Tag: Jewish Stories
The Blessings of the Boy Who Went to Sea
Once upon a time a certain boy went to sea aboard a ship. On the ship were people of 70 different nations. A great storm arose on the sea and giant waves crashed down on the ship. The wind, the torrents of rain and the waves the washed over the deck of the ship caused even the bravest to fear for life. The people cried to the captain, “come save us from this distress.” It did not help in the least, in fact the storm grew more violent. The people tore the hair of their heads in the hair of their beards and begged the captain to save them from the storm.
When they saw that the captain could not help them at all, they said to one another, “there is no value in our trust and admiration of the captain and his skills. Look at this young boy, when he saw the storm beginning he went down below deck and fell fast asleep. The men went down to him and said, “look at the distress and danger around us, how can you sleep? Come call upon your G-d, maybe He will save us so that we shall not be lost.”
The boy stood below the ship’s deck and prayed to the Holy One, blessed be He, saying, “I pray to You, L-rd of the universe. Let your power and might and great name be known this day and remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to whom You talk and now let all the people admit that You are a G-d of truth and let them know that you are a merciful and gracious G-d.”
The Holy One, blessed be He calmed the sea at once, and caused a gentle wind to fill the sails.
When they came to land, each of them brought himself food, and they said to the boy, “buy yourself food as well.” “What are you asking of a poor boy like me?” Said he. “I have no money or wealth with which to buy.” You are not poor,” said they, “but very rich, but all of us people are poor for we cried to powers that did not respond but you, wherever you go, your G-d answers you.”
“Fools!” Said he to them. “It seems to me that your gods who hang around your neck are very far away. But my G-d seems to be far away from me when he is near at hand, as a Psalms says, ‘the L-rd is near to all who call upon him’ (145:18) Moses also said (Deuteronomy 4:7), ‘for what great people is there that has a G-d so close to them as the L-rd our G-d is whenever we cry to him.'” At this, they all began to declare, “your lips speak the truth.”
All blessings begin with “Blessed are You” – as though man were addressing an intimate friend. (Sefer Raziel haGadol , 13th cent.) Blessed be he who comes in the name of the L-rd. (Psalms 118:26)
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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Listen to more stories told by the Master Storyteller, Rabbi Rachmiel Tobesman – The Treasures of the King, the Princess and the Peat Digger, Seven Jewish stories, on iTunes and Amazon or Coins, Candles and Faith, eight stories of faith on iTunes and Amazon
Prayer, Scales and Rain
One can always find comfort in their service to the Holy One, blessed be He as their emunah (faith) is strengthened. One should serve the Holy One, blessed be He with modesty and humility. We learn that “the humble one is regarded as though they had brought all the offerings” (Sanhedrin 43b) as it Psalmist said,
“The sacrifices of G-d are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O G-d, you will not despise.” (Psalms 51:19).
The Ramban wrote a letter to his son in which he explained “ humility is the first virtue, for if you are aware of G-d’s greatness and man’s lowliness, you will fear G-d and avoid sin.” (Igerres haRamban) One’s service to the Holy One, blessed be He is private and is no concern of others for no one can duplicate the service of one’s heart.
Many many years ago there was a drought in Eretz Yisrael. The skies were clear and the sun shined brightly. Water was scarce and the children cried from thirst.
The holy rabbi of Sfas called for a community fast and everyone was to be in the shul (synagogue) to prayer that haKadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, blessed be He) be merciful and bless the land with life giving rain.
The people prayed and fasted, but the skies stayed clear and no rain came.
That night as the rabbi slept he dreamed that the rains would come if the shopkeeper would lead the morning prayer.
In the morning when the rabbi woke, he dismissed the dream because the shopkeeper was not very learned and was not knowledgeable enough to lead the community in prayer. That day the sun’s heat was great.
The same dream came to the rabbi again that night. This time he knew there was something special about the shopkeeper.
As everyone gathered in the shul (synagogue) in the morning, the rabbi called the shopkeeper and told him to lead everyone in prayer.
The shopkeeper looked at the rabbi and saw that he was serious and could not understand why he was to lead the prayer. The rabbi knew he could not even read all of the words of the morning prayers. The shopkeeper looked into the rabbi’s eyes once more and then burst out of the shul.
Many saw the shopkeeper as he ran out of the shul with his tallis (prayer shawl) waving behind. After sometime he returned carrying something hidden in his tallis. He went up to the aron kodesh (cabinet where the Torah scrolls are kept).
