A wise Jewish parable about greed
There lived a man in a small town who loved to study Torah. He had his own business, his wife helped him, and everything was going swimmingly. But one day, he went bankrupt. To support his beloved wife and children, he went to a distant city and became a teacher in a cheder. He taught the children Hebrew.
At the end of the year, he received his earnings—one hundred gold coins—and wanted to send them to his beloved wife, but in those days, there was no postal service.
To send money from one city to another, it had to be carried by someone traveling there, paying, of course, for the service.
A peddler of small goods was passing through the very city where the Torah scholar taught the children, and the teacher asked him:
"Where are you going?"
The peddler named several cities, including the one where the teacher's family lived. The teacher asked him to give his wife one hundred gold coins. The peddler refused, but the teacher tried to persuade him:
"Good sir, my poor wife is in dire need; she can't feed her children. If you take the trouble to deliver this money, you can give her as much of the hundred gold coins as you wish."
The greedy peddler agreed, believing he could fool the Torah teacher.
"Fine," he said, "but on one condition: write to your wife personally, telling her I can give her as much of the money as I wish."
The poor teacher had no choice, so he wrote his wife the following letter:
"I am sending one hundred gold coins on the condition that this peddler of small goods will give you as much of it as he wishes."
Arriving at the village, the peddler called the teacher's wife, handed her the letter, and said:
"Here is a letter from your husband, and here is the money. According to our agreement, I am to give you as much of it as I wish." So I'll give you one coin and keep the ninety-nine for myself.
The poor woman begged for mercy, but the peddler had a heart of stone. He remained deaf to her pleas, insisting that her husband had agreed to this condition, so he, the peddler, had every right to give her as much as he wanted. So he was giving away even one coin of his own free will.
The teacher's wife took the peddler to the chief rabbi of the town, who was renowned for his intelligence and resourcefulness.
The rabbi listened attentively to both sides and tried to persuade the peddler to act according to the laws of mercy and justice, but he refused to hear anything. Suddenly, an idea struck the rabbi.
"Show me the letter," he said.
He read it for a long time and carefully, then looked sternly at the peddler and asked:
"How much of this money do you want to keep for yourself?"
"I already told you," replied the greedy peddler, "ninety-nine coins."
The rabbi stood up and said angrily, "If that's the case, then you must give them to this woman, as agreed, and take only one coin for yourself."
"Justice! Where is the justice? I demand justice!" the peddler shouted.
"To maintain justice, we must fulfill the agreement," said the rabbi. "It's written here in black and white: 'Dear wife, the peddler will give you as much of this money as he wants.' How much do you want? Ninety-nine coins? Then give them to him."
Montesquieu said, "When virtue vanishes, ambition seizes all who are capable of it, and greed seizes everyone without exception." And the Apostle Paul once wrote, "The love of money is the root of all evil."
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