"If you couldn’t afford the money, why did you send it in the first place?"

Menashe Frankel of Lakewood is a dedicated and tireless askan, working alongside a noble group of likeminded people to alleviate the plight of almanos and yesomim. He thought he’d seen everything — the grief, the fear, the confusion, the loneliness on one hand, and the unparalleled generosity on the other, that all find their way to Reb Menashe’s doorstep — until recently.

The father of a large family passed away, leaving behind a widow and many young orphans. A fund was established, and the call went out asking community members to contribute toward a $1 million goal. It wasn’t long before the goal was met. Shortly thereafter, Reb Menashe received an unusual phone call. It was a yungerman who introduced himself, explaining that he had sent post-dated head checks to the fund — for $10 a month: “Since the million-dollar goal has been reached,” he said shyly, “would it be okay if the checks aren’t cashed?”

Reb Menashe assured the fellow that this wasn’t a problem, the checks would not be deposited, but his curiosity was piqued. “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but if you couldn’t afford the money, why did you send it in the first place?”

There was an uncertain pause on the other end. Then, the yungerman related, “When we heard that an almanah and her family needed help, my wife and I reviewed our monthly budget to see if there was room to cut back so we could contribute some money,” he said. “With some juggling, we concluded that there was. If we cut back on the amount of cholent meat we buy each week, it would amount to a ten-dollar savings per month — money we could then donate to help support this almanah and her yesomim. But once we heard that the goal was already reached, we decided it would be better if we used the money for oneg Shabbos.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 898)