I heard this amazing true story from Rabbi Shneur Ashkenazi in Eretz Yisrael. I have changed names and some other minor details in order to insure privacy, but everything else, including dates, are absolutely true.
There was a young man named Daniel* who lived in New York. One day he got a phone call from an old friend, David*, who lived in Eretz Yisrael. After chatting a bit and catching up on what was happening in their lives since the last time they met, David said that he really wanted to fly to America during his summer vacation and he asked Daniel if it would be possible for him to stay with Daniel in his home. Daniel thought for a moment and then said: “Sure, that’s fine. It’ll be great spending time together again. I’ll take you around and show you the sights.” They discussed the dates and David said he’d call him again to confirm everything a week or two before he comes. “Great,” said Daniel. “I’m really looking forward to seeing you again.” “Me, too, this will be amazing!” And with that they hung up, both of them looking forward to having a great time together.
In a couple of weeks, David called and they made exact plans, when the plane was arriving and Daniel said he’d pick him up in his car. The day came, David arrived and Daniel was there waiting for him. Though there were some differences since the last time they were together, they quickly recognized each other, embraced and laughed, so glad to be together again after so many years.
Daniel helped David with his baggage and soon they were in Daniel’s car on their way to his home. The first couple of days they did some sight-seeing, and then, one night, after they went to sleep, David woke up and couldn’t fall back to sleep. Too many thoughts in his head. All the newness, all the excitement. He tried and tried but couldn’t sleep so he got up and wandered into the living room. He looked around, and suddenly he noticed car keys on the living room table. He was cool and he knew that Daniel was cool, so he got ‘a great idea’ and decided to borrow the keys, and the car, for a short night-time ride. So he got dressed quietly and did just that.
He drove and drove, enjoying every minute when suddenly the car in front of him put on the brakes! David tried to stop in time but couldn’t and he went smashing into the car in front of him. He and the driver in front of him got out of the cars and baruch Hashem no one was injured. Suddenly David realized that he had been driving someone else’s car without permission or insurance, plus he didn’t have an American license. He didn’t know what to do and in a panic he started running, leaving Daniel’s car behind him!
He ran and ran and then grabbed a cab and went straight to Daniel’s home where Daniel was peacefully sleeping. Still shaking with fear and worry, he woke Daniel up and told him what had transpired.
Daniel, of course, was shocked by what David told him and neither of them knew what to do. Since the car was still there at the scene of the accident, they knew they would be found soon and they didn’t know what to do or say. It was obviously all David’s problem because he was driving illegally and fled the scene of the crime which is also illegal, while Daniel was sleeping and obviously didn’t know anything about any of this. David thought fast and begged and finally convinced Daniel to take the blame, explaining that he’ll probably just get a ticket or maybe have to pay for insurance and damages of the other car, and David would pay for it all. But if David told the truth that he was the driver, it would be much more complicated because it wasn’t his car and he didn’t have a license. Daniel, being the nice guy he is, plus not having much time to think clearly, agreed to David’s request. Daniel got dressed quickly and they took a cab to the scene of the accident. David exited the cab pretty far from the scene of the accident but close enough to see basically what would transpire, and then the cab continued with Daniel to where the two cars, the other driver, and two policemen were standing.
Daniel got out of the cab hoping that this stupid incident would be soon over and told the version of the story that he had agreed upon with David, apologizing profusely to the policemen. He said he was so shocked by what happened that he was confused and didn’t think straight, and that’s why he had fled and left the car behind. The policemen listened and then filled out a ticket and gave it to him, and then as one policeman roughly grabbed Daniel and held on to him firmly, the other slapped handcuffs on him. “But why?” Daniel asked. “Why isn’t a ticket enough, or…”
The officers explained that what had happened was far beyond exceeding a speed limit or parking illegally. Daniel was charged with a hit and run accident. And as David watched from afar, Daniel – instead of David – was arrested and taken to jail!
Daniel was imprisoned for a few days and then released on bail. David couldn’t stop apologizing for what had happened, but Daniel wasn’t interested and told David that he will never forgive him and he doesn’t want to see him or hear from him ever again.
Years passed and we don’t know about David, but Daniel went to college and studied finance. During all that time he spent countless hours and days and tremendous amounts of money on legal representation to prove his innocence and clear his record. But it was unbelievably complex and nothing changed.
At the same time he got on with his life and some ten years after the car incident, he was looking for a job, and found that there was a vacancy for a position that was perfect for him in an excellent company with excellent pay. Daniel applied for the job, filled out forms, was interviewed and though, of course, there were other applicants, Daniel was hired.
He could hardly believe his good fortune. It was a dream job for him. All that was left now was for him to fill out some forms in the company’s manpower department. He sat there, calmly filling out the form, and then he got to the last question: Were you ever arrested? Daniel knew he was blameless but he had no choice but to answer the truth. And that was the end of his dream job.
Until now, though ten years had passed, Daniel was still furious at David for what he did years earlier, but he had pretty much forgotten about it. Now that horrible, shameful experience of sitting in jail for a crime he hadn’t committed was brought back to him with an additional slap in the face as he was found unsuitable for a respectable position. His anger and resentment were rekindled as he not only recalled his time in prison but now received an additional ‘punishment’ for his so-called friend’s stupidity. And we might assume that he also wondered why Hashem did this to him. He did chesed, a kindness for an old friend and this was his reward? It was a hard pill to swallow and it was stuck in Daniel’s heart for a very long time. He just couldn’t make peace with this injustice. He was basically, a good, fine person. Why had Hashem done this to him?
Eventually Daniel got a job elsewhere, where they didn’t ask the question that caused him to lose the preferred job. And not only that, but he finally received the document saying that he was totally innocent of what he was accused of, and his record was now clean. But by then it was too late to go back to the first job that he wanted so much and so he stayed in the new job.
The new job was okay, but Daniel remained hurt and bitter. Then, some four years later, on September 11, 2001 the World Trade Center in New York was horrifically reduced to rubble, and among the thousands of others who were killed that day, were all those who worked in the office of the dream job that Daniel so wanted. And now, in a matter of minutes, all of Daniel’s resentment, anger and bitterness, as well as his questions about divine justice, disappeared, replaced with enormous gratitude to He Who rules every aspect of our lives.
One day Daniel was ‘reminiscing’ about all that had transpired and he looked over the document that had officially cleared his name. If he still had any questions about Hashem’s being in charge of every moment and aspect of our lives, now he had none. Because the date on the document clearing his name and his record, the document which he worked on receiving for years, but received only after losing his dream job, the document which would have given him his dream job if he had received it before the interview, was dated September 11, 1997.
Yes, all the seemingly unjust, unfair punishments which Daniel had received saved his life!
