“What a person holds in his possession, he holds for a time. What he gives away, he holds forever.”

[I saw the above quote from the Chofetz Chaim and the following story in an email I received on SEFER AHAVAS CHESED — Part II Chapter XVII footnotes.  It’s worth reading.]

In America, after World War II, a refugee came to see the Kapishnitzer Rebbe. The man was despondent over his tremendous losses. He had been a well-to-do man in Europe, and now he had nothing with which to start a family and establish a life. He was ashamed of his ragged appearance, especially the hand-me-down hat that sat upon his head like a symbol of all his travail. The Rebbe’s heart went out to the man, whose own reflection in the mirror caused him such pain. The Rebbe went to his closet and selected his finest wedding hat, and turned it over to the man. Later, his family questioned him: Why didn’t he give away his weekday hat or his regular Shabbos hat?

“Which hat do you think I will be wearing in the World to Come?” he responded. “Of course it will be the hat I gave away. Am I not entitled to sit in my finest hat in the World to Come? I gave away the hat I want to have forever.”