Expensive Shrouds

It is told that an epidemic once broke out, and the death toll in Brod and the surrounding area climbed so high that the demand for burial shrouds rose and rose, until their price became exorbitant. An emergency meeting was held between the parnesei hakehillah and the town's lay leaders, and they decided there was no choice but to bury the poor in their own clothes.

When Rav Shlomo Kluger heard this, he was incensed. He went himself to one of the town leaders, a wealthy man who had barred himself in and allowed no one to enter, in a strict self-quarantine to spare himself any worry of infection. Rav Shlomo barged in unannounced and sharply rebuked him for neglecting his duty. "How can it be that the poor should be shamed in death?" He demanded that the wealthy man help cover the cost of the tachrichin.

The wealthy man was furious that the Rav had arrived unannounced and broken his quarantine. He argued and shouted, and in the end he threw the Rav out. A talmid chacham whom he supported and housed likewise defended him, davening for his health and claiming that his generosity was what supported his Torah study. Rav Shlomo stood his ground until he was shown the door.

That night the wealthy man fell ill. He understood that the Rav's rebuke and anger must have been a heavenly message, and he quickly sent the talmid chacham to appease Rav Shlomo. He agreed to pay the cost of the tachrichin and burial for all the poor, and he sent eighteen silver rubles as a down payment and kofer nefesh (atonement) to redeem himself. Rav Shlomo accepted the gift and blessed him with a refuah sheleimah. The next day the man was already feeling better. He immediately sent two thousand silver rubles, and he was healed.