There were two Jewish merchants who were good friends. They used to purchase all kinds of goods, and one of them was a very handsome man indeed. One day they heard that a certain noblewoman had many goods, which she had inherited, to sell. They went to her place to purchase whatever she had. Now she had never seen a Jewish person, and her family had told her only bad things about them. When she asked her servant about these visitors, he laughed at her, saying: “Your family were not honest with you. They are like other men and lack for nothing except that they have no homeland now.” When she heard this, she wished to see the visitors and went to the entrance. There she was very surprised seeing the handsome merchant, whose face seemed to brighten the whole room. So she sent for him and spoke to him, and she was amazed that he could speak her language. She thoroughly enjoyed talking to him, and the flame of desire for him burned within her.
Their business was concluded, the other merchant went to the neighboring villages in order to hire wagons for transporting the goods, while the handsome one with the noblewoman. That night she sent for him to dine with her. He came and enjoyed the food, wine and conversation. The noblewoman told him how she loved him, and gave him all his share of the goods as a gift. With the desires for wealth and for the noblewoman joined, and he could not resist them.
In the morning, his friend returned with the wagons, they loaded up the goods and went their way. While on the road the handsome merchant recalled what he had done and was very ashamed of himself. His friend asked him what was troubling him, but he put him off with various excuses. He wanted to ease the burden of his friend so he insisted on knowing the real reason his friend was troubled and at last, under his pressure the handsome man told the other what had happened. The friend tried to comfort him, but he was not prepared for consolation and wept for what he had done. When his friend saw that he refused to be comforted, he offered to purchase the transgressions from him. They shook hands on the sale and returned home; and the man who had purchased the transgression grew very wealthy and was prosperous in all he did.
In due course the wealthy merchant died; and when he appeared before the Heavenly Court to give a reckoning for his deeds, they included the sin of his friend among his own. The dead man appeared to his friend in a dream and summoned him for trial before a very holy rabbi.
The man was terrified and did not know what to answer; and the dead man appeared in his dreams nightly until he became very sick. Then the sick person begged his family to carry him in his bed to the holy rabbi. They did so, and he told the rabbi of the dreams.
The rabbi said to him: “Have no fear! When he comes to you again, tell him that the Torah ‘is not in heaven’ (Deut. 30:12), and if he wishes for a trial, let him come before me together with you.” The rabbi set a special time for this trial according to the Torah.
When that time came, he sent the synagogue attendant to the grave¬yard to summon the dead merchant. The dead man came together with the living; and a minyan (a group of ten men) gathered in the synagogue.
Then both the dead man and the living stated their arguments. The holy rabbi listened to both ever mindful. The holy rabbi spoke to the living man saying,” A sin’s beginning is sweet, but its end is bitter. (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 2:2) One must always remember that ‘No sin is so light that it may be overlooked; no sin is so heavy that it may not be repented of.’ (Shiras Yisrael, 12c) The matters before us today are indeed great, for the wealthy merchant only wanted to ease his friend’s pain.”
After a moment or two the holy rabbi continued, “Those who commit sin and do wrong are their own worst enemies. (Tobit 12:10) For this reason the living man was troubled down to his very core by his sinful behavior.” After listening to the two before him, the holy rabbi found that the words of the living man to be sincere and ruled against the dead merchant.
The holy rabbi concluded that, “Happy is he who repents while still a man (Avodah Zarah 19a) for had the living man carried his own sin, he would have repented it long ago.” The holy rabbi consoled the dead merchant saying that he would perform reparation for his soul and lighten his punishment.
When the rabbi had declared his judgment, the sound of loud weeping was heard; and in the spot where the dead man had stood there now appeared a large cloud of smoke.
Based on Adas Tzadikkim 41-5
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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