Listen to a short story, The Copper Coin, about how an old copper coin strengthened tzedakah (Charity), faith and led to many blessings.
Tag: charity
ST2 The Rich Man, His Gold and Hope
Sharing Gan Eden With a Cook
The most important thing is not study but action. (Pirke Avos 1:17)
It is told that a holy rabbi prayed that the Holy One, blessed be He show him his place in Gan Eden (Heaven). One night in a dream he saw that he would be seated next to a cook. This surprised him, and he thought to himself, “I have studied Torah day and night, yet my place is beside a cook.” After the dream, he decided: “I shall go and find him and ask him what he has done so special.”
He went and found that the cook was a very wealthy man. He became a guest of the cook and stayed with him for eight days, and the cook showed him great honor and respect. The holy rabbi requested the cook meet him in a field outside of the city and asked him: “Please tell me what you have been doing that is so special.”
The cook thought for a moment and then slowly answered, “By reason of my many sins I have studied very little Torah. All my life I have been a cook. At first I was poor but I have grown wealthy. Every Shabbos (Sabbath) eve since I began cooking, I have distributed meat to the poor at my expense and I give a great deal in charity.” The holy rabbi listened and then asked, “Please tell me whether you have done anything more than that.”
Then the cook slowly began, “I’ll tell you about something I was once the local tax collector for this city. When a ship arrived, I collected any goods I thought proper as a tax. Once a ship came here, and I collected the dues. After my collec¬tion the captain came to me and said: ‘If you wish to purchase what is in the hold on my ship, I’ll sell it to you.’ ‘Tell me what it is,’ said I requested. ‘I shall not tell you,’ the captain answered, ‘until you have bought it and paid for it. And if you do not buy it, I shall not sell it at all.’ ‘In that case,’ I agin requested, ‘tell me how much it is, and I shall decide.’ “Ten thousand in gold,’ the captain told me; and I told him: ‘Show me the goods, and I shall pay it.’ ‘I shall only give it,’ he answered ‘if you give me twenty thousand in gold.’ ‘Show it to me,’ said I, ‘and I shall pay.’ ‘I shall not give it to you,’ he said then, ‘unless I receive forty thousand in gold.’
“When I saw that he was raising the price all the time, I decided that it must be something very valuable, so I agreed to pay him the gold. ‘Give it to me,’ said he, ‘before I show you.’ And I gave him forty thousand in gold.
“Immediately he brought out from the ship’s lower hold two hundred Jewish souls whom he had captured, and said to me: `If you had not purchased them today, I would have slain them and flung them into the sea. “Now he handed them over to me, and I brought them home. I fed them and gave them to drink and anointed them with oil and clothed them. I also enabled those who were unwedded to wed one another.
Among the refugees was an exceedingly beautiful maiden, and I took pity on her and gave her to my son, and he wedded her. Then I invited all my townsfolk to the wedding feast. When the guests sat down to eat, I stood among them and saw that a young man who had been among the cap¬tives was weeping. ‘Why are you weeping?’ said I to him; but he did not wish to tell me. Finally, I led him to a room, and there he told me that the day they had been taken captive was the very day on which he should have wedded that maiden. ‘If you are prepared to divorce her,’ said I to him, ‘I shall pay you a hundred pieces of silver.’ ‘My lord,’ said he to me, ‘I desire her more than all the silver and gold in the world, but what can I do if your son has stood under the bridal canopy with her.’
“At this, I went to my son and told him: ‘Divorce her.’ And I gave her to that young man and made them wealthy. This is the thing I have done.”
Then the holy rabbi said to him: “Blessed be the Ever Present who has privileged me to be seated beside you in Gan Eden!”
So let a man engage in Torah and good deeds at all times, and practice charity. For money is not his but belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He, as the Prophet Haggai said: “The silver is Mine, the gold is Mine, says the Lord” (2:8). And it is also written in the Book of Psalms: “For God judges; this one He brings down, and that one He lifts up” (75:8).
(based on Tanchuma, Mavo 68)
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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Tzedakah and Teshuvah – Charity and Forgiveness
The routine of everyday living can leave us with little time for thinking of others. Sometimes, however, a single moment’s thought can be acted upon and cause one to reach great heights.
