The Lieberman family of Jerusalem were thrilled when their fourth son, Dovy, found his bashert and eagerly planned a very modest wedding in keeping with their income.
It wasn’t easy to find an available date at a hall they could afford, especially as they were hitting the height of the simcha season. But once the hall was booked they told the Rosh Yeshiva of the date. To their surprise, he was quite upset when he heard.
“Please change the date,” he urged. “Another boy in the yeshiva is getting married on that date. He’s very quiet and introverted, he doesn’t have many friends here, and he has almost no family in Israel. If you get married on the same day, I’m sure that all the boys will go to your chasunah and he’ll have almost no one at his wedding.”
Rav Lieberman called the simcha hall to cancel their booking, but it wasn’t so simple to find another date at a suitable venue. In the end, he was able to find another hall, but discovered to his dismay that the only dates available were far more expensive – 3,000 shekels more, in fact.
He called the Rosh Yeshiva with that information, and the Rosh Yeshiva’s response was quite clear.
“It’s worth the extra money – you’ll be repaid somehow. It’s such a mitzvah to give this boy a chance to have a leibedig chasunah with his friends.”
The wedding day drew closer and the Liebermans were busy with their preparations. They hadn’t forgotten that extra expense, but they weren’t going to allow it to spoil their simcha. They firmly believed that no one ever loses out from doing a chesed for another person.
One day, Chaim, a friend of Dovy’s whom he hadn’t seen for some time, came to visit, and in the course of their chatting, Dovy told him about their changing the date of the chasunah. Dovy had felt bad that his parents had to pay extra money because of the change, but Chaim agreed that it was for a very good reason.
A few weeks later, Chaim met up with an uncle of his from America who was visiting Israel with his son, Yankel, Chaim’s cousin, who was also about to get married. They were discussing the wedding which was to take place in New York, and when Yankel told him the date of his wedding, Chaim was slightly relieved that going to New York was out of the question for him as otherwise he would have had to choose between his friend Dovy Lieberman and his cousin because both were getting married on the same day.
As they were getting up to go, his uncle said, “By the way, Chaim, it’s been our minhag, as we have been blessed with financial stability, to always donate some money to a family in Eretz Yisrael who is making a chasuna on the same day as ours and is finding it difficult financially. Not someone making a fancy chasuna, but someone making a modest one because they aren’t able to make a bigger one. If by any chance you should hear of anyone in that situation please let me know.”
Chaim signaled to his uncle to sit down again. “I know just the family you’re looking for, and you’ll love their story. They’ll be a perfect match for your wedding.”
The Liebermans were thrilled to receive not just the extra 3,000 shekels they had spent to change the date, which now brought the chasunah back to its original cost, but an additional $5,000 which enabled them to help the young couple more than they had ever dreamed.