The shopkeeper opened the aron kodesh, kissed the sefer Torah and then removed from under his tallis the scales from his shop. Silence fell over the shul as the shopkeeper raised his hands towards the shamayim and began:
“Ribbono shel olam, Master of the Universe, hear me now. If I have ever mistreated anyone in my shop, let these scales be witness against me. Every day when I look at these scales I see Your holy name. As I look at the right pan I see a “yud”, the right pan and arm, a “hay”; the center post, a “vov”; and the left arm and pan, a “hay”. When I see Your holy name I think of the Torah and the many wonders You have provided to b’nai Yisrael. In your infinite mercy please grant the rains so that the people of Israel can sing your praises.
The skies grew dark and the rains came. The people wondered and asked the holy rabbi why this simple shopkeeper’s prayer was answered and not that of the community.
The holy rabbi answered that one should serve The Holy One, blessed be He with modesty and humility and many times our daily avodah becomes mechanical and it done by rote. The shopkeeper sees the greatness of The Holy One, blessed be He everyday and therefore serves him always in the words of the shema (Deut. 6:5), “b’chol levavacha, uva’chol nasfshacha, uva’chol me’odecha (with all your heart, and all your soul and all your might)”
Let us all pray we can find comfort in our daily prayers as did the simple shopkeeper did many years ago in Sfas.
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)
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The King Hears the Cry
A King had an only son, the apple of his eye. The King wanted his son to be wise and sent his son to learn about many cultures and grow in wisdom, so he sent him to far-off countries with much silver and gold. Far away from home, the son spent all the money until he was penniless. In his sadness he decided to return to his father’s house and after much difficulty, he managed to arrive at the gate of the courtyard to his father’s palace.
The prince’s hardships had kept him away from his beloved father for a very long time. So long that he had actually forgot the language of his country and his father’s court. When he came to the gates of the palace, he was unable to identify himself to the guards. In utter hopelessness he began to cry out in a loud voice, and the King, who recognized the voice of his son, went out to him and brought him into the house, kissing him and hugging him.
We call out to Avinu Malkeinu (our Father and King) The King sends a soul down to this world in order enrich the world and to kindle a holy light. However, the soul becomes very distant and forgets everything to which it was familiar with above in the King’s court, and in the long exile it forgets even its own “language.” So it utters a simple cry to its Father in Heaven, as it is taught: “Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets; the angels of peace weep bitterly.” (Isa. 33:7). This is prayer and the blowing of the shofar, a cry from deep within, expressing regret for the past and hope for the future. This cry elicits G-d’s mercies, and He demonstrates His abiding affection for His child and forgives him.
May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a sweet year and blessings
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
Click here for more storytelling resources
Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)
Rachmiel Tobesman is a motivational speaker and Maggid (spiritual Storyteller). He is available for speaking engagements or storytelling, Click here to contact us
Please share this story with family and friends and let us know what you think or feel about the stories in a comment or two. Like us on Facebook or tweet us on Twitter
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Sabbath Observance Rewarded
Long ago it happened that a pious man (chasid) had a beautiful garden behind his house. One day he as he was enjoying the wonders in his garden, he found that a hole was made in the wall of the garden and he wanted to mend it; but he remembered that it was the Shabbos, the Sabbath day, and said, “If I repair the hole, I will have to break the rest of Sabbath day.” Thinking the matter over he left the hole open, for he would not break the laws of the holy Sabbath. Then a miracle happened to him, for a berry bush grew exactly over the spot where the gap had been made, and in this way covered the hole. It was a very big bush and spread it very wide. It produced three kinds of fruit and supported the pious man and his family. This the L-rd, blessed be He, did for him because he refrained from violating the Sabbath and did not repair the hole, but trusted that the L-rd would protect the garden though the hole was not filled up.
The moral is that if a man keeps Shabbos, the Sabbath Day, properly, the L-rd also watches over him.
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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Listen to more stories told by the Master Storyteller, Rabbi Rachmiel Tobesman – The Treasures of the King, the Princess and the Peat Digger, Seven Jewish stories, on iTunes and Amazon or Coins, Candles and Faith, eight stories of faith on iTunes and Amazon
The King Hears the Cry
A King had an only son, the apple of his eye. The King wanted his son to be wise and sent his son to learn about many cultures and grow in wisdom, so he sent him to far-off countries with much silver and gold. Far away from home, the son spent all the money until he was penniless. In his sadness he decided to return to his father’s house and after much difficulty, he managed to arrive at the gate of the courtyard to his father’s palace.
The prince’s hardships had kept him away from his beloved father for a very long time. So long that he had actually forgot the language of his country and his father’s court. When he came to the gates of the palace, he was unable to identify himself to the guards. In utter hopelessness he began to cry out in a loud voice, and the King, who recognized the voice of his son, went out to him and brought him into the house, kissing him and hugging him.
