I have a unique story to relate, one of many. This took place during the Aseres Yemei Teshuva. The situation was very pressing in the kollelim and I asked HaRav Shteinman if I should travel now [for fundraising], yet before Yom Kippur, and if yes, for how long. He told me to travel for one day only.
It was an unplanned trip and a Jew gave me two expensive esrogim which could help me. Before landing, I was making feverish plans on how to manage everything in one day. I said to myself that I was best off beginning by selling the esrogim. I arrived at Lakewood and told several of the important people there that I had two esrogim mehudorim from Eretz Yisroel. I was asking for $250,000 for the one with the pitom, with the money going to support avreichim. I was asking $200,000 for the one without the pitom. They laughed at me. "Who is going to pay such an exorbitant sum for an esrog!" they scoffed.
I took my esrogim to Manhattan and tried my luck by several wealthy men but found no takers. On the way back to airport, I receive a phone call from a very rich man who asked if I was willing to go down in price for the second one for which he was willing to pay $100,000. I told him that I was not authorized to sell it at half price. He upped his offer to $125,000. "Give me half an hour to think it over," I said. He insisted on an answer right away. While deliberating, I discovered that I had missed my flight and remained abroad for more than one day. But I agreed to sell the esrog to him.
I arrived in Eretz Yisroel with a very uncomfortable feeling of not having met my goal of staying abroad for only one day. I prayed for forgiveness on Yom Kippur and on the following day, went to the Rosh Yeshiva and told him the whole story. "I received half of the sum I needed but was lacking another $125,000."
"Go again for one day, but stay there only for one hour," he said to me. I told him that there were no flight arrangements of that kind. The minimum wait between flights was seven hours.
"Alright," he said. "Go for one day but do your hishtadlus for the kollel for only one hour." I did so, and took the second esrog along and tried to find a buyer, limiting my effort to only one hour, as the Rosh Yeshiva had instructed. After 35 minutes, a wealthy man came and inquired about the esrog. I told him my firm and final price and he deliberated. Seeing him hesitant, I added that he only had fifteen minutes within which to make his decision!
He appeared shocked at my answer and said, "I don't understand. You are pressuring me? Do you think that I'm the one who needs you? You need me!"
I replied very emphatically, "You are mistaken. The opposite is true. You need me. It is the lomdei Torah who are your biggest supporters."
He was very moved upon hearing my forceful reply; he whipped out a checkbook and wrote out a check for $125,000 as payment for the esrog. This was the exact sum I needed and I managed to conclude the transaction moments before the hour was up!
Rabbi Weisbord is the head of the Yissochor BeOholecho network of kollelim in Eretz Yisroel.
