Eliyahu Zlotnick, an orphan, walked aimlessly around the playground as the others ran around playfully. It was a cold, rainy day and those who were not running around were warming themselves with a glass of hot tea which they had purchased from the shamash for a few pennies.
Noticing that Eliyahu was not drinking any tea, Rabbi Aryeh Levine approached him and inquired why he was not warming himself with tea like the other boys. Eliyahu seemed shy and distant, avoided eye contact, and mumbled something about not liking the taste.
All of a sudden, R’ Aryeh realized that Eliyahu did not even have the few cents needed for the glass of tea. Turning to the shamash, R’ Aryeh instructed him to give Eliyahu tea, and quietly told the shamash that he himself would pay for it. The boy looked at R’ Aryeh and smiled in gratitude. But the shamash was confused. “Didn’t the boy just say that he doesn’t like tea?”
“Is that what you heard him say?” R’ Aryeh gave Eliyahu a knowing glance. “I heard him say something totally different. I know that young boy. He’s been an orphan since he was a little baby, when he lost both his parents. He lives in the Diskin Orphanage and goes to school with these boys. The reason he says he doesn’t like the tea is because he doesn’t have even the pittance needed to buy it.” R’ Aryeh looked once more at the shamash. “You have to learn to listen with your heart.”
Reprinted from the Parashat Matot-Masei 5785 email of Rabbi David Bibi’s Shabbat Shalom from Cyperbspace.
