One day Rabbi Chaim from Zans stood at the window and looked out onto the street. Seeing a passerby, he knocked on the window and motioned for him to enter the house. When he entered the room, Rabbi Chaim asked:
- Tell me, if you find a wallet of gold, will you return it to its owner?
“Rabbi,” he answered, “if I knew who the owner is, I would return the wallet without hesitating for a minute.”
“You are a fool,” said the rabbi from Zans.
Then he returned to the window, called another passerby and asked him the same question.
“I’m not such a fool as to give away the wallet with money that I found,” he answered.
“You are not good,” said the rabbi from Zans and called a third.
He answered the question like this:
- Rabbi, how do I know what I will be like when I find the wallet, and whether I will be able to protect myself from evil will? Perhaps she will prevail over me, and I will appropriate for myself what belongs to another. But maybe God, blessed be He, will help me cope, and I will return what I found to its rightful owner!
- These are good words! - exclaimed the rabbi - you are a true sage.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru