The city was full of forged notes. The Police made investigations and together with private detectives they discovered that the notes were being printed in a basement somewhere in the city.
A large group of officers circled the basement and broke inside. In the basement they found a printing machine and the metal plates for printing the counterfeit money.
All the household members from the apartment above were arrested. The house owner a poor teacher was taken into custody for questioning. He claimed that he had rented out his basement to earn some extra money to try and make ends meet. He claimed he knew nothing about the forgery. Obviously he story wasn’t believed and the case was taken to court.
In the court the prosecutor claimed that he was the owner of the building that had set up a printing press of counterfeit money. They asked for capital punishment for such a serious crime.
The defendant’s lawyer stood up and turned to his client and asked him to stand in the witnessing platform.
The lawyer asked the defendant, “please can you tell the Judge what you do for a living.”
“I am a teacher,” he replied.
“Please can you explain more about your job,” said the lawyer.
“I go around the city and look for students until I have got together seven or eight children. I teach them from eight in the morning till late afternoon, besides a short lunch break.”
“And how much do you earn from a full day teaching?”
“How much can I expect from poor parents? Half a Dinar per week?!”
“And from that you live? That’s not even a minimum salary,” exclaimed the lawyer.
“You wish,” replied the teacher. “not all the parents pay and some have a large debt, just a few pay on time.”
“Do you enjoy your job?”
“Enjoy? Babysitting eight to ten hours a day young mischievous kids? Having to make sure they study and know their stuff, otherwise I have the parents coming to complain and threaten to take their kids elsewhere, not to mention that then I won’t get any new students”
The lawyer turned to the judges and said, “if the printing press was his or even if he had any share in the profits would he be working as a teacher for such a meager few pennies?”
And the judges accepted the claim, the man was found innocent and allowed home.
Now if we had a basement that cut diamonds without breaking the law, would we be working for a meager salary? Surely not.
Now let us stop for a moment and make a calculation. We all know that our Torah study and our Tefilos are eternal diamonds. Our business ..... it depends. What we use to do Mitzvos, to give Tzedaka and support Torah study is also diamonds. What we need to live is basic needs, that’s our teaching job with a meager salary.
The question is where do we put in more hours? Where is our emphasis? On our own learning Torah, davening, on our Chessed and Tzeddaka or on our day to day pleasures?
The Kesav Sofer explains that this is what his father the Chassam Sofer explained in this week’s Parsha. The Passuk starts that Moshe was told to command Klal Yisrael to bring pure olive oil for the Menorah. Chazal tell us that it was a very special and unique job preparing the oil for the Menorah. Only the first drop of oil that naturally came out of the olives could be used for the Menorah. The rest of the oil could be used for certain Korbonos (Menachos – flour offerings) but not for the Menorah.
The Passuk uses an interesting expression – ‘Kasis” beaten out. Rashi brings from the Gemara that this oil that was beaten out was only for the lights of the Menorah, the other Korbonos didn’t need such unique oil.
The Chassam Sofer explains that Chazal tell us that the Menorah resembles Torah study and the Shulchan (the table that stood in the Beis Hamikdash with the lechem hapanim – the twelve loaves of bread) resembles Parnassa.
Katis lamaor, a person should stretch himself for learning Torah, supporting Torah, davening and Chessed, and not kasis le’menachos not to overdo for one’s own day to day pleasures.
