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I have such an amazing story to tell you!
Eli was in the luggage business.
He got an order from a wholesaler in Algeria for 10,000 pieces of Samsonite luggage. Eli doesn’t ship goods without pre-payments, so 2 weeks after the order came in, he received a check for $833,000, from his new customer in Algeria.
The strange thing was that afterward he called and emailed to find out where to ship the goods and the person was not returning his calls!
Two weeks later, the owner of a large chain of stores, in Algeria, called to say that unfortunately, his seller – who was Eli’s buyer from Algeria- died suddenly, and can he buy the suitcases directly from Eli?
Eli was certainly happy not to get stuck with 10,000 suitcases!
After he had received the money from the store owner, he called up his first customer’s widow and told her he had some money to return. The woman was so grateful and for some reason, asked if he minded speaking on skype. Eli had no problem.
As soon as the woman saw him she said: “You’re Jewish!”
What an incredible kiddush Hashem, when the stunned woman heard that the money Eli was returning wasn’t $830, not even $83,000, but $833,000!!
Now if that would have happened to us, what would you have done?
You may be thinking; “That is a little bit above my pay grade!”
Nonsense.
You have to hear the rest of the story.
About 10 days after the woman received that check, a stretch limousine pulled up in front of Eli’s office. An Arab gentleman came into Eli’s office and bowed down to him. This was not a typical beginning of a meeting for Eli. The man said that he was a 1st cousin to the woman in Algeria and he was blown away by the “angel” who gave back almost a million dollars, when no one would have known!
As hakoras hatov he told Eli that he had great connections in Dubai and was planning to introduce him to his friends, who would love to do business with such an incredibly honest person.
In the end, through this one act of honesty, Eli was put on a path that led him to great financial success.
What’s the lesson we can learn?
Don’t think short-term!
Whether it’s in business or any nisayon you have, when you do the right thing what Hashem wants, ultimately Hashem will make you win!
