The ultimate Accountant compensated him in kind
Earlier this month, Tiferes Devorah L’Kallah, a hachnassas kallah organization servicing kallahs in the greater Lakewood area, held its annual fundraising drive. One of the organization’s directors asked Mr. Avi Klugman, a well-known businessman involved in commercial finance, to take on a goal for the campaign. At first, he hesitated. Fundraising is never a comfortable task in the best of times, and the sluggish economy and the beginning of the fiscal year only make it a harder time to ask people to give.
Still, he acquiesced to their request, going out of his own comfort zone for another. For almost a full week, Mr. Klugman put his business on hold while he made calls to acquaintances, crafted incentives, and reached out to family and friends. The campaign took on momentum, and by the time the week had ended, he had raised the mindboggling sum of $63,000 —far surpassing his original goal. When the campaign ended on Thursday evening, he was elated, though he resigned himself to the fact that his success had come at a cost to his personal parnassah. He’d been so preoccupied with soliciting donations that he’d neglected his own business that week.
When he finally sat down with his bookkeeper on Friday morning, he was in for a surprise: An unexpected commission, to the tune of $58,000, had been wired in from a previous deal that he’d worked on. Mr. Klugman may have not put in the traditional hishtadlus to his business that week, instead devoting energies to Klal Yisrael’s kallahs, but the ultimate Accountant compensated him in kind just the same.
Last week Rav Reuven Elbaz, rosh yeshivah of the Ohr HaChaim network of mosdos, visited Teveria to commemorate the yahrtzeit of his father. While he was there, chassidim of the local Karlin-Stolin kehillah asked him to visit their new shul, an invitation Rav Elbaz happily accepted.
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