The following story was sent to me by Hessel Meilech.
A very religious Rebbetzin loved cleaning her silver candlesticks every week. She also helped her friend out in a small business in the Shetel. One day she returned home and the candlesticks were stolen. Her friend said tomorrow we will visit all the homes to find the candlesticks. They found nothing. They then remembered that there was a poor Jewish family that lived in a shack.
They went to the shack and there was the family warming their hands on the candlesticks. Her friend wanted to dash into the home but the rebbetzin restrained her. She said to the lady inside that she had an identical pair of candlesticks.. She would like to buy the candlesticks from her and asked her to name a price. She said 50 dollars. The Rebbetzin replied that in today’s market $200 would be the correct price. She took out the money and the poor family now had enough wood for the year.
Rabbi Drazin and Hessel, thank you for typing out this beautiful story. Lots of helpful words and thoughts. It does give a little comfort to read the nice thoughts of the rebbetzin. These words can help inform the way we should approach things happening in our world right now…..
Shalom, Shmuel
Thank you Shmuel. See what I wrote to Larry Carlin above.
Reminds me of some stories by Peretz.
I agree with what you wrote. Here is what I wrote in a review of The Bet years ago,
I read this book, The Bet, about a man living alone for fifteen years when I was very young and it made a great impression upon me. I think about it often. It is one of my favorite books. My favorite books are, first, the Hebrew Bible in its original Hebrew, which is filled with wisdom and very different and deeper than every translation that I read. Second, Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed because it opened my mind to many new ideas, how to think, and not be afraid to think differently than the general community. I write one or two books on the Torah and Maimonides every year. Third, The Bet by A. Chekov, because it keeps making me think of what is important in life, the value of reading in solitude, and how to improve one’s self and be all that one can be. Fourth, If Not Higher by I. L. Peretz where I learnt that there is something much higher than prayer and the worship of God, and what true worship of God really is. And fifth, Bontcha the Silent, also by I. L. Peretz, that reminds me often of the tragedies that people suffer in life, tragedies they cannot understand.