In the time of the ‘Ben Ish Chai’ there was a lad who was a professional thief. One day he showed up in the room of the Ben Ish Chai and asked him, “I am a great thief, and now I want to do Teshuva. Rabeinu, prepare the way for me to do Teshuva.” The Ben Ish Chai replied, “Accept upon yourself that you will no longer lie.” The boy was amazed, what does lying have to do with stealing? But the Ben Ish Chai insisted that this is the correction, the boy accepted upon himself that no false word will leave his mouth, and he left.
A few days went by, and the desire to steal arose in his heart. He remembered that a wealthy woman lived alone in the city, with no husband and no family. When he saw that she was not home, he entered the house, filled bags with utensils and nice jewelry and a lot of money. When he was about to leave, he suddenly thought, ‘If I should meet someone on the way, and he asks me what am I carrying? What will I answer him? I am not allowed to lie, and to tell him the truth that I just stole it – I also cannot do that.’ Having no choice, he left all the booty and left the house emptyhanded.
When the woman returned home, she was stunned. She went right to the ‘Ben Ish Chai’ and asked, Obviously, a thief was in her house, but he did not take anything. She was afraid that he would come back, and so she was asking the Rav to suggest a shidduch for her so she would not be alone. The Ben Ish Chai called for this young man and suggested that he marry this wealthy woman. The young man was embarrassed and told the Rav everything that had happened. The Ben Ish Chai told him, “Come see, all this wealth was given to you by Heaven, and the yetzer hara tried to entice you to take it by stealing it, and because you overpowered it, you received all the wealth.”
The Torah commands us to redeem the firstborn donkey (34:20) 'ואם לא תפדה וערפתו' – ‘and if you do not redeem it you shall break its neck’, and Rashi explains, ‘He caused a financial loss to the Kohen, therefore his money will be lost.’ That is, he had an obligation from the Torah to redeem the donkey, but he tried to profit and keep this money. In the end, he lost the mitzvah and the donkey. This teaches us a lesson for all situations, what comes to us we should accept with honesty, and if one tries to profit from what does not come to him – he loses double, but one who overcomes – profits double!
-Tiv HaTorah – Ki Sisa
