One day I was in Shul and before Shacharis I saw one Yid approaching another Yid and discussing something. Before they parted one of them gave the other a bill of fifty dollars. They were all smiles, shook hands and went their separate ways.
After I finished Davening, I greeted the recipient of the generous donation with a nice good morning (my contribution, as it is said in the name of Chazal:
"המקבל את חברו בסבר פנים יפות, אפילו לא נתן לו כלום - מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו נתן לו כל מתנות שבעולם" (אבות דרבי נתן פרק יג, ד)
We started schmoozing and it turns out that he's the son of a famous Mechaber in Eretz Yisroel and is doing his rounds. The Meshulach then explained to me the story that happened just before Davening.
He was outside the front door of one of "his" addresses and as there was no answer he started retreating but just then he noticed a neighbour emerging from a house a few doors away.
He approached the neighbour and asked him if he could pass a message to Mr Nadvan that when he was out, Rabbi Askan from Bayit VeGan called on him.
The Meshulach noticed on the neighbour that he feels a bit squeamish about it, he nevertheless prevailed on him until he promised to fulfil the mission.
The neighbour then proceeded to drag a heavy mattress onto the roof of his car and without further ado jumped in and drove off.
Our Meshulach noticed how the mattress, which wasn't even tied to the roof started wobbling and the driver was holding onto the mattress with his right hand, steering the car with his left hand... This is where HIS story finishes.
The day I saw them talking, the good neighbour/driver met up with the Meshulach and thanked him profusely for holding him up for these thirty seconds. He explained that when he rounded the corner whilst schlepping his mattress, he noticed a traffic warden driving off from the exact spot where he wanted to arrive to!Such reckless driving - with a mattress loosely perched on his car - could easily have meant a couple of hundred pounds in fines and half a dozen points on his driving licence...
The driver recognised that by agreeing to doing a Chesed to this unknown interloper actually saved him all this anguish and proceeded to give him the fifty dollars as a reward.
P.S. Please NEVER carry unsecured loads on your vehicle - אין סומכים על הנס!
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