HaRav Nissim Karelitz zt"l
After HaRav Nissim Karelitz suffered a heart attack, those close to him used to give him a copy of the Musaf Shabbos edition of Yated Ne'eman to provide him with easy Torah writings that required less mental effort.
In the edition of Parshas Poroh of 5757, he read an article about HaRav Meir Posner, the author of Beis Meir, as follows:
It is brought in the sefer Tel Talpiot that our fathers told us about his (HaRav Posner's) holiness and piety, including the fact that he was very magnanimous in charity to such a degree that he was only left with enough to sustain himself.
There was another story which his fathers were wont to relate. He once involved himself in marrying off the daughter of a distant relative but had no money to give. He decided to go to a wealthy Jew of the community to raise money for the kallah.
The rich man said he was willing to give the entire sum needed, three hundred reichs-thaller, on the condition that when he passed away, HaRav Meir would guarantee, in writing, to study a perek Mishnayos every day for his soul.
My grandfather was so determined to help the kallah that he agreed. They shook hands, wrote up the agreement and the transaction took place. The rich man lived a long life and at one point, moved away. The entire matter was forgotten.
One time, when he was studying a subject in the halochos of divorce, the principle is that we are concerned and suspect that he may die in the future, but we do not suspect that he may have died in the past. In the course of the discussion it came up that if one had agreed to do something in case someone died, then because of the doubt that he may have already died, one should be stringent and assume that he already died.
At this point, Rav Meir suddenly remembered the agreement he had made with the rich man. He stopped everything and sat down to study Mishnayos for the man's merit. He did so the following day and the day after on the possibility that the rich man had died already.
On the fourth day, a letter arrived from the rich man's heir, mentioning the agreement and telling Rav Meir to fulfill his obligation. Upon reading the letter, he discovered that the very day he had begun studying Mishnayos was when the rich man had died. Feeling very relieved, he thereupon thanked Hashem heartily for having enabled him to keep his world.
The natural reaction to reading such a story is a conclusion that Heaven saved HaRav Posen from transgressing upon his given word, not even for one day, and not even under the plea of having inadvertently forgotten.
However after HaRav Nissim finished reading this story, he turned to his son who had just entered the room.
"The story is good and true, but the conclusion is not. According to the halocho, Rav Meir was not culpable at all since he didn't know that the rich man had died and was not guilty of failing on his promise.
"The correct conclusion is to wonder at the immense merit of the rich man to have the Beis Meir study Mishnayos for his soul in such a wondrous fashion. In other words, the focus should be on the rich man himself and his merit."
