choose for yourself will be fulfilled in any situation and in all circumstances, and even this will cost you all your possessions, and thanks to this, G-d will help you to succeed in all your ways, and He will protect you from all evil. With tears in his eyes, Matzliah promised his father that he would preserve his last words, and that he was preparing to be especially glorified in fulfilling the mitzvah of washing one's hands in the morning.
Matzliah kept his promise, before going to bed, he would prepare a vessel with water next to his bed, so that he could wash his hands three times each as required by law, immediately afterwards he would recite the blessing on wearing a small tallit, so that he never walked four amot without washing his hands. And it came to pass that he had already sold all the stock of merchandise that his father had left him. He took a large sum of money in his hands and set out on a journey to buy a new stock of goods, in those days the roads were in danger, and people tried not to travel alone, they organized in caravans, hired guards and traveled together, Matzliah joined a caravan of merchants that set out on camels and donkeys, as they headed to the eastern countries, the caravan's route passed through the desert, one day a storm wind broke out and the dust covered and blurred the camel route that passed through the desert.
The convoy stopped for a few days and waited until the storm passed. Finally, after a nerve-wracking viewing, the leaders of the convoy gave the order to continue the journey, when the sun began to set on the west side and the convoy stopped for the night, the leader of the convoy gathered the passengers and said to them: I am very sorry but I must tell you, because because of the storm we lost a few days of journey and also got off the main road, I hope we will not have to go astray for a long time. But one thing is already clear, we are going to suffer from a shortage of water, and I mean drinking water for us and our animals, so I ask you to bring me all the water tanks in your possession, and from now on I will distribute a portion of water to each of us for a day, until we find water or until we reach a place of settlement, I warn that no one will try to hide water, if someone has a drop of water above the lid. Blood on his head.
All the passengers brought their water tanks to the leader of the convoy, who set up two guards with weapons whose job was to guard the common water supply, Matzliah was the last to bring his water swing to the head of the convoy, at first he thought not to hand over the amount of water in his possession, in order to keep water for himself to wash his hands, but how much would he put his life in his hands? The leader of the convoy would surely kill him if he found the forbidden water. He therefore decided to hand over the water in his possession to the leader of the convoy like the rest of the convoy, and to try to make do with the daily ration that would be sufficient for him to wash his hands, so he brought the amount of water in his possession to the head of the convoy, and they asked him to give him the next day's ration of water immediately so that he could wash his hands when he got up in the morning.
The next day when Matzliah got up from his sleep, washed his hands and the water was barely enough for this task, all day Matzliah walked around without a drop of water until he almost fainted from thirst, he recognized that in this way he would not be able to continue for long, so he came to the head of the convoy and told him that he had to get another dose of water, one for drinking and another for washing his hands, when he heard this, the leader of the convoy burst out laughing, Now Matzliah remembered what he had promised his father, and he told the head of the caravan that if there was no other choice, he was willing to give him all the money he had to receive an extra dose of water every day for washing his hands. The leader of the convoy continued to laugh and told Matzliah to bring the money, a few moments later Matzliah brought a bag full of gold coins, and placed it in front of the head of the convoy. He jumped like a snake bite: What are you crazy about, you are out of your mind, so much money in exchange for some water to wash your hands? Merchants never regret it, Matzliah replied calmly, we made a deal, I brought you all the money I had and you will give me water as we spoke, wait a minute, I have to get the consent of the other passengers, I thought you coveted the moon and you don't talk seriously, The head of the convoy gathered all the passengers and told them about the matter, he suggested that they share some of the Jew's money, and in return each one would give up some water so that the Jew could wash his hands as he wished, the passengers thought that the heat and thirst and the rest of the scum of the road had made the Jew crazy, but if he was willing to give all his possessions so that he could pour some water on his fingers, On the contrary, they will be ashamed of him, in the meantime they will make a good deal and win his money, they all agreed with one opinion to fulfill the Jew's wish.
Matzliah would have been happy, he would now be able to fulfill the mitzvah of washing his hands properly, and then recite the blessings, put on tefillin, study and pray, without which his life would not be alive. After many hardships, the caravan passed through the desert, reached more inhabited places, and embarked on the king's road, now Matzliah came to the conclusion that there was no point in him continuing his journey in this caravan, after he had no money left in his hands, he therefore thanked the head of the caravan for keeping his word, and for not traveling on Shabbat as agreed in advance, and also for providing him with water for washing his hands in accordance with the agreement. He wished the rest of the passengers a good ride and withdrew from them.
Sitting in the shade of the Beat tree, he succeeded in following the caravan until it disappeared from his sight, now he was left alone, he sold his camel and the rest of his belongings to one of the passengers so that he would not have to worry about food and water for the animal, and he himself decided to continue on foot, he had in his hand a bag of tallit and tefillin in which also contained a siddur and a book of mishnayot. He set out and soon reached the forest, entered it and hoped to reach a Jewish settlement soon, walking in the forest he was successfully fed on all kinds of fruits and nuts, with his heart full of hope that God would help him and bring him home safely, the more he continued to walk he went deeper into the forest, and soon realized that he was lost on his way, the sun tended to set and he succeeded in looking for a safe place to sleep for the night, He found a clearing that was surrounded by thick trees, in the clearing of the forest there were dull coals in the dugout and it was clear that not long before, there were people here who had cooked something on the fire or warmed up in its light, he managed to cut wood on the coals and blow them up, until the fire rekindled, he decided to stay nearby so that the fire would protect him from wild animals, but he was used not to going to bed without making himself water to wash his hands, And now he found that his water vault was completely empty, he sat down and thought and came to the conclusion that if people are accustomed to camping here and lighting a fire for their needs, it is a sign that there must be water nearby, so he went to look for water, and after turning around quite a bit, found a spring whose water was pure and cool, he bathe successfully, drank to saturate, filled the water nod and began to walk back to the clearing.
Suddenly he heard heavy footsteps and the voices of people who were apparently approaching the clearing of the forest like him, Matzliah hid among the trees and noticed to his amazement a large gang of armed robbers, who were carrying a lot of loot in their hands and were leading a prisoner with them, they passed so close to him that he was afraid that they would hear his heartbeat, when he looked at the people who passed by him he could not believe his eyes, even in the darkness that suddenly descended he managed to recognize the prisoner being led by cables, The head of the convoy from whom he said goodbye only this morning.
