There was a very wealthy merchant who was very learned in Torah. He had a beautiful daughter named Adina. She was like her father, intelligent and wise. She was very quiet, but above all else, she loved to help the poor. She welcomed every beggar or person in need who came to the door and sat them down to a fine table filled with good food, and as they left, she gave them a generous donation of money to help them on their way.
A beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant always attracts young men who want her hand in marriage. Among Adina’s suitors was a certain wealthy man who owned many flocks and herds. Adina agreed to marry him, and the wedding celebrations lasted the customary seven days. What Adina did not know was that as kind, generous, and charitable as she was, her new husband was mean, miserly, and selfish. In his whole life, he had never once given even a dry crumb of bread to a poor person.
One day, a ragged beggar appeared at their door. He had not eaten in two days and was very hungry and tired. Adina received him warmly, as was her way. “Welcome to our home,” she said. “Come sit at our table and eat with us!”
The moment her husband saw the man, he shouted, “Don’t you dare enter this room! Get out of my house this minute. No dirty beggar eats at the table with me!”
Adina was shocked and very hurt. Much to her shame she now knew what her husband was like. So she left him, went back to her father’s house, and was divorced from him.
After that, other suitors came to ask for Adina’s hand. But as soon as they heard about how charitable she was, they left. “She’ll give away all my money.” one cried, “Should I eat at the same table with beggars? Never” others would say. No one wanted to marry her.
One day a man came and when he was told how Adina was so charitable, he said, “What could be better than a charitable woman with a good heart?” So the two of them were married.
One evening, they were sitting at the table, dining, and there was a knock at the door. When Adina got up from the table and opened the door, she saw in front of her a beggar—weak, tired, and hungry from much walking. As she looked closer at his face, she gave out a cry and fainted. She had recognized him: It was her first husband, the miser, who had lost all his money and was now begging from door to door!
When she recovered, her new husband revealed to her why he loved her generous nature. He said, “I was the beggar whom your first husband threw out of the house.” He had received a new start in life and had become wealthy.
Reflecting on what had happened, Adina replied, “Great are the deeds of the Holy One, blessed be He. Who raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the needy out of the dunghill” (Psalms 113:7).
“To him who has the means and refuses the needy, the Holy One says: Bear in mind fortune is a wheel.” (Tanchuma Mishpatim #8) A husband who complains about a holy woman’s excessive charity might not realize that he too may one day be in need.
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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