A Match Made in Heaven

Rav Ovadia Yosef related the following story about Rav Shmuel Strashun, the Rashash of Vilna.

The Rashash ran a free-loan gemach, where he lent generous sums to people in need. He was, however, extremely strict about having the loans returned on time. Once a tailor who was a yarei Shamayim (God-fearing man) came to borrow one thousand rubles for three months. When the date arrived, he entered the Rashash's study to repay the loan. The Rashash was engrossed in a deep sugya, so the tailor paid his debt and left the money lying on the page of the Gemara that the Rashash was studying.

The Rashash was so absorbed in his learning that he paid no attention to the tailor and did not notice what was happening at all. All he sensed was someone standing there and saying something, and out of habit and courtesy he nodded his head in acknowledgment. The tailor took the nod as an acknowledgment that the debt was repaid. When the Rashash finished studying the complex sugya, he closed the volume and returned it to the shelf, with the money still inside, unnoticed.

A month later, when the Rashash checked the gemach's ledger, he saw that the loan was still outstanding. He sent word to the tailor that he had a debt to settle and was asked to appear and pay it.

The tailor came and explained that he had repaid the loan a month earlier. "How can that be?" said the Rashash. "Where is your receipt? I do not remember you coming and paying."

The tailor insisted that he had paid, and that since the Rashash had been so busy learning, he had not wanted to trouble him to write a receipt. The Rashash answered that it was always his custom to write a receipt when a loan was repaid and to record it in his ledger. The tailor stuck to his story and stubbornly insisted that he had paid in full.

The Rashash decided to take him to Beis Din, and the matter became public knowledge. As the rumors and stories spread, most people sided with the Rashash. Many openly disparaged, shamed and shunned the tailor for daring to cheat the gemach and then accuse the Rashash of lying. The tailor bore the brunt of the community's displeasure and became the lowliest citizen of Vilna. Many of his customers deserted him and his livelihood suffered, because no one wanted to deal with a thief. His son, who was learning in yeshivah, was so ashamed of his father's ruined name that he left yeshivah and hid his shame.

Time passed, and the Rashash went back over his learning and took down the very same volume to study the same difficult sugya. When he opened the Gemara, he was astonished to find money inside. Bills adding up to one thousand rubles lay between the pages. In an instant the matter was resolved, and he realized that the tailor's story had been true. The tailor had come to repay the loan, and seeing the Rashash so deep in learning, had not troubled him for a receipt. His face turned pale as he understood what he had done to the tailor, to his reputation and to his family.

He sent for the tailor and admitted his mistake. The man who walked in was not the tailor he had known before. He stood sad, forlorn and broken, with a shadow over his once fair face. "Please forgive me for my mistake," cried the Rashash. "I will call the congregation together, confess my mistake before them, and publicly declare you guiltless and innocent."

The tailor answered, "Honored Rav, I appreciate what you wish to do, but what will your confession achieve? Look at me. I am the laughing stock of all Vilna. People hate me and shame my name. My reputation and my business are ruined and my livelihood is gone. My son ran away from yeshivah, he is so ashamed. Even if the Rav publicly clears me, people will only say that the Rav did it as a favor, to help me out of my situation, and that I am not really innocent." He hung his head as the Rashash considered the truth of his words and what to do.

Then the Rashash had an idea. His face flushed with excitement and he declared, "Send your son to me, for I wish to take him as a husband for my granddaughter. Then everyone will see the truth and know that you must be innocent."

A gleam appeared in the once-dull eyes of the tailor as he heard the Rashash's words, hardly believing his ears. His eyes filled with tears of joy, and he grasped the Rashash's hands and kissed them. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected this. He, the mechutan of the Rashash? He departed with true affection.

A few days later the news spread. The debt had been repaid earlier, the mistake was admitted, the lost money was found, and the tailor's son was engaged to the Rashash's granddaughter. The community leaders agreed that it was a match made in Heaven. And who would have dared to suggest such a shidduch to the Rashash, if not for Heaven?