Tam and Chacham often traveled together to a certain village to collect money for many causes. Many Jewish families in the village became wealthy from the lumber business. They hoped that they would be able to convince the prosperous Jewish leaders of the village to contribute generously to their charity causes. Somehow, though, the people of the village were all extremely reluctant to give tzedakah (charity). Still, year after year, Tam and Chacham made the effort to return to the village and try to collect a little bit more than the year before.
Tam and Chacham would spend several days making their usual rounds of wealthy Jewish businessmen. Each person gave willingly enough, but it was only a small amount in comparison to the sums that Tam and Chacham knew these men could afford.
After a week of collecting in the village, Tam and Chacham noticed a certain name on their list: Feival Fenster. Feival Fenster was a very wealthy man and was always too busy to talk to Tam and Chacham. In all the years that Tam and Chacham had been coming to the village, they had never actually been able to make contact with the wealthy merchant. There was little reason to think that things would be different this time, but Tam and Chacham tried to meet with Feival Fenster once again.
Much to their surprise Feival Fenster answered the door himself and welcomed them into his home. He extended his hand to Tam and Chacham and gave them a heartfelt “Shalom Aleichem” (Peace be unto you). They responded, “Aleichem Shalom (unto you peace). Feival asked, “What can I do for you?”
Tam and Chacham explained that they were collecting tzadakah (charity). Much to their surprise, the wealthy merchant answered with an almost regretfully, “You know I really owe you an apology. I know you’ve been trying to reach me for years, and it just never works out. What if you meet me at the inn tomorrow morning? We could have a good, long talk, and take things from there.”
Tam and Chacham could hardly believe that the wealthy merchant was actually going to meet with them.
The next morning found Tam and Chacham walking to the inn well before ten o’clock. Finally, a few minutes after the appointed hour, Feival Fenster came up to them. “Shalom Aleichem” (Peace be unto you). I am so glad to meet with you. Let’s sit down and talk.”
The two men sat down with the wealthy merchant. Tam and Chacham described the yeshivah and kiruv (outreach) projects they were collecting for to Fenster. They further emphasized the importance of Torah (Scripture/religious) education and the great responsibility of contributing to its support. Feival Fenster listened closely, asking important questions from time to time. The minutes stretched out to an hour, then longer. Finally, Chacham gathered enough courage to ask Feival Fenster a question he had been wondering about for a long, long time.
“Reb Fenster,” he said hesitantly. “You are a very prosperous merchant and you deal with many, many people. If anyone understands this village, it would be you. You are aware that we have been coming to this village for several years. We also do some fund-raising in other neighboring villages, I was wondering why the people of the other villages are so much more charitable than the people in this village?”
Feival Fenster froze. Watching him, Chacham wished there was some way he could withdraw the question. Antagonizing or insulting the wealthy merchant would certainly not be the best way to convince him to make a donation.
“Rabbi,” he finally whispered in a soft child-like voice. “Rabbi, I’m so ashamed. I’m ashamed of myself and my village.” He swallowed. “What will I say to the Holy One, blessed be He when I stand before the Heavenly Court?” His heart broke as he buried his face in his hands and cried.
Tam and Chacham, astonished beyond belief, sat quietly and waited. Feivel’s words had sounded almost like a Yom Kippur confession. The wealthy merchant was completely broken and looking for selichah (forgiveness).
After several moments, Feival partially composed himself. In a trembling voice, he said, “Rabbis, whatever amount of money you ask, I’ll give you. I, I want to redeem my community from this embarrassment…” Tears overflowed his eyes as he broke down once more.
Tam softly suggested a figure. Suddenly, Feivel Fenster stood up and ran out of the inn. Tam and Chacham did not know what to expect, they felt that maybe they had embarrassed and overwhelmed the wealthy merchant.
Some time later, Feivel Fenster returned with a large bag and gave it to Tam. As Tam accepted the bag of gold coins, he felt a great sense of awe for this simple Jewish man who had willingly shouldered the shame of his community and opened his heart to the mitzvah of tzedakah (Charity).
