In pre-war Yeshivas Radin, there learned a young married man who was known for his extreme diligence and brilliance. He also was very poor, and he would often complain to the Chofetz Chaim zt”l about his poverty. He would say, “Rebbi, if Hashem would grant me wealth, I would give tzedakah very generously!”
After some time, the young scholar began to engage in business and, indeed, he saw much success. Within a short time, he became very wealthy. However, he forgot his promise to give a lot of tzedakah and, on the contrary, he became very miserly.
A few years later, the Chofetz Chaim came to visit the city where this rich man now lived. The man came to greet him and the two began to converse. During their conversation, the man said, “Rebbi, I am ashamed to admit that I have been stricken with the trait of stinginess. It feels like my hand is closed with a lock and key and I cannot bring myself to give away any of my money. What can I do about this?”
The Chofetz Chaim told him, “Let me tell you a moshol: A villager once approached a storekeeper with a small sack and asked to but a ruble’s worth of flour. The storekeeper said to him, ‘Go ahead and fill up your sack by yourself.’
“When the villager heard that he was permitted to take the flour by himself, he ran home and got his biggest sack, which he proceeded to fill with flour. He then walked over to the storekeeper and handed him one ruble.
“The storekeeper told him, ‘You filled up a huge bag and think you only have to give me one ruble?’
“The man said, ‘I told you that I only wanted to spend one ruble on flour and you said I could fill up my sack.’
“The storekeeper replied, ‘That was when I saw you with a small bag, but you switched it for a big one. If you use a bigger bag, you’ll take more flour, and that costs more money.’”
The Chofetz Chaim concluded, “You think you can gather a lot of wealth and your yeitzer hara will remain the same as when you were poor. The truth is that the more wealth you get, the bigger your yeitzer hara not to give tzedakah will grow, and it will make your middah of miserliness bigger and bigger.”
