The BNEI YISSASCHER/Father/Money/Eliyohu Hanavi

When the Bnei Yissascher was ten years old, his father spent the winter teaching children in a distant town at a Jewish-owned inn. One stormy blistering day there was a knock at the door; three half frozen Polish peasants were requesting a place to stay.

But when the innkeeper discovered that they didnt have sufficient funds to pay for even one night's stay, he sent them away. The Bnei yissascher's father, the school teacher, was shocked and offered to pay for their lodgings.

The peasants ended up staying for two weeks until the raging storm abated. They then thanked the schoolteacher and left.

With Pesach approaching, the schoolteacher, before going home to his family, went to the innkeeper to collect his salary. The innkeeper owed the teacher 40 rubles for teaching his children, but the teacher owed the innkeeper 43 rubles for the peasants stay that he had offered to pay. The innkeeper said he can bring the 3 rubles back when he returns after the Holiday.

The school teacher traveled to his village, but could not bring himself to go home empty handed. Meanwhile, his son the Bnei Yissascher heard that his father was back in town and ran with great emotion to him and begged him to come home. He wanted to show him his new shoes and clothes that his mommy bought -on credit, mind you, for the pesach holiday. This only made the father feel worse.

As they walked home, they saw a chariot rumbling down the street, hit a bump and a package fall out of it. The Bnei Yissascher's father picked up the package and ran after the coach but the coach turned a corner and disappeared. The father, seeing no distinguishing marks on the bag, understood that in such a situation it may be presumed that the owner would relinquish all hope of its recovery, and since there was no possible way for him to locate the owner, it was therefore his to keep. He opened it and found exactly 43 rubles.

The night of the seder, the Bnei Yissascher was given the merit to open the door for Eliyahu Hanavi. When he opened the door, he called to his father, "Ta, the coachman is here!" But there was no one there.

The Bnei Yissascher's father pulled the boy aside and told him that he must promise never to tell anyone this story until he was on his death bed.

This story was told by a student of the Bnei Yissascher, who heard it from the Bnei Yissascher on his death bed!