Elder Hillel, the elder of Israel, was a great sage and famous for his long-suffering, always calm and benevolent. No one had ever managed to make him angry or angry.
- A person who never gets angry? How is this possible? This cannot be true! - one man said to his friend. “What will you give me if I manage to anger Hillel?”
- It won’t work! No one has ever succeeded in doing this. Hillel will never get angry. But the man insisted:
- Let's go! Look - I can do it! What will you give me if I make him angry?
“If you manage to anger Hillel, I will give you many measures of silver.”
The man heard this and was very happy - many measures of silver - this is a huge pile of money. And he said:
“Now you will see how I will piss Hillel off.” And remember what you promised me.
It was on the eve of Saturday. Hillel was just washing his hair. This man came, walked near Hillel’s house and began shouting loudly:
-Who is Hillel here? Who is Hillel here? Hillel wrapped his wet head in a towel, went out and asked:
- My son, what do you want? And I received the answer:
- I want to ask.
- Ask, my son, ask.
- Why do the inhabitants of Babylon have oval and oblong heads, like eggs?
“You asked me a difficult question, my son,” answered Hillel. “This is because they do not have good midwives, and their babies are born with egg-shaped heads,” Hillel said and went to wash his head.
And the man went, waited a few minutes, returned again to Hillel’s house and began shouting in a loud voice:
-Who is Hillel here? Who is Hillel here? Hillel again wrapped his head in a towel and went out to hear his cry:
- My son, what do you want?
— I want to ask a question.
“Ask, my son, ask,” said Hillel.
— Why do the inhabitants of Tadmor have red eyes?
“You asked me a difficult question, my son,” answered Hillel. “This happens because they live near the sands of the desert.” The sand gets into their eyes, and this makes their eyes red, and Hillel returned to the house to wash.
This man left, but returned a short time later, and by that time Hillel did not even have time to get dressed after washing. And again this man began to shout loudly:
-Who is Hillel here? Who is Hillel here? Hillel wrapped himself up, came out to his cry and asked:
- My son, what do you want?
- I want to ask.
- Ask, my son, ask!
And the man asked:
— Why do Africans have long legs?
“You asked me a difficult question, my son,” Hillel answered. “This happens because they live in the middle of swamps and lakes, and they need long legs so as not to get stuck in the swamp.
And Saturday was quickly approaching. But although Hillel had not completed the Sabbath preparations, he did not rush or rush the man. On the contrary, he invited him to sit down, sat down with him and patiently waited for him to say anything else. And the man said:
“I still have a lot of questions, but I’m afraid that you will be angry with me.”
- Why am I angry with you, my son?
- Well, because it’s Saturday eve, and you’re probably busy, and you don’t have time, and my questions aren’t that important.
Hillel answered him friendly:
- Whatever you want to ask, ask, my son, I have time.
Hearing these words, this man became very angry, and his face turned red with anger:
“Are you the Hillel who is called the Elder of Israel?” - he shouted brazenly.
“I am,” Hillel answered calmly.
This man jumped up and shouted angrily:
- If this is you, let there be no more people like you in Israel!
- Why is that, my son? - Hillel asked calmly.
- Because because of you I lost several measures of silver!
Hillel looked at him and smiled good-naturedly:
“My son,” he said, “be more careful.” It is worth it for you to lose many hundreds of measures of silver and many hundreds more measures of silver because of me, just so as not to know malice in your heart.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru