A Huge Donation Led the Rabbi to a Tiny Wooden Shack - Rabbi Shlomo Landau

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Rabbi Shlomo Landau’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

[music] >> Many years ago, the Ponevezher Rov traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa for a fundraising dinner on behalf of the Yeshiva. The next afternoon, he started opening all the donation envelopes. When he opened one of the envelopes, he was shocked. Inside was an unbelievably large check. You know, nowadays that wouldn't be much of a mystery. You just look at the name on the check. But back then, checks didn't always have the account holder's name printed on the check. Nobody there recognized the signature. The Ponevezher Rov said, "I have to meet this person. I need to thank him in person." A few days later, the bank tracked down the donor's name and gave the Ponevezher Rov the address. The address was shocking. The donor lived 8 hours away by train. But undeterred, the Ponevezher Rov got on a train, arrived at that city, hired a driver and gave him the address. The driver started heading out of town. He kept driving and driving. At some point, the Ponevezher Rov said to him, "Are you sure you have the right address? A person who can write a check of that size doesn't live all the way out here in the boondocks." The driver just said, "Rabbi, that's the address." A few minutes later, they pulled into a neighborhood full of little tiny wooden shacks. The driver stopped in front of one of them. The Ponevezher Rov walked out, knocked on the door. It was opened by a short Lithuanian Jew. Before the Ponevezher Rov could even say

Jump to a moment

1. 0:00[music] >> Many years ago, the Ponevezher Rov traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa for a fundraising…
2. 0:31the account holder's name printed on the check. Nobody there recognized the signature. The Ponevezher Rov…
3. 1:01He kept driving and driving. At some point, the Ponevezher Rov said to him, "Are you…
4. 1:31anything, the man smiled and said, "I knew you would come." How did he know? And…
5. 2:01grow, produce milk, and we'd be able to sell the milk to pay a melamed to…
6. 2:31looked at the melamed and said something I'll never forget for the rest of my life.…
7. 3:01her, so I sold everything I owned. I wrote the entire amount in that check and…
8. 3:33>> Oh, so bad at TV.…

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