Repentance, Prayer and Charity will cancel the harsh decree
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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Tzedakah Magic
Tam and Chacham were collecting tzedakah to provide for the needs of the less fortunate in the community. Everywhere they went they were welcomed and people gave what they could. The need was great and the money they collected was small.
Jewish people give tzedakah, which means “righteousness” and “justice.” When a Jewish person contributes their money, time and resources to the needy, they are not being benevolent, generous or “charitable.” Giving tzedakah is the merely following the teachings of the TaNaCh (Scriptures) where it says:
“If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community…do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. (Deuteronomy 15:7) Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor, and the face of G-d will not be turned away from you. (Tobit 4:7) Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, (Proverbs 28:27)”
There lived in a grand house a very wealthy merchant who refused to contribute to the community charities. Everyone knew he would not contribute to any community cause, so nobody even tried to collect charity from him. Chacham insisted on going door to door collecting what they may, but Tam insisted on going to the home of the wealthy merchant.
They knocked on the fine wooden door and were greeted by the wealthy merchant. He welcomed the guests into his house and offered them some food and drink while discussing holy matters. Chacham began to explain the importance of tzedakah with the wealthy merchant, but he dismissed him saying, “The poor like to complain, they have nothing better to do.”
Chacham became angry, but Tam steered the conversation to the subject of the Egyptian sorcerers and magicians described in the Torah (Scriptures), who were able to imitate some of Moses’s miracles. The rich man revealed that he was modern thinking about all of this, and doubted that anyone could perform either magic or miracles.
“Why do you say that?” Tam asked casually, ignoring the disrespect to the Torah. “Even I can perform miracles. I will gladly do so right now, but only if you donate one-hundred golden coins to charity.” The wealthy merchant accepted the challenge.
“Very well,” Tam said, adjusting his tone to the event. “I will now show you that if you place four piles of twenty-five golden coins on the corners of this table, I will utter only one word, and the money will find its way into the bowl at the center.” The wealthy merchant was trembling with anticipation as he placed the four piles of golden coins on the four corners of the table. “Chacham” Tam called to his companion, who promptly picked up the four piles of golden coins and put them into the bowl. “Well, there you have it! It is just as I said,” Tam confirmed.
“That is not fair!” the wealthy man howled in protest. “There was no miracle involved in this.”
“No miracle?” Tam mocked, good-naturedly. “You think that getting one-hundred gold coins for charity out of you is not a miracle?”
Everyone had a hearty laugh, and the wealthy merchant was left without ill feelings.
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Anger, Business and Charity
“Rachman? You collect money from him?”
The holy rabbi nodded. “He’s one of my most generous contributors.”
The holy rabbi had taken upon himself the difficult task of collecting money for those in need. From village to village, from house to house, he hiked, asking for donations. Now he was sitting, enjoying a rare moment of rest in the home of Simcha, a prominent merchant in the Jewish community.
Simcha asked the holy rabbi, “Do you know that Rachman is not Jewish?”
The holy rabbi stared at the merchant. He knew that Rachman was a well-to-do businessman who often gave him large sums of money for charity, was not a religious Jewish person. That was no problem, indeed the holy rabbi rejoiced in the opportunity to give a non-observant Jewish person the merit of such a great mitzvah. Involving a non-Jewish merchant and collecting charity was entirely different, raising many questions and problems into an already very sensitive and complicated community.
Holy rabbi had no idea that Rachman was not Jewish. Now that he’d found out, he decided he would no longer stop at the wealthy merchant’s shop. Better to stay away then to become involved in some type of misunderstanding or worse scandal.
Some weeks went by since the holy rabbi’s visit, when there was a rapping on Simcha’s door. The angry words of Rachman and the pounding on the door echoed throughout the house.
The feeling of uneasiness, Simcha slowly open the door. His neighbor, Rachman, stood in front of him, his face red and his eyes flashing.
“I will not have it, I will tell you!” He shouted. “What right did you have to interfere in my business?”
Startled, puzzled, and very frightened, Simcha stared at his angry neighbor. “What in the world are you talking about?”
“The holy rabbi! Why did you tell him to stop taking my money don’t you believe that ‘almsgiving delivers from death and keeps you from going into the Darkness? (Tobit 4:10)”
His face tuning red from anger, Rachman gave Simcha an ultimatum: “Man is worthy of being called man only if he is charitable. (Genesis Rabbah 8:15) get the holy rabbi to come back, or else!”
