The Adventures of a Wedding Gift
While searching for my passport, I found a large bag in a dusty cabinet. To my shock, I realized that I had brought it home from the wedding hall on the night of my wedding. I got married 11 years ago! Eagerly, I began checking the bag’s contents. I found several envelopes containing wedding gifts. I opened envelope after envelope, counting the bills and excitedly reading the greetings attached to them. One envelope contained $1,000. I read the attached note and my heart fell.
“To my dear Aryeh Leib, in appreciation for the many hours you dedicated to me in yeshiva. May Hashem repay you with lots of nachas in your new home.” It sounded very good, but my name is Shimon, and I don’t remember dedicating many hours to a bochur in yeshiva!
I thought and thought, and finally came to the conclusion that the anonymous bochur had sent the envelope with a messenger, but the messenger must have gone to the wrong wedding across the hall. I had no other explanation for how an envelope addressed to Reb Aryeh Leib got to me.
Although it seemed unrealistic to my wife, I phoned the office of the hall where my wedding was held, and inquired as to the family that had used the second hall on my wedding night. The secretary told me that the hall’s ownership had since changed twice, and it would be technically impossible to obtain the information. That’s why I returned the money to Reb Aryeh Leib at the Maamad Hashava of Neki Kapayim.