I would love to share with you a wonderful
story of hashgacha – one with a
twist! I saw this “gem” (pun intended, as you will soon see) on Page 273 of Achas Sha’alti 2, a sefer of halachic queries posed to Rav Zilberstein, shlit”a. Please look it up!
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Yossi, a young baal teshuva, lived in Manhattan. Anyone
who has seen pictures of this “city” inside New York City immediately notices
the huge high-rise buildings and the lack of private yards. Yes, Manhattan is a
place for those who want to live near work. But for those who might want to
build a sukkah – well that is not so
simple in this concrete jungle!
Our Yossi thought
long and hard about how he was going to manage to fulfill this newfound mitzvah
of sukkah. Where could he build a sukkah?
After a long while, it dawned on him that the best place was on the
roof, at the top of the high-riser where he lived. Yes, the winds might be
strong there, but he would have to build it, reinforced, on the roof. The
person whom he needed to ask was the person on the top floor, whose roof he
would be using. Hmmmm.
Yossi knocked on the door of this non-Jew, and after a few minutes the
penthouse owner realised that he could make a quick buck on this request.
“Listen here, young man, I see that you really want to use my rooftop. I
will tell you, I am a real estate man myself, and I would be happy to rent you
this rooftop for the nine days of your holiday for the token price of $700.”
Seven hundred dollars? thought Yossi. Is this guy
serious?
After a few moments, Yossi realised that, while he was being taken for a
ride, he had no choice. He opened his wallet to count out the bills, but…
“No, young man. For all my transactions, I need to go through a lawyer!
I need to have this ratified. I do not want you leaving your stuff up there for
the duration.”
A lawyer for this? thought Yossi. I just want to
build a sukkah!
“I do nothing without a lawyer signing off…”
Being faced with no choice, Yossi and his new rooftop landlord make
their way to a lawyer (another expense for Yossi), and soon he is given the key
and is ready to get to work.
Yossi went upstairs, and his eyes saw black. The entire rooftop was
covered in piles and piles of junk. Fifty years’ worth of junk had accumulated,
and now, Yossi realised, the greatest job was going to be clearing space for his
sukkah!
Yossi spent hours upon hours clearing junk, removing bags, and
reorganizing the incredible mess to clear a path and an area where he would be
able to build a sukkah.
At one point, something incredible happened. Yossi lifted a pipe, and
out of the pipe, a bag rolled out onto the floor – but instead of a thud, the
bag made a sharp clunk! Now what could make a clunk?
Yossi opened the bag, and to his surprise he found a box – and to his
incredible surprise, he opened the box to find dozens of diamonds and rings!
Our Yossi knew what the right thing to do was, and right away, he took
the elevator down and made his way to the nearest police station! The police
took the diamonds, took down Yossi’s name and address and all the details of
where he found it.
That could have been the end of a story of how one mitzva leads to
another – but that is not where the story ends. Our Yossi went back to his
rooftop and continued clearing. He built a beautiful sukkah, and enjoyed the peiros, the fruits, of his hard work. He
had real simchas Yom Tov.
On motzaei Yom Tov, Yossi picked
up the phone to an incoming call. “Is this Mr. Yossi? Please make your way down
to the police station at your earliest convenience.”
When Yossi got to the station, a smiling police officer said, “The
diamonds you found are undoubtedly from a heist 30 years ago. We tried
contacting the owner of the business, but it turns out that he is no longer
alive and had no one to inherit the diamonds. This means that, legally, the
finder of these diamonds is the owner. So here you are!”
Dazed, Yossi left the police station with the precious bundle in his
hands – thanking Hashem
Hashgacha? Yes! Now
listen to this: The “landlord,” the owner of the rooftop, soon heard about the
diamonds – and minutes later, he was knocking on Yossi’s door!
“Dear Yossi. I am so happy that you found those diamonds, but you
realise that you found them on my property! You found them on my roof! Please,
can I have back my diamonds?”
Yossi, of course, did not listen, and suggested that they go to court.
If they really belonged to him, the court would decide in his favor.
The court date arrived. Everyone was standing there – lots to lose or
gain! Hundreds of thousands of dollars were at stake!
The judge opened with, “Mr. Yossi, what is your claim?”
“It wasn’t just that I had permission to go up onto the roof,” said
Yossi, “the roof was actually rented to me! Therefore, the diamonds are mine!”
“That sounds impossible! You cannot simply enter someone else’s property
and claim that it was rented to you. No one rents out a rooftop, sir! You will
have to provide the necessary documentation that you indeed rented this rooftop.”
Without a moment of hesitation, and with a huge smile, only now
understanding the hashgacha – and why
Hakadosh Baruch Hu (G-d) put it into
the mind of this “landlord” to make everything official. Our Yossi pulled out a
few copies of the contract that the landlord had made with “Yossi, the Tennant.”
Without much further ado – the baffled New York judge stated, “Case
dismissed. The jewels are indeed in the ownership of Yossi.”
Yossi, our newfound baal teshuva,
went home and thanked Hashem for every step along the way – how mesirus nefesh for a mitzvah pays off,
and how Hakadosh Baruch Hu always
provides the refuah (remedy) in
preparation for the makkah (blow)!