When the holy rabbi came the Simcha’s house a short time later, the frightened Simcha told him about the strange meeting with Rachman and begged him to return to Rachman’s shop. Realizing that not visiting the non-Jewish merchant would create more problems than going to him, the holy rabbi agreed, and once again Rachman became a regular donor.
Many months later, when peace had been restored between the two neighbors, Simcha found the courage to ask Rachman why he’s been so angry that the holy rabbi was not visiting. “Why is it so important to you to give money to Jewish charities?”
“Is it not written in your holy books that when the Master of All Blessings told Abraham to take his only son to a holy place that he answered: “Both are only sons – Isaac is the only son I have from his mother, and Ishmael is the only son I have from her who is his mother.”
G-d answered him: “The son whom you love,”
Abraham: “Master of the Universe, are there separate compartments in one’s innermost self for love? I love both of them.” (Sanhedrin 89b, Tanhuma, Va-yera, 22)
You denied me a special privilege and holy deed,” Rachman replied. “Divided as we may be by religion, we are united by charity (Rashi). From the time I began giving money to the holy rabbi my business prospered, and once he stopped coming. Blessings upon my house and business stopped. If matters in my house and business are to succeed,” he explained, “I need the holy rabbi to help by accepting the charity I can give.”
As the neighbors parted, Rachman said a prayer:
Merciful G-d, you deal charitably with everyone. Be charitable to me and let me be numbered among those who give charity. Remove the evil from my heart, let me give charity joyously and with a kindly expression. Let me have no bad feelings when I hand my gifts to those in need. Let me open my hands and give them sufficient for all of their needs. That my heart go out to the hungry, needy and let me close those who are naked.
The merit of my charity, bless me, O Merciful One, to help me express myself to you perfectly in all of my prayers. Let my prayers be pure and acceptable. Let me have no outside thoughts when I pray, so that no barrier will intervene between my prayers and you.
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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What Is the True Value?
Life was very difficult in the village where people worked hard. Sadly sometimes food was not plentiful and people went hungry. They may have had a roof over their head, but it frequently leaked. So was life.
Yossele’s life was hard. He’d wake up at dawn run to the old wooden shul say prayers (that he knew) and listen to a lesson from the holy rabbi. He’d rush off to his stall in the marketplace and sell vegetables, but success never smiled on him. He fell behind on his rent for the stall and the farmers were asking for more money for the vegetables he sold, He didn’t want to lose his business and so he borrowed a hundred gold coins from Mordechai haGibor the wealthy merchant in order to keep his stall in the marketplace.
Each day Yossele had fewer and fewer customers and business got worse. “What will I do?” he asked his wife, Bracha Sarah. “I owe a hundred gold coins to Mordechai haGibor and I don’t even have two copper coins to rub together. How will I pay him back?”
Bracha Sarah was very wise. She sat down with her husband and thought for a time and then advised him, “It’s very clear what you need to do. Go talk to the holy rabbi. He will surely give you good advice.”
People came to the holy rabbi every day with questions about halachah and everyday sort of things to receive his wise advice.
The next morning Yossele waited until everyone had left the shul and then went to the holy rabbi, and told him his problem. ”Yes, your problem is very difficult,” The holy rabbi said as he stroked his long beard. “But I will see what I can to help you.”
That same afternoon, after Minchah, the holy rabbi went to visit the wealthy merchant, Mordechai haGibor. “Rabbi, holy rabbi. What a wonderful surprise!” exclaimed Mordechai haGibor as he answered the door. “I am so honored and happy that you have come to visit me.” The wealthy merchant had his wife bring out fresh pastries and drinks for the holy rabbi. ”Your visit is worth more to me than you know,” Mordechai haGibor with a wide smile on his face continued. “Why, your visit is worth even a thousand gold coins.”
The holy rabbi laughed and said. “Businessmen have a way of exaggerating. I am sure you do not really mean that. How could my visit be worth that much to you? I don’t bring you business or even customers.”
“I mean it,” replied Mordechai haGibor. “The wonderful feeling I have from your visit is really worth that much to me.”
