“You’re not a thief,” I said, “but you definitely have a faulty memory”
Although I am not a very efficient landlord, my brief tenure as such led to a tantalizing mystery.
Some years ago, after my late mother-in-law moved into a senior residence home in Jerusalem, she asked me to rent out her regular apartment for her. We found a fine kollel couple, and entered into an arrangement with a rental of $1,000 per month.
For a full year after moving in, the young man personally brought me the rent faithfully every first of the month. During his visits, we would chat a bit, and I learned that his wife worked in computers, that he was a diligent student at a major kollel, and that although they had been married now for five years, they still had no children, though they were going to fertility specialists.
During the second year of their lease, that first-of-the-month routine began to fray. He would bring the rent money on the tenth, the 15th, or even later. And then one month he didn’t bring anything at all. I finally called him, and he assured me that the rent would be forthcoming in a few days.
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