The Ben Ish Chai
Rav Gamliel Rabinowitz related that in the time of the Ben Ish Chai, there was a young man who was a professional thief. One day he went to see the Ben Ish Chai and said to him, “I am a great thief, but now I want to do Teshuvah. Rebbe, please teach me the way for me to do Teshuvah!”
The Ben Ish Chai replied, “If you would like to do Teshuvah, then accept upon yourself that you will never tell a lie.”
The boy was amazed, what does lying have to do with stealing? But the Ben Ish Chai insisted that this was the correct path of action for him to take, and the boy accepted upon himself that no false word would 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. He passed by her house, and when he saw that she was not home, he entered the house, and filled up bags with her valuables, nice jewelry, and a lot of money.
When he was about to leave, he suddenly thought, “If I should happen to meet someone on the way, and he asks me what I am 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!
Seeing that he had no choice, he left all the bags he had filled, and left the house empty-handed. When the woman returned home, she was stunned to see that she had been robbed, but all her things were still there, packed in bags! She quickly checked and saw that not a thing was missing.
She went straight to see the Ben Ish Chai and said, “Obviously, a thief was in my house, but he did not take anything. I am afraid that he will come back for what he left, and I am afraid to be there when he comes. Can the Rav please suggest a Shidduch for me, so that I will not be alone anymore?”
The Ben Ish Chai called for this young man and suggested that he marry this wealthy woman. However, the young man was embarrassed, and he told the Ben Ish Chai everything that had happened.
The Ben Ish Chai said to him, “Just look. All this wealth was given to you by Hashem. However, the Yeitzer Hara tried to entice you to take it by stealing it, but because you overpowered it and fought your desire to take something that was not yours, Hashem is allowing you to have all the wealth in a permissible way!”
Reprinted from the Parshas Naso 5785 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
