GENERATION TO GENERATION – THE APARTMENT

The following is a wondrous true story of Divine intervention (Hashkaka Pratis )       

     

In the year 5738, I was learning in Kolel [advanced Talmudic Studies] in the Northern Galilee.  There was a young single man who I will refer to as Reuven, that I would invite for Shabbos and learn with occasionally during the week.  A half year later, the birth and bris of one of my sons was in B’Nei Brak, which then with the bus transfers was about a four hour  trip

How surprised and elated I was to see Reuven, who had traveled on an early morning bus come to our simcha.  With Eliyahu Hanavi there he no doubt prayed for the right shidduch for himself and to be blessed with good children. 

Within the year, due to certain circumstances, we moved to New York and remained there for the next eight years.  We then returned to Eretz Yisrael to a small community outside Jerusalem.  In our third year there, and eleven years since I had had any contact with Reuven, I met him in Jerusalem.  We quickly caught up on the events of each other’s lives during the years of separation.  He was now happily married with two small children, first a girl then a boy.  We exchanged telephone numbers and I informed him that for supplementary  income I was taking tourists to the holy sights.

Within the year, I received a call from Reuven that his uncle was visiting and needed a tour guide.  I made arrangements with him and took him to various holy places in the land.  On the last day of his stay, he went with me to kever Dan.  While there, he expressed that he was getting older and was looking for a way to secure his portion in the  (Olam Haba) -‘World to Come’. Being taken by surprise, I wasn’t sure just how to answer   him, but with the help of Hashem I suggested that if he were to find someone in Eretz  Yisrael who was learning Torah and by helping to support their efforts especially through buying them an apartment, this acquisition would  surely secure him a nice portion in Olam Habah. Perhaps in the back of my mind, I had wishful thinking, that I would be the beneficiary of his beneficence, but although he tipped me nicely for my services for him, at the end of the day we parted company, with me never seeing or hearing from him again. Two years later, my family and I moved back to New York and spent another eight years living in the States before returning to Eretz Yisrael. It was now 21 years since we left the Galillee.

One day I received a call about a shidduch for one of my sons.  I liked what I heard and after making some inquiries, the couple met and it was a match—mazel tov.  Arrangements with my future mechutan were to split the cost  of the (Chassena) wedding and the furnishings for a rented apartment.  A few weeks before the Chassena, the (mechutan) bride’s father called me happily announcing that we are buying an apartment for the chasan and kallah.  I repeated our original conditions, explaining that I was not able to afford at that time to help buy the new couple an apartment.  He interrupted me saying that he also was not paying for the (dera) apartment, but that his uncle, whom I had taken to Cever Dan, had just passed away leaving instructions to his family to provide enough  funds for this kallah, his niece, to buy an apartment in Eretz Israel.

Our Sages tell us our mitzvas are preserved for eternity and our good words and encouraging  thoughts are never lost.  That new mechutan is my old friend, Reuven; the kallah being his only daughter whom he prayed for at the bris of my son in bnei Brak, with this young man now becoming Reuvan’s son-in –law.   My suggestion for Reuven’s Uncle twelve years earlier of  preparing for eternity by making a (kinyan) acquirement in Eretz Yisrael now  became a present for my son and our new daughter-in-law, meaning Reuven’s daughter.  I have no doubt that Reuven’s Uncle through this generous gift has received a wonderful portion in the World to Come – for the intelligent investment that he made while still in this world.

 All our acts of kindness in this world are not only benefits to its recipients, but are our passports and bank accounts on our journey back to the world of souls. May we all merit this and return soon to the land  promised us in peace with the advent of the Meshach soon in our days.

 

 

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