Zusya and Elimelech spent three years wandering. They wanted to share the fate of the Divine Presence in exile and turn lost humanity to God. Once they spent the night at the same inn, where they celebrated a wedding. The wedding guests turned out to be noisy and quarrelsome, and they also drank excessively. Seeing the poor wanderers dozing in a corner, they decided to have fun. Zusya was lying on the edge, and Elimelech was lying against the wall, so the enraged guests grabbed Zusya, began to push and beat him, and then, completely exhausted, threw him to the floor. Meanwhile, they themselves went to dance. Elimelech was surprised that he was not touched. Deep down, he was jealous that his brother suffered and he didn’t. Therefore Elimelech said:
- Dear brother, let me lie down in your place, and you - in mine, where you can sleep peacefully.
So they switched places.
Meanwhile, the guests had finished dancing, and they again had a desire to have fun. They went and wanted to capture Elimelech. But one of the guests said:
- This is not according to the rules! Let's give the other one the honor it deserves!
So they dragged Zusya out of his corner and beat him again, saying:
- Here's your wedding present!
When Zusya was finally left alone, he laughed and said to Elimelech:
- That's right, dear brother. If a man is destined to receive blows, he will receive them, no matter where he is.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru