Kindness Never Costs – A True Story

It happened last Friday. Avraham, a resident of Bnei Brak, went to one of the large shopping centers to do the Shabbat shopping.

"Among other things, my wife asked for fresh chicken drumsticks," Avraham recounts. "It turned out that they were out of fresh drumsticks at the supermarket I went to."

"I called my wife, who... let's say, was a bit annoyed. 'See?' she said to me, 'You always leave the shopping for the last minute, and then it runs out.'"

"As a yeshiva student who spends half the day learning and the other half working, I struggle to do the shopping earlier in the week, as my days are filled with Torah and work."

"My wife suggested we buy drumsticks with another certification that we don't typically eat. They had such drumsticks in the store, but I decided not to give up and looked specifically for the kosher certification we're used to. When I couldn't find it, I decided to take chicken thighs with the higher certification. It seemed better to me than drumsticks with a lesser certification."

When you give, you don't lose (illustration: shuttersock)

When Avraham reached the cash registers, he searched for a line with fewer women than men to be exposed as little as possible to issues of modesty.

"I stood in the long queue," he recalls. "Outside, the rain was pouring. Behind me stood two Gur Chasidim. One of them turned to his friend and said aloud, so I could hear him, 'Here's someone... he'll take us to Pardes Katz.'"

"Pardes Katz is a neighborhood not too far from where I live, but since my wife had recently given birth and needed my help at home, I was worried about delaying and apologized."

Though the people behind him understood and justified him, Avraham wanted to help them. After all, the mitzvah of kindness had reached him in the supermarket, and outside, it was almost a deluge...

"After a minute or two, I turned to the Chasid and asked where exactly he needed to get to in Pardes Katz. He told me the street - which I didn't recognize. I explained my route to him and asked if it would help. It turned out I passed very close to his street, and he thanked me. We agreed that when he finished paying for his items, he would join me for the ride."

"Then he asked: 'Perhaps my friend can also join?' I looked at his friend's shopping cart and saw it was not very full. So... I agreed."

When he started placing his items on the conveyor belt, the man who requested the ride helped him by taking items from the cart.

"What are these chicken thighs?" Suddenly, I heard him ask. Avraham looked over, not understanding what he wanted... "Don't you see they're spoiled? Look at the date."

The date had indeed passed. "I went to exchange the spoiled chicken, and while doing so, he was already packing all my products into bags after the checkout. Just as I reached the meat department, the butcher arrived and announced that fresh meat had been delivered. Yes, there were also the drumsticks my wife wanted so much - with the kosher certification I always buy."

When I returned to the registers, my products were packed, and I just had to pay..."

"On the way home, I was sorry I didn't manage to stop by the children's Talmud Torah to pick them up. They must have returned wet and shivering. However, when I got home, there was a surprise. They were actually dry. When I asked them how, they told me that a mother of one of the kids in their class gave them a ride, even though it wasn't her way. She offered them a special lift."

"I smiled to myself - I already had a story for Shabbat."

Avraham has insights from this experience he went through on Friday:

"Kindness never costs - on the contrary, you even gain," he says. "If I had brought that spoiled chicken, thighs instead of drumsticks, my wife would surely be somewhat displeased, and as we know, it's not healthy to 'enter' Shabbat in this mood. Moreover, from that chicken, we couldn't have enjoyed Shabbat. Additionally, as they measure for a person - they measure for him, I wanted to save the Chasidim from the rain, Hashem saved my children from the rain. And thirdly - one mitzvah leads to another: I made an effort to stand in a line without modesty issues, Hashem granted me another mitzvah - of kindness. Another thing: unity. When one helps another - life becomes much easier and happier for everyone. Until I exchanged the chicken, my products were in bags. I helped him with a ride - saving time and money on a taxi on a rainy day, and he helped me organize everything smoothly and quickly."

"One person can lift one hundred kilograms - but together, you can lift even a thousand, I thought. Hopefully, all the people of Israel will unite because in such a situation no nation could control us, and surely Hashem would send us the righteous Messiah, and we would be granted complete redemption soon, amen."