The world is filled with wonders and treasures. Some search a lifetime and never find treasure while others stumble upon it.

A son looked to his father and asked, “Have you ever found a treasure?” The father got a faraway look in his eye and smiled  as he took a deep breath and began:

A long time ago I had heard stories of a treasure hidden somewhere in the mountains. I spoke to a friend and he agreed to join me in looking for the treasure. We met at the foot of a mountain one morning and began to follow the trail. It wound ever upward through thick forest. The sun rose steadily until it was directly overhead, and we stopped to eat. The peace and beauty was so strong, one could not help but to pray.

After sometime we gathered up our packs and started up the mountain trail again. We hiked for two or three hours and then found a strange growth of brush. Being curious, we went over for a closer look and discovered that the brush covered the mouth of a cave.

My friend and I decided to explore the cave.  It was very dark but we fashioned a torch from some Bracket fungus found on an old tree stump and pine resin and we went deep into the cave. Soon we came into a large chamber and were shocked to see that there was an old large wooden chest covered in dust sitting by the far wall.

We ran to the old chest tried to open it, but the hinges were rusted as well as the lock. My friend hit the rusted lock with a rock, once…twice…three times the lock fell to the ground. We slowly opened the old chest and found it filled with silver and gold coins. I started to count them but my friend told me to stop. He reminded me that we learned that “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the L-rd of Hosts.” (Haggai 2:8). This is only money he said. This is not a real treasure. If you want money all you have to do is work for it.

I was going to argue with him when we suddenly noticed a big metal chest on the other side of the chamber. “Now that might be the real treasure.” My friend suggested we both ran over to the metal chest. This chest was very hard to open and we were very excited when we finally opened it.

The chest was filled with statues of men and animals. Some of the statues were made of ivory, some were made of marble with diamonds for eyes and rubies for lips, and some were made of gold. My friend took one of the gold statues out of the chest and stood it up. Since he was knelling it almost reached his chin. “Don’t do that!” I yelled. “This is only beauty and art. It is not a real treasure. There must be something better here.”

We searched and searched but found nothing else in the cave. The only thing we found was the two old chests. Then the flame on our torch started to die. The light grew dim. We got scared and crawled back through the cave. I wiggled through but my friend somehow got stuck in the small mouth of the cave. I tried to pull him. I didn’t know what to do so I sat down and prayed. I went over to my friend and talked to him and then we began to pray together. My friend gave me his hands and asked me to pull as he tried once again to get out of the cave. I pulled as hard as I could and slowly my friend squeezed out of the cave.

We sat down by the mountain trail, offered a prayer of thanks giving and then realized we were very hungry and thirsty. We ate, talked and laughed together for a long time. After a time we continued our trek up that mountain trail until we reached the peak and looked out at the magnificent sights below the mountain.

I learned from that mountain trek that wealth and beautiful art are nice but are very shallow and without meaning. The true treasures are faith and friendship. The time my friend and I shared on that trek that was filled with adventure, prayer and gladness.

I found the old lesson that says “make not gold your hope; it is the first step to idolatry” (Hanhagah c. 1320 ce) true as many people become so involved in gaining gold (wealth), that they will do almost anything to get it. Friendship and faith are the most valuable treasures, because “two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9) Everything that friend does and share strengthens each other and sharpens their awareness. For “wisdom leads to tranquility, gold and silver to anxiety” (Mibhar haPeninim #10, c. 1050 ce) and the wisdom of friendship is beyond value.

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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