By COLlive staff
A young girl named Mussia Yitzchaki playfully hid an earring between the cushions of the couch in her parents’ rented apartment in Beer Sheva in southern Israel.
When her parents Rabbi Mendy and Gitty Yitzchaki went looking for the earring, they found more than they expected.
The Yitzchakis, who serve as Chabad Shluchim, were shocked to discover envelopes filled with cash, in US Dollars and Euros. When they counted it up, they estimated the value to be at least $100,000.
The Yitzchaki family had rented their apartment, which included a couch, from an elderly Jewish woman who spoke Yiddish, when she moved to a retirement home.
On Sunday morning, the Yitzchakis contacted the woman, and speaking to her in Russian, explained what had happened.
“While she was completely sharp and alert, we understood that she had no idea about the money,” Rabbi Yitzchaki said.
The Yitzchakis then contacted the woman’s son, who is a doctor. He soon arrived to retrieve the money, and was overwhelmed with emotion – both from the large amount but also the honesty of the Chassidic couple.
Rabbi Yitzchaki then suggested they follow up with another Mitzvah. The doctor, who is not an observant Jew, agreed to put on Tefillin.
The doctor said his father was a Holocaust survivor and he assumes the hidden money was the retribution funds he received.
“This is just like we learned in this week’s Parsha,” Rabbi Yitzchaki said. “The Jews found treasures in the walls.”
“The best part of the story, is the uncovering a Jewish neshama,” he noted.
Huge Kidush H’
(The famed mashpia)
Why does he assume it belongs to this Doctor?
He may of just given away this large amount of money to the wrongful owner
It’s the owners son . The owner is an elderly woman who lives in a nursing home . Her son rented the furnished apt to this couple .
גאים בכם
שהשם ישלם לכם בכפלי כפליים
May Hashem reward you for your honesty!!
Hello. I hope he gave him a nice reward.
may they be repaid in nachas.
I hope they asked him for simanim! Many people are out to claim money they don’t care if it’s right or wrong.
Retribution in brand new dollar Bills?
I don’t think so.
Those bills are from 2006 or later. I wonder who and when put it there, whether it was really the deceased Holocaust survivor
The retribution isn’t in cash anyway. Clearly, the son meant that his father had a lot of retribution money in the bank, and he withdrew it in the form of American money
ARE YOU KIDDING!! YOU JUST HANDED IT OVER 100k WITHOUT CONSULTING A ROV AS TO HOW TO ESTABLISH HOW THE OWNERSHIP IS DETERMINED OR EVEN IF YOU WERE MECHAYIV TO MENTION PRIOR TO PROVING IT BELONGED TO THE DOCTOR OR HIS MOTHER. HE MUST BE LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK. PLEASE CONFIRM YOU FIRST ASKED THE DOCTOR 3 VERY SIMPLE QUESTIONS;
1) WAS THE DOCTOR AWARE OF ANY MONEY BEING HIDDEN IN THE APARTMENT.
2) IF YES, HOW MUCH?
3) WHERE WAS IT HIDDEN?
4) IN WHAT DENOMINATIONS OR CURRENCY?
HIS MOTHER KNEW NOTHING OF IT!
The Shluchim rent the apartment from the old woman. The apartment belongs to the old woman, and thus, any money inside it (besides for that which belongs to the current tenants) automatically belongs to her. The only case in which the woman would not be immediately entitled to that money is if that apartment had been rented to someone else before the Shluchim moved in (or if she bought the couch second hand–unlikely) in which case we’d consider the possibility that the money belongs to previous tenant/s. But, as the article implies, the Shluchim rented the apartment right after the… Read more »
WHAT AN INCREDIBLE KIDDUSH HASHEMS THIS IS. IT IS A SHAME TO SEE COME COMMENTS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SOME POINTS OF NEGATIVITY, HASHEM YERACHEM.
THIS IS A SHLIACH AND EDUCATED RABBI, TO ASSUME HE DID NOT CONSULT HALACHIC SOURCES?
MOSHIACH NOW
He mentioned what was is last weeks parsha that hashem put tzaraas in the homes for the yidden to get the Money, but here hashem was giving them a present and they naïvely gave it away…
The money didn’t belong to him and it made perfect sense that it belonged to the woman.
Yes but she ddnt know about it. And the money looked like new bills. So it’s a mystery. Maybe it was bought second hand after all
Even if it does not belong to the woman, and it is impossible for the Shliach to find the owner of the money, the Shliach is forbidden from keeping it; he must protect it untill Moshiach comes
I once rented the apartment from the lady and hid the stash of about $100,000 (euros & US dollars) in the couch……………… and I am ready to split it 3 ways. LOL
Who is to say the old lady didn’t purchase a second hand armchair years earlier or it was already there when she moved in from a previous occupant? As she is of sound mind and said she knew nothing of the money it should be Finders Keepers Al Pi Halocho. If the doctor cannot explain it or give Simonim then it’s not so straight forward?
If her husband hid it, it’s hers and her sons, even if they didn’t know about it.
Hashem has more in his bank … he will bless this couple with double double triple as a reward for doing the right thing …. doing the right thing is … doing the right thing ! The rebbe taught us this lesson
How could the Rabbi have known that the money belonged to the doctor’s mother if she did not know nothing about it? Something in this story doesn’t fit.
Wow! Baruch Hashem!