A HOUSE FROM HEAVEN

After he had disappeared from sight, R’ Shai noticed that the man had left behind a pouch containing a sizable amount of money. Since he didn’t know where the man lived, he didn’t know what to do with the money and asked me for advice…

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

It has been more than two weeks since Yerushalayim’s Kiryat HaYovel neighborhood has been pulsating with a feeling of tremendous excitement. A story seemingly straight out of Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov took place in the local Chabad House run by Rabbi Yosef Elgazi, and it quickly spread among all the community residents – Torah observant and (temporarily) secular alike.

FROM YERUSHALAYIM TO AUSTRALIA AND BACK

“One day a new immigrant from the former Soviet Union, came to our Chabad House,” said Rabbi Elgazi, as he began his story. “I remember well that first moment when he entered. He shone with the spiritual brilliance of a new ‘baal t’shuva’ as he came for Friday night davening. Later, he told us his story. He immigrated to Eretz Yisroel as a boy, and after his parents’ divorce, his mother moved into the Kiryat HaYovel neighborhood near the Chabad House. When he reached the age of military service he was conscripted into the army. While in the army he discovered that halachically he was not a Jew – his father was Jewish, but his mother was not. In recent years, the army has established conversion institutes, and many soldiers have been called upon to undergo a speedy conversion process. This young man went to one of these institutes and started the process but eventually chose not to complete it.

“When he completed his grueling military service, he went together with his friends on a backpacking trip to the Far East and Australia. During the journey, he was exposed for the first time to the worldwide activities of the shluchim of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. Since he was an ‘Israeli’ in every respect, he joined his friends for the Shabbos and Yom tov meals, and he actively participated in the farbrengens and Chassidus classes at the Chabad House. All this kindled something within his soul. While he was in Australia, at the Chabad House for Israelis run by Rabbi Dudu Lieder, he started taking his first steps on the road to Yiddishkait.

“When he returned to Eretz Yisroel, he went to live at his mother’s house in Kiryat HaYovel. One of the first things he did was to look for the local Chabad House – and he found us.

“He quickly became an integral part of our activities, participating in farbrengens, minyanim, and other programs. In the meantime, he completed the conversion process under the direction of Rabbi Gedalya Axelrod, rav of the Chabad community in Haifa.

“He is very spiritual and he grasped the concept of a Rebbe very quickly. We were astounded by the clear answers he received from the Rebbe via ‘Igros Kodesh.’ Above all, the Rebbe showed this young man tremendous miracles and wonders. When I saw that he was very serious about this process, I suggested that he join the yeshiva g’dola in Tzfas. He enthusiastically accepted the proposal. He spent a year and a half learning in yeshiva. During breaks in the yeshiva schedule or Shabbos vacations he would stay with us at the Chabad House. He served as one of our main volunteers, and was also involved in the intensive activities of the ‘Moshiach Center’ at Yerushalayim’s Ben-Yehuda mall, run by the shliach Rabbi Doron Oren.”

HE BUILT THEM HOUSES

“When he reached marriageable age we looked for a shidduch for him. He was introduced to a young woman who had been studying at the ‘Ohr Chaya’ Seminary in Yerushalayim. She had gone through a similar kiruv process, as she too had emigrated to Eretz Yisroel from the former Soviet Union. They decided to get married and build a Jewish home together.

“Immediately after the L’chaim he flew to 770 to spend the months leading up to the wedding in the Dalet Amos of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. The wedding was scheduled for Thursday, the day after Shavuos. While he was by the Rebbe we spoke several times and I asked him regarding an apartment and other pre-wedding arrangements. He replied that there was nothing to worry about, as the kalla was taking care of all these details. For his part, he continued to deal with the spiritual preparations, strengthening his hiskashrus to the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.

“The bachur landed in Eretz Yisroel on Sunday, less than three days before Shavuos. When I spoke with him I learned that while his kalla had made an extensive search to find a suitable apartment, her efforts had not been successful. Thus, just a few days before their wedding, this young couple had no idea where they would begin their new lives together.

“The wedding took place on Thursday evening, and the joy was boundless. Mashke flowed like water. The rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Wilschansky, performed the marriage ceremony, and with G-d’s help, we managed to secure an apartment for them until Motzaei Shabbos. Someone who owned a rental apartment had agreed to let them live there temporarily as a wedding gift. The problem was that they had to vacate the apartment by Sunday, as new tenants were scheduled to move in that day.

