Rosa Meir is a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor from Haifa, Israel. After recent plumbing problems in her home, she called a local plumbing company, and they quickly dispatched two plumbers to take care of the job. When the plumbers were finished, she braced herself for an expensive bill. Instead, she received an unexpected gift.

An Eventful Day

At 95 years old, Rosa Meir is used to life being pretty unpredictable. One day, she was going about her usual affairs when she noticed water spouting out from one of the pipes in her house. She tried to quickly turn off faucets, but that didn’t stop the leak. Clearly, she was dealing with a very serious plumbing problem, so she did not waste any time calling a plumbing company.

She happened to dial the number of the company where Simon and Salim Matari work. The Mataris are brothers who went into business together. After hearing how urgent Ms. Meir’s plumbing issue was, they arranged their schedule to get to her as quickly as possible. In the meantime, she tried to do all she could to stop the water from spilling everywhere, but there was really very little she could do.

Ms. Meir’s Amazing Story

Meir had more than a simple leak, but it was not too difficult for the experienced plumbers to repair with the tools they had in their truck. They were able to stop water from flooding her home. More importantly, they found out what was causing the problem and they repaired it. The repair did not take very long, but they had enough time to start talking to Ms. Meir. It was obvious from her appearance that she was well along in age, but the brothers were shocked to find out that she was 95 years old.

They reasoned that she had probably seen a lot in her lifetime, but they were not prepared to find out about the grisly sights she’d witnessed. As Ms. Meir explained, she is a Holocaust survivor. She witnessed and experienced first-hand the most violent and hateful sides of human nature. There was, however, much more to Ms. Meir’s life. Over the years, she had done her best to build a happy life for herself, and she tried to do as much good as she could with the rest of her life. Most of her family and friends had already died, but she had one daughter and she loved to spend time with her.

A Big (Hearted) Bill

The Matari brothers were moved by Ms. Meir’s story. Although she didn’t give many details, they couldn’t imagine how much pain she must have gone through as a Holocaust survivor. Even after she was freed from the concentration camps, she must have lost so many family members and friends that life was probably never the same. Ms. Meir didn’t realize how much of an impact she’d had on the plumbers. She had just been making conversation. As she noticed that they were finishing up the job, she got ready to pay a big tab.

When she looked at the bill, she noticed that her plumbing services had been delivered free of charge. Instead of an invoice, the Mataris left a note that said “Holocaust survivor, may you have health until 120.” The services they delivered would usually cost 1,000 New Israeli Shekels, but they gave the repairs to Ms. Meir for free. The Mataris took the gesture a step further by promising her free plumbing services for the rest of her life. Ms. Meir was moved to tears, and her story has warmed millions of hearts. After the Matari brother shared it on Facebook, the story has received thousands of shares, and it has been picked up by one of Israel’s largest news agencies.