We call out to Avinu Malkeinu (our Father and King) The King sends a soul down to this world in order enrich the world and to kindle a holy light. However, the soul becomes very distant and forgets everything to which it was familiar with above in the King’s court, and in the long exile it forgets even its own “language.” So it utters a simple cry to its Father in Heaven, as it is taught: “Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets; the angels of peace weep bitterly.” (Isa. 33:7). This is prayer and the blowing of the shofar, a cry from deep within, expressing regret for the past and hope for the future. This cry elicits G-d’s mercies, and He demonstrates His abiding affection for His child and forgives him.
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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The Merchandise of a Sage
Once upon a time merchants were traveling when the ship a certain Sage was with them. “Where’s your merchandise?” They asked him; and he answered, “It lies hidden in my safe on the ship.” They searched through the whole ship and found nothing and began to mock him.
When they came to port, the custom officers came on board and took all the ship contained and left nothing there. The Sage came off of the ship and went to the House of Study where he began teaching Torah (Scriptures). The people showed him great honor and invited him to eat and drink with them. Not long afterwards the merchants who had traveled on the ship with him came to and said, “please speak on our behalf to the town folk so that they should have pity upon us, otherwise we shall perish with hunger.” He did so, and because of his intervention much honor was shown to all his shipmates.
From this we can learn that as the book of Proverbs says (3:14):
“For the gaining of it is better than the gaining of silver and the profit of it is better than fine gold.”
One should never say I am not a scholar like the sage, because I never studied Torah as he did. The Torah (Scriptures) brings a man to wisdom. Do not say that another is brave and I am not brave, for the only brave man is one who subdues his impulses in order to do the will of his Maker. As is written in the Psalms (103:20): “blessed be the L-rd, you His angels, mighty beings, who do His bidding!”
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
Click here for more storytelling resources
Listen to more stories told by the Master Storyteller, Rabbi Rachmiel Tobesman – The Treasures of the King, the Princess and the Peat Digger, Seven Jewish stories, on iTunes and Amazon or Coins, Candles and Faith, eight stories of faith on iTunes and Amazon
Hasty Words and Impulsive Actions
They say that there was a certain city in the isles of the sea where the people were good and upright, and in it dwelt a good and G-d-fearing man and his wife. This man and his wife had been married for many years, but had not been blessed with any children. It happened after many more years the wife became pregnant. The man rejoiced exceedingly and said to her: “Be glad, for know that you will give birth to a son who will restore our soul and be gladness to our hearts. I shall give him a good name and instruct him well and G-d will make my name great through him and he will leave me a good memorial after my death.” But the woman said: “Woe to you, do not say what you do not know and the things you are not entitled to say. For how can you know whether I shall give birth or not? Or whether it will be a son or a daughter? Or if the babe will live? Or what his character and deeds will be? Let this be and put your trust in G-d who has given you this gift. And as the wise man does not speak of things he does not know, neither should he judge the deeds of G-d, since there are many thoughts in the human heart, but the counsel of the Lord will be achieved. For whoever wishes to speak as you do will suffer the mishap of the religious beggar.” “And what was that?” said he. His wife said to him:
They say that there was once a religious beggar with a certain king who gave him a meal every day made of a griddlecake and a honey dish. He ate the cake and placed the honey in the vessel he hung around his neck until it was full. Now honey was expensive in those days. One day he lay on his bed and looked at the dish containing the honey and remembered how much honey cost, and said to himself: “When the dish is full, I shall sell it for a gold piece with which I shall buy ten ewes and each of them will give birth to a lamb, and I shall have twenty. After that, I shall let them continue to bear together with their rams and ewes among their offspring, and within four years I shall have four hundred sheep. Then I shall buy a cow and a bull, and by the time I buy land the cows will have calves. I shall take the oxen for plowing and I shall sow the land I buy and plow with them, quite apart from what I shall earn on the cows and the milk and the wool. Before another five years are over they will have increased so much that I shall be very wealthy through them and their offspring; and I shall purchase a large fine building and buy slaves and women-slaves, and everybody will talk about my great wealth. And how pleasant it will be for me if people everywhere should do me honor. I shall take a good and beautiful wife of fine stock and when I come to her she will conceive, and when it is her time to give birth she will bear me a good and pleasant son under a favorable star and at an hour of good will, and he will be blessed and prosper and will leave me a good name after my death. And I shall give him a good name and shall instruct him every day. But if he does not listen to my instruction, I shall thrash him with this stick.” And he raised the stick to thrash his son and hit the vessel with the honey, and it broke and the honey poured down over his head and mouth.
“Now I have told you this story so that you should not talk about the things you do not know, and the Book of Proverbs (27:1) said long ago: ‘Do not praise your deeds of the morrow, for you do not know what the day will bring forth.’
