There was a Yid in Frankfurt de Main named Yankel. He was unfortunately a mosser, meaning that he would go to the government and snitch on fellow Jews. The Yidden suffered many tzaros from him until one day they came to the Rav, the Ba’al Hafla’ah, and asked him to curse Yankel!
The Rav said, “Never! I will daven that Yankel should do teshuva.”
The next day Yankel was on his way to the government office for yet another snitch. He then noticed that the sun was almost going to set, and Yankel was very careful to never miss a davening. So he got out of his carriage and started davening. When he came to selach lano, all of sudden, he felt terrible regret for all he had done, and he took upon himself never to snitch again.
When he finished davening, he turned around. On the way, he heard someone screaming for help. He came close by and saw a Yid with nothing on his body. He asked him what happened, and the Yid told him that he was robbed of everything he had. Without blinking, Yankel took his fur coat off and gave it to him, staying in the freezing cold without a coat.
Yankel took the Yid towards the town. When he came close to the town, Yankel sat down and took out a gemara and started learning in the freezing weather. He sat and learned with a geshmak, and slowly started freezing until he froze to death!
When the Rav heard of this, he wondered in what merit Yankel died with such great zechusim. He therefore used his powers to get an answer in a dream. He was told that since Yankel sincerely did teshuva during Mincha, then, in Shamayim, they brought him another mitzvah of saving a Yid. This way, he should die with more merits.
The Hafla’ah then told the Yidden that Yankel merited what Chazal said on the passuk, “Adam ki yamos baohel,” that it is a good sign for a person if he dies after doing a mitzvah or learning Torah!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 87.