of the land gathered to discuss it, but they did not find anything wrong with his actions as long as he himself did not leave the borders of the land. The inhabitants of the Land of the Good Life considered the old man to be crazy. He has only a year to live, and instead of enjoying every moment, he makes himself warehouses and hideouts that he will never get to see...
The year passed in a flash, and the time for the trial of the wise and old man arrived. This time all the inhabitants of the country gathered for the trial, to witness the end of the strange and curious man. The man was led in heavy chains and brought before the three judges. "Why did you come to our country, the land of beautiful life?" asked the elder of the judges. The man looked directly at his judges and declared: 'I came here to be eaten by the lions.' The judges smirked at the answer, which was undoubtedly false. Who comes to be devoured by the teeth of evil animals? This is a complete lie! "The answer is false – and therefore your sentence is to be sent to the lion cage," the judge declared. Two ladies grabbed the old man's hands, but he wanted to say something before the sentence was carried out. "Gentlemen," he said, "if you throw me into the lion's den, then my answer is true, and if so, you are not allowed to throw me to the lions, but to put me in a cage where I will die of starvation." The judges whispered among themselves for many minutes, and soon the old judge announced their decision: 'Since the defendant has told the truth, he must be put in a cage where he will die of starvation.' But then he again wanted to say something: 'Gentlemen of the judges, if you put me in the hunger cage, it means that I was not thrown into the lions, and if so, I lied, and therefore you should throw me into the lion cage...' The great embarrassment was evident on the faces of the judges. They whispered among themselves for a very long time, looking at a loss, until the old judge knocked his hammer on the table: 'The defendant is free, but he must leave our country today...' The wise old man left the land of the beautiful life, working near the places where his servants had buried the gold and diamonds, and he returned to his land rich and full of possessions.
Our world is the Land of the Beautiful Life. We come here for a limited period of time, and we can enjoy it without limitation, but in the end it is over, and we can be left with nothing. But those who have taken care, like that wise old man, to prepare for themselves valuable deposits outside the boundaries of the Land of the Beautiful Life. Those who do mitzvot and good deeds that will be in their favor when their souls return to the upper world, He came out of the trial with the upper hand.
