KIDDUSH HASHEM: Lakewood Bank Manager Inspired by Resident’s Honesty

It’s not every day that someone accidentally sends you extra money, let alone a generous five digit sum. But that is precisely what happened last week to an Orthodox Jewish account holder at Lakewood’s TD Bank branch on Madison Avenue. Seth Freiwald, Vice President, Lakewood TD Bank, shares the details of this anecdote, which has left a powerful impression upon him and his fellow bank staff members:

Isaac* was expecting a wire transfer from a particular corporation. When he checked to confirm that that it came through, he was stunned to discover that the amount wired was $30,000 above what he was supposed to be getting.

Instead of reveling in his good fortune, or even “waiting it out,” Isaac promptly notified bank staff of the error. He then contacted the company that sent the funds to notify them of the error. To his surprise, they insisted that this was the correct amount and he can keep it.

Even after getting this explicit okay, Isaac would not keep the funds – as he knew that they were not truly his. Instead, he contacted the company again in order to prove to them that the amount was incorrect. He then instructed TD staff to wire the full $30,000 back to the sender.

In truth, Isaac did not “lose” a $30,000 windfall. He gained an inestimable zechus on behalf of himself and all of Klal Yisroel.

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18 COMMENTS

  1. Wow. Great story. I give **Isaac alot of credit. Tizku LMitzvos. PS – who cares if APP posts. And stop going to their sites and clicking on their stories. That just fuels their passion for negative reporting.

  2. Something doesn’t add up, in all my time in business, I never had a buyer or someone that I contracted with just waive $30,000 like that.

  3. I had a similar story. About 2 years ago I received a confirmation email from my online stock trading company that the $10,000 wire transfer from my bank account was successful and they are requesting that next time I do a wire transfer I should include my account number. There was only one problem. I knew I hadn’t made any wire transfer let alone $10,000. I quickly contacted the online trading company to find out what this $10,000 was all about. It seems that someone with the same last name as me did a wire transfer and since there wasn’t an account number with the wire they mistakenly wired the money to my account.

  4. All this is ceirtainally not a chidush but rather a glimmer of what is the character of a people who services GD and his true and good ways. May it be a member of our own or an outsider who has an real unbisely twisted glimpse of how we conduct our lives that knows this is simply how a practicing Jew conducts himself in his usual character. Non of this is any more amazing then the tens of thousands of inspiring actions taken place daily in our buitifull town by a most outstanding group of people. We all know this story is being written up kind of in a way to counter the vile anomosity caused by a unnecessary media frenzy. This story is as beautiful as is the essence of all our daily lives and our activities. Those who set out with a negative bias will most likely not be moved by this story or any for that mater. Rather those who know the truth of a poeple real special and praiseworthy will hold their heads up high and not be wowed by the foul and terribly inaccurate media frenzy, untill the day will come when all of the world will recognize truths of a nation that follows steadfast in Gds perfect ways and will see the good as it is.

  5. All this is certainly not a chiddush but rather a glimmer of what is the character of a people who services GD and his true and good ways. May it be a member of our own or an outsider who has an real- unbised and untwisted, glimpse of how we conduct our lives, knows that this is simply how a practicing Jew conducts himself in his usual character. Non of this is any more amazing then the tens of thousands of inspiring actions taking place daily in our beautiful town by a most outstanding group of people. We all know this story is being written up kind of in a way to counter the vile anomosity caused by a unnecessary media frenzy. This story is as beautiful as is the essence of all our daily lives and our activities. Those who set out with a negative bias will most likely not be moved by this story or any for that mater. Rather those who know the truth of a people, real special and praiseworthy, will hold their heads up high and not be wowed by the foul and terribly inaccurate media frenzy, until the day will come when all of the world will recognize truths of a nation that follows steadfast in Gds perfect ways and will see the good as it is.

  6. i was once in a store where the cashier gave a customer (non-jewish) change. he came back to the counter and said you gave me too much money. she had given him a #10 bill instead of a $1 bill. everyone got very excited because he had brought back the money and he just looked at the clerk and said: but it’s not my money! he could not understand why everyone was so excited.

    frankly, i do believe that honest people will return money that does not belong to them. i still agree that APP should print the story as an apology for the damage they have done

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