“This gave us a little breathing room until the end of the week, but what would we do then? Yet, whenever I mentioned my concern to the new chassan he responded that he wasn’t worried. Every time he had written to the Rebbe, he had received amazing answers filled with brachos. Supplied with these holy blessings, he was absolutely certain that everything would work out in the best possible way.

“I stood in awe of his unshakable faith. Nevertheless, I tried to explain that we also have to act according to the ways of nature. However, it was rather difficult to say such things to someone who had left all the materialism of this world behind him, choosing instead to join the Jewish People and follow the path of Torah and Chassidus.

“On that Friday afternoon, a few hours before the onset of Shabbos, I was still sitting in my office at the Chabad House, preparing to head home. Suddenly, one of the avreichim in our community, R’ Shai Frankel, came in. He told me that he had heard the previous night about a chassan and kalla who had no place to live. Their plight had touched his heart, and despite the fact that he is not a person of means, he had rented a nice apartment for the newlywed couple. I was very surprised by this unexpected act of generosity, and I promised to make certain that he would not bear the burden alone. I told him that I would make an appeal during the Shabbos farbrengen for other community members to participate in covering the rental expense.

“I didn’t waste a moment, and I immediately informed the chassan that he and his wife had an apartment where they could live, starting Motzaei Shabbos.

“Before R’ Frankel left my office, he asked if he could take the ‘Mivtza T’fillin’ stand to the neighborhood business district and give some of the local Jews the privilege of putting on t’fillin before Shabbos. Naturally, I was happy to oblige.

“About half an hour later, he came back to my office with the t’fillin stand – and a very peculiar story. He said that he had managed to put t’fillin on with one Jew – a rather strange man who lives in the neighborhood. While the Chabad House had no contact with him, he was known to longtime residents of the community. He lived alone without a wife or children – no friends, no close relatives. After removing the t’fillin, the man handed R’ Shai a one hundred shekel bill for tz’daka and went on his way. After he had disappeared from sight, R’ Shai noticed that the man had left behind a pouch containing a sizable amount of money. Since he didn’t know where the man lived, he didn’t know what to do with the money and asked me for advice.

“‘I know where he lives,’” I said, and I gave him the exact address.

“I made my way home to prepare for Shabbos, while R’ Shai went to the house of this Jew to return the lost pouch. He knocked on the door, rang the doorbell, but no one answered. Determining that apparently no one was home, he decided to leave the pouch with one of the avreichim who lived nearby, R’ Adi Stodnitz, asking him to return the man’s property before Shabbos.

“As it turned out, R’ Adi later went to this Jew’s house, and the man opened the door. ‘You forgot a pouch with money at the t’fillin stand, and I came to return it to you,’ R’ Adi told him. But the man refused to take the money back, insisting that he hadn’t forgotten it; he had left it there of his own free will.

“‘Why did you leave it?’” R’ Adi asked.

“The man replied, ‘I left it to be used for ‘Simchas Chassan V’Kallah.’”

“R’ Adi immediately called me with the news. When I heard the story I was shocked. If this wasn’t enough, R’ Adi added another stunning detail: The pouch contained 2,500 shekels. Eighteen hundred covered the rental expense that R’ Shai Frankel had agreed to pay, and the remaining seven hundred shekels were just enough to pay for the ‘sheva brachos’ that the Chabad House had prepared to hold for the young couple on Sunday.

“We have seen our share of miracles at the Chabad House, but nothing quite like this. This exciting story deeply moved me and anyone else who heard it.

“This chassan believed with complete faith in the Rebbe’s brachos that everything would work out in the best possible way. Everyone around him was worried and under pressure, but not him. It turns out that if someone is truly connected to the Rebbe without any ‘p’shetlach,’ he merits to see miracles beyond all logic and reason. Alm-ghty G-d never remains beholden. He is indeed the Father of all righteous converts, and He made certain to pay for everything. No one has the slightest idea where this eccentric Jew had acquired this considerable sum of money, or why he had decided that it should be designated for ‘Simchas Chassan V’Kallah.’”