A poor person earned his parnassah by digging and selling clay. Once, he was digging in the earth, and found a precious stone, worth a great fortune. He went to a jeweler to have it appraised. The jeweler said, "There is no one in this country that can pay for its value. You should travel to London, to the capital city..."
But he was poor, and he didn’t have money to travel. He sold everything he owned, and he went from house to house collecting handouts, until he had enough money to travel to the port.
He wanted to get on a boat that was heading to London, but he didn’t have money, so he went to the captain and showed him his diamond. The captain immediately welcomed him onto the ship with great honor. "You are surely wealthy." He gave him a first-class private cabin with all amenities, as is given to the very wealthy.
Enjoyed Looking at His Diamond
His cabin had a porthole to the sea and he would always make himself happy with his diamond. He would especially cherish and look at his diamond as he ate his meals, because joy is good for digestion.
Once, he was eating his meal with the diamond on the table and he fell asleep. The cabin boy came in, took the tablecloth with the crumbs on it and dumped them into the sea. He didn’t realize that the diamond was on the table. When this man awoke, he understood what happened, and was immensely distressed. He almost became insane from agony.
But he couldn’t afford being sad, because the captain was a crook, and would surely kill him if he didn’t pay for the passage. So, he continued to be happy, pretending as though nothing happened.
The captain used to come and chat with him for some time every day, and that day, he came as usual. The man pretended that he was happy. It wasn't noticeable on his behavior that anything changed.
The captain said to him, "I know that you are wise and honest. I want to buy a lot of wheat to sell in London. I can earn a lot of money from this transaction, but I'm afraid people will say that I'm stealing money from the king's treasury. Therefore, I want the purchase to be on your name. I will pay you well for this." The man liked the idea, and agreed.
As soon as they arrived in London and purchased the wheat, the captain died. The wheat remained with this person and he profited several times more than the value of the lost diamond.
Reb Nachman of Breslov concluded from this mashal, "The diamond was never his. The proof of that is that it got lost. The wheat was his, and the proof is that its profits remained by him. And the reason he got what’s rightfully his is only because he remained happy.”
Reprinted from the July 4, 2024 email of Torah Times Media