“Then I believe your kind words,” said the holy rabbi. “Take a moment and listen to what I have to say. There is a poor vegetable seller in the market named Yossele, who owes you a hundred gold coins. Instead of the thousand gold coins that this visit is worth, just forgive Yossele the hundred gold coins he owes you. This way, you save nine hundred gold coins, and you will help Yossele more than you can imagine.”
“Consider it done,” said Mordechai haGibor, ripping up Yossele’s loan contract and freeing him from his debt. “Do we not learn ‘do not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, (Ezekiel 18:7) So I’ll tell you what I’ll do. All the vegetables I need for my kitchen I will buy from Yossele so that he shall have steady business.” Finished the wealthy mearchant
“This guarantees you a special place in the World to Come,” the holy rabbi told him as he left.
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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The Rabbi, the Cook and the Garden of Eden
It is not study that is so important as much as deeds done.
It is told that Rabbi Shimon once prayed that the Holy One, blessed be He show him his place in Eden. One night in a dream he saw that he would be seated next to a cook. This surprised him, and he thought to himself, “I have occupied myself in the study of Torah day and night, yet my place is beside a cook.” After the dream, he decided: “I will go and find this cook and ask him what he has done so special.”
He searched for some time and found that the cook was a very wealthy man. He became a guest of the cook and stayed with him for eight days, and the cook showed him great honor. Rabbi Shimon asked the cook to walk with him in the field outside of the village and asked him: “Please tell me what you have been doing that is so special.”
The cook thought for a moment and then slowly answered, “Rabbi, I am just a simple man who by reason of my many sins have studied very little Torah. All my life I have been a cook. At one time I was very poor but by the blessings of Heaven, I have grown wealthy. Every Friday since I began cooking, I have distributed meat, challah and wine to the poor at my expense and I give a great deal in charity. I try to follow the teaching of ‘Sanctifying the Sabbath with food, drink, clean clothes and pleasure. (Deuteronomy Rabbah 3:1)’ “Rabbi Shimon listened and then asked, “Please tell me whether you have done anything more than that.”
Then the cook thought for a moment and reluctantly shared: “Please understand that I am the tax collector for this city. When a ship comes, I collect a tax on any goods in the hold of the ship. Once a ship came here, and I collected the tax.”
“After the captain paid the tax, he came to me and said: ‘If you wish to purchase what is in the hold on my ship, I’ll sell it to you.’ “
“Tell me what it is” I said to him.
“I shall not tell you,” the captain answered, “until you have bought it and paid for it. And if you do not buy it, I shall not sell it at all.”
“In that case,” I replied, “tell me how much it is, and I shall decide.”
“Ten thousand in gold,” the captain told me; and I told him: “Show me the goods, and I shall pay it.”
“I shall only give it,” the captain answered “if you give me twenty thousand in gold.”
“Show me your merchandise and I shall pay.”
“I shall not give it to you unless I you pay me forty thousand in gold.”
“When I saw that he was raising the price all the time, I decided that it must be something very, very valuable, so I agreed to pay him the gold. The captain ordered, ‘you must pay me in full before I will show you what is in the hold of my ship.’ I paid him in good gold.’ “
“Immediately he brought out from the ship’s lower hold two hundred Jewish souls whom he had captured, and said to me: ‘If you had not purchased them today, I would have slain them and flung them into the sea.’ Now he handed them over to me, and I brought them to my home. I fed them and gave them to drink and provided them clean clothes. I also assisted those who were single to wed one another.”
Among the refugees was a very beautiful young girl, and I took pity on her and gave her to my son, and he was betrothed to her. I invited all my townsfolk to the wedding feast. When the guests sat down to eat, I stood among them and saw that a young man who had been among the captives was crying. ‘Why are you crying?’ I asked, but he did not wish to tell me. Finally, I led him to a room away from everyone else, and there he told me that the day they had been taken captive was the very day on which he should have wedded that beautiful young girl. ‘If you are prepared to divorce her,’ said I to him, ‘I shall pay you a hundred pieces of silver.’ ‘My lord,’ said he to me, ‘I desire her more than all the silver and gold in the world, but what can I do if your son stands under the bridal canopy with her.’ “
“At this, I went to my son and told him: ‘Divorce her.’ My son looked at me and said, ‘Father I understand not your reasons, but I respect your wisdom and I shall do as you ask.’ I gave her to that young man and I made them wealthy according to the way of our people that ‘when you let him go free, you shall not let him go empty, and you shall furnish them liberally.’ (Deuteronomy 15:13). This is the thing I have done.’ “
Then Rabbi Shimon said to him: “Blessed be the One who sees all hidden things who has favored me to be seated beside you in Eden!”
