«The housewife was upset and burst into tears. She hurried into the privacy of her home and gave vent to her distress there, weeping in solitude. Then she went and engaged in the long process all over again, this time hanging her laundry to dry in a neighboring courtyard.
That evening, the offending neighbor came to the house crying, begging forgiveness. "I don't know what came over me. I am so sorry. Please be mochel me. Plus, I already got my punishment. My son is sick, burning up with fever."
The woman forgave her and wished her son a refuah sheleimah. The story is told in many different versions, but the way I heard it, upon hearing the commotion, the woman's father looked up from his learning and asked what had transpired.
With much emotion, she related the story. She explained that the cruel actions of her neighbor had been too much for her to handle in her already fragile state and she couldn't calm down. But rather than react with angry words to her neighbor, she went inside her home to express her pain in private. She told him how she then went and redid the laundry, without making a machlokes or telling anyone.
"The fact that you didn't respond to her and prevented this from becoming a fight," said the father, "will be the merit you need to be helped. Your great deed will grant you a child who will be great."»
Yated Newspaper
http://www.yated.com/main.asp?categoryid=3
Shalom,
RRW
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