An American youngster who spent a couple of years studying in a Jerusalem yeshiva for foreign students returned home to get married. Neither his family nor that of his kalla had sufficient funds to make a respectable wedding or to get the couple started with basic necessities.

The community to which they belonged pitched in to help them. The local synagogue offered free use of its social hall and a caterer agreed to provide the meal at cost. But with so many startup expenses looming in the very near future there was room for concern.

Two days before the wedding the chatan received the good news that the ticket he bought in the raffle sponsored by his former yeshiva as a fundraising effort won the first prize of ten thousand dollars.

Not a bad wedding gift after all!