So let a man engage in Torah (Scripture) and good deeds at all times, and practice charity. For money is not his but belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He, as the Prophet Haggai said: “The silver is Mine, the gold is Mine, says the Lord” (2:8). And it is also written in the Book of Psalms: “For God judges; this one He brings down, and that one He lifts up” (75:8).
Happy is he who performs a good deed, that may tip the scale for him and the world. (Kiddushin 40b)
(based on Tanchuma, Mavo 68)
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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To Give Tzedakah or Loans
Once there was a holy rabbi who had many, many students. His students learned much from their teacher, but could not understand why their beloved teacher disappeared every Thursday night. No matter how many people wanted to see him, he was nowhere to be found. None of his students or other rabbis in the community had any idea where he had gone.
One Thursday afternoon some of his students decided to try to find out what was going on and what their holy teacher was doing. The students hid in some bushes outside of the synagogue hoping to see their holy teacher. When he left on his secret business, after waiting for several hours, they saw the holy rabbi come out and hurried away. The curious students followed him.
The holy rabbi moved quickly through the streets and the students were always not far behind. Soon he entered one of the poorest areas of the town. He was immediately surrounded by so many needy people asking for tzedakah (charity). The students watched the holy rabbi’s actions and noticed that he didn’t just give some money to a better and then walk on, he stopped by each poor person and said: “my friend I would be so happy to help you, but I really can’t give you any charity. I can only give you this money as a loan.”
The beggar looked at him in surprise. “Alone? Rabbi, holy rabbi you would really give me alone?”
The holy rabbi would look at the poor man in front of him and smile as he answered: “yes, of course. Would you accept a loan for me? I have so much faith in you, I know you’ll be able to pay me back.”
With a peaceful face each beggar would happily accept some rubles as a loan, and the holy rabbi would go on his way.
After watching the holy rabbi do this for a while, the students decided they had seen enough. They went back to the synagogue and gathered around the table where they learned holy lessons from the rabbi and waited for him. When the holy rabbi finally returned very late that night, they confronted him with what they have learned:
“Holy teacher, we have to admit we followed you tonight and saw that you were doing. But really, how could you tell all those poor people. You were giving them loans? You know full well they’ll never be able to repay you. Why didn’t you just give them some tzedakah (charity) and let it go at that.”
“Why? I’ll tell you why! It’s not just that those beggars don’t have any money. They’ve also lost all of their hope, all of their faith that their lives can ever be better. They’re so broken, and too many are in despair.”
“Do you know what that means to them. When I, the holy rabbi, offer them a loan? It means that I believe in them… Even though they fallen to the lowest place, I have faith that they can get back on their feet again”
“Listen to me! I’ve taught you a lot of Torah. But this is the most important thing I’ll ever tell you. It’s not enough to hand a beggar a few coins. You have to give them back their self-respect, to show them that you believe in them, even if-especially if-they no longer believe in themselves.”
The holy rabbi paused for a moment or two and then continued: “Are we not taught: ‘who gives the poor money is blessed six-fold, who gives him morale is blessed seven-fold.’ (Baba Basra 9b) May each and every person who gives the poor a means to strengthen themselves physically, emotionally and spiritually be blessed.’ ”
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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The Magic Pomegranate Seeds
The times were bad, a poor woman was having a hard time finding food for her starving children. She had very little money and there was very little to buy in the market. As hard as she tried, she could find no work. She searched throughout the city, but there was no work to be found.
One day the poor woman was walking by the king’s palace and smelled a great and wondrous smell. She followed it to the door to the royal kitchen. As she looked through the door she saw a table with many loaves of bread sitting upon it. She thought to herself, “surely the king would not miss one loaf of bread.” So she quietly went into the kitchen and slipped one of the loaves of bread off of the table.
