The Hotel Lobby Shidduch - Rabbi David Kaplan

[Music] anybody who lives in Israel knows Israel is a land where the unbelievable happens on a regular basis and it happened so regularly that the unbelievable is actually quite believable there were two men were sitting in a hotel lobby somewhere in the North of Israel and they were cutting a business deal they had about $10,000 cash on the table they're ready to close the deal suddenly somebody yelled out that there's a suspicious object was called a he Israel is a place where anybody lives here knows when there's an unidentified suitcase a case or bag everybody has to be very careful that heaven forbid it shouldn't be a bomb and these two men they heard the yells somebody yelled out there's a suspicious object so the entire hotel lobby was cleared they ran outside the police sappers came and after 20 minutes they gave the all clear signal two men walked back in went to the table but danger or no danger if you leave $10,000 on the table unattended it's not going to stay there too long and in this case it disappeared so didn't know where the money was they're looking around high and low couldn't find nobody saw the money that was it they went home about a week later man comes into the hotel and as he's walking through the lobby he sees there's a giant plant right in the in the lobby and underneath the plant he sees something green sticking out he pushes back the plant and it turned out there was $10,000 cash was under that big pot where the plant was sitting in the L right in the lobby of the hotel so the man being an orthodox Jew went to check with the H Authority what is the status of that money does he have an obligation to return it does he have is he allowed to keep it there are all sorts of laws dealing with lost and found objects what had happened was that one of the foreign workers uh who was working in the hotel saw his opportunity as soon as the alarm went off he saw the opportunity grabbed the money and he hid it under that flower pot hoping to be able to go back and eventually take the money for himself uh to his Misfortune the lobby was so busy in the course of the entire week uh he was never able to get to that flower pot without being observed and therefore the money stayed there now this Orthodox Jew found the money and he went to the rabbi and he said to the rabbi what's the Hala what is the law am I allowed to keep the money the rabbi took out the old books and he looked up all the and went through the ins and outs of the and he determined yes you're allowed to keep the money okay man great a $10,000 winfall man goes home he thinks himself look you know it's very my my my my good fortune but there must be a Jew out there somewhere who's upset that he lost $10,000 so the man goes back to the hotel and he has to see the hotel register they give him the register he reads through the names of the guests have in the there in the last couple of weeks and he man starts calling did you lose something no calls another number did you lose something no calls about seven eight numbers the ninth number he calls a guy up says did you lose something in the hotel lobby yes what did you lose $10,000 I got your money says no you no way yes I'm telling you I found your money where do you live I'm coming right over so gives him his address the man drives over comes up to the house gives him the $10,000 he says listen found the money I spoke to the rabbi he said I could technically I'm allowed to keep it but we both know it's yours so I'm giving you money the guy looks at him he says one second one second what did the rabbi say exactly he said that according to the letter of the law the money actually I'm allowed to keep it but we both know that it was your so I'm giving it back to you man says you know there's a verse that says so person should avoid taking gifts I don't accept gifts the money is yours you're giving it to me not because you have to because you want to which is a beautiful thing and I appreciate it but I accept gifts the is yours the guy said come on give schmith the money's yours said no I'm not taking the money they started arguing just then young lady walked into the room and he said to the who is that he says that's my daughter said how old is he she says she's 20 he said well no kidding I have a son who's 23 and you know I got an idea over here he say where's your son he's down in the car call up the son son and the daughter meet and to make a long story short the two of them get engaged decided to get married they gave them the money now you could you imagine imagine can you imagine a person finds $10,000 and it's helically he's entitled to keep it there's only one reason why he would be thinking about how many people under those circumstances would be thinking about anything other than where they're going to spend that money and what vacation they going to take yet this man because of the sensitivity towards others he realized yes if I'm happy there's an equal and opposite over here which means somebody is unhappy and I am not going to to be able to take this money if I know that this is going to cause pain to another Jew the other Jew from his end he just simply wanted to abide by a personal principle and policy that he doesn't accept gifts I don't accept handouts and once it becomes ially yours so then I don't want to accept it and therefore they gave it to the young couple and everybody lived happily ever after [Music]