Bringing a Shmek Tabak to Olam Haba

The Chofetz Chaim zt”l grew up in the city of Zhetl, which was near Vilna. In Vilna, there lived a man of limited intelligence who would trek several miles on foot to Zhetl every day in order to get a pinch of snuff (a “shmek tabak”) from the gabbai of the shul. He would then turn around and walk back home to Vilna.

The Chofetz Chaim would relate this story as an analogy for our lives on this world. He would say that when we go to the World of Truth, we will be asked what we brought from our long journey of so many years on this world. At that time, we will realize that all we managed to get from our trip was “a shmek tabak”!