Suddenly, she heard someone scream, “Thief! Thief!” She turned around and saw that it was the cook. She pleaded with the cook not to report her to the king and the heart of the cook was softened to her pleas. Unfortunately the guards had heard the cook and came running and immediately grabbed poor woman and took her before the king.
The guards told King that the poor woman had stolen a loaf of bread from the royal kitchen. The King was barely paying attention and very nonchalantly replied, “someone dares to steal from the king, the punishment is clear. Put her to death.” As the poor woman listened she put her hands in her pocket and felt two pomegranate seeds.
The guards began to lead the poor woman out of the room, but as she passed the king she said to herself, “I guess the secret of the magic pomegranate seeds shall be lost forever.” The King heard the poor woman’s comment and being curious asked, “what is this about magic pomegranate seeds. A secret you have? What is this secret?”
The poor woman explained that her family had passed down the secret that when the pomegranate seeds were planted that they would grow immediately and within a week would be filled with beautiful fruit. The King hearing this told her he wanted proof and, at that, the next day she was to plant the magic pomegranate seeds in the royal garden.
Everyone gathered around as the poor woman was led into the royal garden. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the magic pomegranate seeds and laid them on the ground, dug a shallow hole and picked up the seeds to plant them. When suddenly she stopped and began to cry. The king asked her why was she crying he wanted to see these magic seeds begin to grow.
The poor woman, with tears in her eyes explained that the magic seeds would only grow if planted by someone who had never stolen anything. She went over to the king’s chamberlain and offered a seeds to him, but he hesitated and said, “sometimes I take things from the royal chambers to my home.”
The poor woman turned to the royal tax collector, he too refused the seeds explaining, “sometimes I don’t always record all the tax monies collected for the king. The poor woman turned to the Queen, and with tears in her eyes she sobbed, “I may have forgotten to pay the royal seamstress her full wages. One after another the people who had gathered in the royal garden refused to plant seeds. Finally the poor woman approached the king and told king that she would tell him the secret on how to make the seeds grow but the king put up his hand and said he could not.
The King took a deep breath and explained, “when I was a young boy my father had a magnificent necklace that he wore. More than anything in the world I wanted to hold and wear that beautiful necklace and so one day when no one is around I took the necklace. I brought it into my room and I held it up to the window and as the light caught shined on the fine stones, rainbows danced across my walls. I’ve never seen anything so wonderful in all my days. When my father realized necklace was missing he called all his servants together and no one knew what happened to the necklace. The king called his personal servant and his servant said he did not know where the necklace was and so he was beaten and cast out the Palace. I have told no one of this until this day.
The king looked at the poor woman and sadly said, “You have reminded me that a true king ‘judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with equity.’ (Psalms 9:9) I know that you did not steal from the royal kitchen for your own sake or the hopes of wealth, but to merely feed your starving children. It is a matter of law that ‘Thieves are not despised who steal only to satisfy their appetite when they are hungry.’ (Proverbs 6:30) You have taught a foolish king, wisdom and have reminded me that ‘man does not live by bread alone, but by anything that the L-rd decrees’ (Deuteronomy 8:3). I invite you to come to the royal palace whenever you like and share your wisdom and anything in the royal kitchen you may like.’ “
Pomegranate Relish with Jalapeno
Ingredients
Seeds of two pomegranates (or about two cups) |
1 T lemon juice or mild vinegar |
1 jalapeno, seeds removed, and minced |
1 T orange juice |
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil |
4 T parsley, finely chopped |
1-2 T pomegranate molasses or honey |
Salt and pepper to taste |
Instructions:
Place your pomegranate seeds and finely chopped jalapeno in a bowl. I recommend Pyrex bowls with lids to store and serve.
Combine the juice, olive oil, molasses, and seasoning. Pour it over the pomegranate and jalapeno.
Mix in your chopped herbs. You can do this in advance but it’ll be best if added right before serving. I like to prepare it in a snack size bag and store it in the same dish, then pour it on right before I serve it.
Notes:
Refrigerate up to 3 days for optimal freshness.
If the oil solidifies when refrigerated, remove to room temperature for a bit before serving.
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)