When the Man heard her words, he became silent and learned his lesson. But when her time came to give birth, she bore him a delightful, pleasant, and precious child in whom he rejoiced exceedingly. After her time for purification was over, she said: “Stay with your son, and I shall go to the bathhouse to purify myself.” The father sat at the child’s head for a while, but the king’s messenger came for him and he closed up the house and went away.
Now there was a dog in the house, and a snake came out of a hole to bite the baby. When the dog saw it, he seized it and killed it and his mouth was covered with blood. As for the man, he returned swiftly from the royal palace. When he opened the door, the dog came out to him. The Man looked at him and saw that his mouth was bloody and thought that he had slain the baby. He hit the dog with his staff and killed him without thinking twice. Then he entered the house and, saw that his son was alive and the snake was slain. He repented and sorrowed and grieved for what he had done and said: “If only this child had not been born for then I would not have slain the dog and betrayed him, for these deeds are mine. Who would not be grateful for a kindness that is done to him?”
When the wife returned, she saw that the snake and the dog were slain. She asked her husband and he told her, saying: “This is the fruit of all who act hastily without considering things as they really are. Whoever does such a deed will repent and regret when his regret does not help, and grief will not leave his heart.”
His wife responded: “Be not hasty in your spirit to be angry; for anger rests in the bosom of fools.” (Eccl. 7:9).
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
Click here for more storytelling resources
Listen to more stories told by the Master Storyteller, Rabbi Rachmiel Tobesman – The Treasures of the King, the Princess and the Peat Digger, Seven Jewish stories, on iTunes and Amazon or Coins, Candles and Faith, eight stories of faith on iTunes and Amazon
The Two Brothers
There once was a wealthy man who had two sons living in a distant city. One of the sons was a successful businessman who had grown very wealthy; the other, a penniless pauper. It had been many years since the two brothers had last seen their father, and their reasons for this varied according to their personal situations. Due to his business dealings which were extremely time-consuming, the first brother was simply unable to spare the time to visit his father. The second brother, on the other hand, endured day-to-day hardships that did not allow him to leave home.
One day, the wealthy brother decided that enough time had passed since he had seen his father. He therefore resolved to take a short leave of his business and visit him. He approached his brother and suggested that he accompany him on his lengthy journey.
Upon hearing his brother’s words, the poor brother thought to himself, “This is a golden opportunity for me. As a rule, I hesitate to go around the city collecting charity, for this would be an embarrassment to my distinguished brother. However, now that we will be taking leave of our city I will be able to go from door-to- door in order to raise money”
The brothers set out on their long journey, each one with a different motive in mind. The first brother wished to see his father, while the second wanted to collect alms in places where he would not be recognized.
At the same time, their elderly father was sitting in his home and thinking, “I have two sons in a distant city who do not have the free time necessary to pay me a visit. I yearn to see them, but what can I do?” He immediately decided, “I will travel to them instead!”
And so he did.
Traveling on the road, the brothers met up with their father However; while the wealthy brother was overjoyed to meet his beloved father, the poor son lamented his lost opportunity.
A holy person’s sole intention when he eats is to maintain his body in order to serve the Holy One, blessed be He. An impious person, however, eats in order to satisfy his cravings.
If a person wishes to discover which category he belongs to, it is not very difficult to determine. Let him simply observe his reaction if he becomes satisfied before having finished his portion. A holy person feels great joy over having fulfilled his purpose in eating; an impious person, on the other hand, suffers terribly…
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
Click here for more storytelling resources
Listen to more stories told by the Master Storyteller, Rabbi Rachmiel Tobesman – The Treasures of the King, the Princess and the Peat Digger, Seven Jewish stories, on iTunes and Amazon or Coins, Candles and Faith, eight stories of faith on iTunes and Amazon
The Cracked Bucket
In a small village there was a widow that supported herself and her children by carrying water from the nearby river to the Jewish homes. She had two water buckets which were attached to a sturdy yoke. Each day she would wake up early say a prayer to the Holy One, blessed be He, bless her children before she sent them off to learn the Holy Writings, then put the heavy yoke over her shoulders and went down to the river. At the river she would let down the yoke and filled her buckets with water. Once the buckets were filled she would lift the heavy yoke upon her shoulders and walk back to the village.
Everyday bucket on the right side of the yoke was fine and sturdy always filled when she returned to the village, but the bucket on the left had a small crack in it and by the time the woman arrived back in the village, a lot of the water was usually gone.
The cracked water bucket always felt very bad and was ashamed that he was cracked and wasn’t pulling his weight. One day he turned to the woman and apologized for being cracked.