|
Weekly Chasidic Story #978 (s5776-50 / 18 Menachem-Av 5776) The Monetary Value of Expensive Mezuzot His rabbi explained to him that if you spend extra effort or money to enhance a mitzvah, "G-d will repay you." Connection:Weekly Reading - Contains the 2nd section of the Shma Yisrael prayer, which includes the 2nd mention of the mitzvah of mezuzah.
The Monetary Value of Expensive Mezuzot
Unsure, he asked his rabbi which ones he should get. His rabbi explained to him the idea of hiddur mitzvah -- that if you spend extra effort or money to enhance the fulfillment of a commandment, "G-d will repay you." Leon chose to purchase the higher quality mezuzot and wrote out a check for $810. Some weeks later, Rabbi Gutnick got a phone call from Leon, who excitedly told him an amazing story. When he had come to buy mezuzot, he was putting his old home on the market. Initially, the real estate agents had told him he could expect to receive between $600,000 and $660,000 for the unit. Then, on the morning of the auction, the agent confirmed to Leon that he could expect to get "around $630,000" (the amount exactly between the earlier estimated 600k & 660k). Unexpectedly, the unit sold for a whopping $810,000. A few hours after the auction, still stunned by his good fortune, Leon was sitting at the upshernisht (the first haircut at the age of 3 years old) of his rabbi's son. It was there that he remembered the words of his rabbi, that "G-d will repay you," and realized that the amount he received at the auction corresponded perfectly with one thousand times the price of the higher quality mezuzot he had recently purchased! Even more amazing, perhaps, was the correspondence between the price of the standard mezuzot and the expected auction price, and the matching differential between the actual sale price and the cost of the higher quality mezuzot. For the extra $180 that Leon spent, G-d repaid him a thousand-fold for that too! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Source: Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from the version in "Shabbos Stories for the Parsha - 2 Menachem Av 5772" <keren18@juno.com>. Connection: Weekly Reading - Contains the 2nd section of the Shma Yisrael prayer, which includes the 2nd mention of the mitzvah of mezuzah.
To receive the Story by e-mail every Wednesday--sign up here! A 48 page soft-covered booklet containing eleven of his most popular stories may be ordered on our store site.
FLASH! "Saturday Night, Full Moon" by the first of 3 books by Yerachmiel Tilles, the Ascent storyteller, featuring 33 of his best stories, is now
available for purchase--through ASCENT-in-Safed
or the publishers
|
|
Yerachmiel
Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor
of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories
to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells
them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.