Another Use of a Gift
A military vehicle pulled up one day in front of Kollel Beit David in Holon headed by Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein. In walked a high-ranking army officer escorted by police. He asked for a blessing in regard to some matter and handed the rabbi an envelope with money as a contribution to Torah institutions.
When the rabbi asked him his name and that of his mother he was shocked to discover that the office was a Druze!
Unwilling to accept funds from a non-Jew for Torah study, the rabbi informed the officer that he would gladly give him the blessing he requested, but that he had a better suggestion for use of the money he offered. Inform the heads of one of the Arab schools in Jaffa, he advised, that you wish to apply this money to the establishment of a fund to help wipe out violence in the school, violence which sometimes leads to the bloodshed, the prevention of which is the responsibility of all mankind.
