A merchant once found himself suffering from a great setback. He was heavily in debt to all his friends and acquaintances. On one occasion, he sorrowfully poured out his heart to a close friend.
“What shall I do?” he asked. “Everyone is pressuring me and demanding that I repay them.”
“I will give you a piece of advice,” answered the friend. “When the creditors approach you, begin to sing and dance, pretending to have lost your mind. When the creditors see your sorry state, they will realize that it was brought upon by your difficult predicament. They will then leave you alone…”
The man was elated with the clever advice and did as his friend had instructed. Whenever a creditor approached him, he would pretend to be insane, and they would let him be.
One day, it came time to repay the friend who had advised him, as he, too, had loaned the man a significant sum of money. However when his friend approached him for the money, he began to sing and dance as he had done with the other creditors.
“You fool!” exclaimed the friend. “Was I not the one who advised you on how to escape your creditors? Do you now attempt to use that same advice against me?”
So it is so with people who go about their lives. The Holy One, blessed be He showed kindness to people by granting them the ability to forget, as this enables a person to forget their suffering. Yet people so easily forget the Holy One, blessed be He instead…
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)