Magen Avraham that when you carry a Sefer Torah in the synagogue, you should go close to the letters on the parchment and look at them. When you do that, a tremendous holy light comes upon the person. Because you were in darkness, the letters put upon you a tremendous light that you got from looking at the letters on the Sefer Torah. That light removed the darkness from you, and all your problems went away." Thank you for listening, and have a lovely, lovely day.