Hakoras Hatov

It is told that when Rav Shlomo was an unknown young man and utterly destitute, a neighbor who was not observant saw his misery and cut some wood so that the family could heat their home, especially since there was a newborn baby in the house.

Rav Shlomo told his gabbai to let him know whenever that neighbor passed away. Years later, when the neighbor returned his soul to his Maker, the gabbai came and told him. Rav Shlomo said that he wanted to attend the funeral, which amazed the gabbai, who wondered what Rav Shlomo was doing at the funeral of a man who was not observant. At the burial site, Rav Kluger waited until the body was buried, then broke off a twig from a nearby tree and planted it on the fresh kever.

That Shabbos Rav Shlomo came into shul with his face fiery red. He paced back and forth for several hours, repeating the words Or zaruah latzaddik, ulyishrei lev simchah. The whole shul saw that something extraordinary was happening. Rav Shlomo davened in his own private room for the entire Shabbos. After Shabbos, several elders respectfully asked him what had happened.

He told them that when he set the twig on his former neighbor's grave, it had momentous consequences. The Satan was going through his list of those who had died that week and were slated for punishment, and he noticed that one person was missing. He found that Rav Shlomo's act was keeping him from getting hold of the neighbor's soul, and he approached Rav Shlomo and demanded that he let it go. Rav Shlomo refused, saying that this man had helped him in his lifetime and had in fact saved his children's lives with the warmth he provided.

So the Satan took Rav Shlomo to the bais din shel maalah, and Rav Shlomo increased his tefillos. After Rav Shlomo agreed that he would not do this again, the bais din released the neighbor's soul to him, and he placed it in Gan Eden.