The Two Tailors

Our story takes us back to the time of the Alter Rebbe. In our story, we will be talking about two tailors. We do not know their names, so we will call them Reuven and Shimon.

Reuven and Shimon worked together in a little shop that they owned. From their work, they were able to earn money to support their families.

There came a time, when not too many people were coming to Reuven and Shimon’s shop. Maybe one or two people came during a whole week! Reuven and Shimon would not be able to make money like that.

Reuven and Shimon decided that they would travel to different cities, and try to make money. Maybe they would find a town that didn’t even have a tailor! They didn’t have much to lose, so they packed up their things, and got ready to start their journey.

At the first town that Reuven and Shimon came to, they put up signs all over, to let everyone know that they were there, ready fix clothes, or sew new ones.

Boruch Hashem, they were very successful and they had lots of business. Every once in a while, they would return home with a bundle of money for their families.

After a while, Reuven and Shimon’s business was going down. Nobody was coming to give them work. So, they decided to take their things and travel to another town.

The same thing repeated itself a few times, so Reuven and Shimon moved from town to town, and that is how they made money.

Reuven and Shimon decided that if they would have to travel around in order to make a living, they might as well go to a big town far away and stay there for a few months, maybe even a year. Then, after a few months would pass, they would return home with a bundle of money.

So, Reuven and Shimon got all their things together. They also packed up some food with them, to be sure that they had a supply of kosher food.

Reuven and Shimon then went on their way. When they arrived in what seemed to be a big city, they decided that it would be a good place to put up their business.

This city did not have any yidden living there and it did not have any kosher food either. Of course, this city did not have a shul! But still, Reuven and Shimon were making a lot of money there.

After many days and weeks of not being able to replenish their supply of kosher food, Reuven and Shimon started to run out of food. Soon all they had to eat was just fruits and vegetables. They were not able to da’aven with a minyan, and they had to spend shabbos alone.

One day, Reuven and Shimon were walking together, and they passed by a non-kosher restaurant. They smelled the food, and thought: “Who wants to even smell such non-kosher food?”

They crossed over to the other side of the street, but then their yeitzer horas told them: “Hey, why don’t you go in, and have some warm food. You don’t need to eat fruit and vegetables the whole time. Go in and have some meat, potatoes, bread—you’ll have a nice meal.”

Little by little, the yeitzer hora convinced them to go in. “It won’t hurt,” he said. “Do it just once, otherwise you’ll starve.”

So, Reuven and Shimon went into the non-kosher restaurant and they ordered themselves a big meal. At first, they did not want to eat anything, but in the end they did.

When they came back to their hotel room, they felt very bad. Shimon put his hand on his head and said: “Why am I wearing a yarmulka when I ate non-kosher food?”

The yeitzer hora had an “idea.” “So then, why don’t you take your yarmulka off?” he asked. “You might as well then take off your tzitzis, too.”

Well, unfortunately, Shimon listened to his yeitzer hora, and took off his yarmulka and tzitzis. When Reuven saw what Shimon did, he realized that he had also eaten non-kosher food, and he did the same thing that Shimon had done—he took off his yarmulka and tzitzis.

That night, Reuven and Shimon did not da’aven ma’ariv or say shema. The next morning, they did not da’aven either. Soon you were not able to tell that Reuven and Shimon were yidden, r”l.

A year had passed and by now Reuven and Shimon had made a lot of money. They started heading home to their family.

One day, in the middle of their return trip, Reuven and Shimon arrived in Pienna. It was getting dark, so they started looking for a place to stay for the night. But, they could not find any hotels.

Reuven and Shimon decided that they would knock on someone’s door and ask if they could sleep there for the night. At the first house that they came to, they stopped their wagon, and got out.

They knocked on the door, and a old man came to greet them. “How can I help you?” he asked.

“Well,” explained Reuven, “we are travelling here and we need a place to stay for the night. We are also very hungry, and we need something to eat. We are willing to pay you if you let us stay here for the night.”

“Oh, okay,” said the old man. “Come in.” Reuven and Shimon came into the man’s house and the man showed them a place to put down their things.

“You two men seem to be Jewish,” said the man. “Could that be? If so, you won’t be able to eat in my house, because I don’t have kosher food.”

“Yes, we are Jewish,” replied Reuven and Shimon. “But that doesn’t matter. We’ll be able to eat here.” Reuven and Shimon were so used to eating non-kosher food, that it didn’t even make a difference to them!

“Well, okay then,” said the old man. “You make yourselves comfortable while I’ll prepare you a meal.” He then left the room, and locked the door behind him.

Reuven and Shimon were very surprised. Why did the man lock the door behind himself? They did not know what to think. Who knows what the man would do?

The man soon returned with a mean looking face and a knife in his hands. “Give me your money!” he said. “I am sure you have lots of money in your bags, so give it to me now!”

Reuven and Shimon were very scared. They did not want to fight with the man, because he looked very strong. They begged him not to take their money. “Please, do not take our money. We worked hard a whole year, just to earn it. Our families are waiting for the money. Please, do not take it.”

The old man didn’t seem to care what they said. He just got more angrier and meaner-looking. “Give me your money now,” he said, “or else I will use this knife.”

Reuven and Shimon had no choice but to give him their money—a years worth of hard work. The man took the money and said: “Oh, okay! Well, I’m still not finished with you. Now I’ll have to kill you, because otherwise you’ll report me to the police.”

“Please, please!” begged Reuven and Shimon. “Please do not kill us. Our families have been waiting for us a whole year. Just let us go!”

“No! No!” shouted the man. “Do you think that I am going to listen to you? If I kill you now, nobody will know what happened to you, and then I will have all your money HA HA! Get ready! I am coming back in five minutes.”

The man then left the room with the bags of money in his hands. He of course locked the door behind him, just like before.

Reuven and Shimon looked around to see if there was a window so that they would be able to escape, but there was none. Now they started thinking about the trouble that they were in.

They thought to themselves, how did this happen? Then they remembered how they would always da’aven, learn, give tzedaka, eat kosher, and so on. But now, they weren’t behaving like yidden at all!

Reuven and Shimon started doing teshuva. They were begging Hashem to help them. Now they realized what they had done to themselves.

They heard a key in the lock. They covered their eyes and said: “Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echod!” They thought that this would be the end of them. They still kept their eyes covered because they didn’t want to see the old man with his big knife.

They waited, and waited and waited but…nothing happened. They didn’t hear anything at all. But then, they did hear something, and they could not believe their ears.

Reuven and Shimon heard someone say: “Please, take some food, relax, and take it easy.” It just didn’t make sense. They opened up their eyes, and saw that the old man was standing with a big smile a tray with delicious food in his hands.

Not only that, but the food was kosher! The man had somehow acquired kosher food, and was now serving it to them.

They asked the man: “What is going on? Why did you do what you did?”

“Well,” said the man, “it’s a long story, but let me explain. Actually, first I want to tell you something. You Jews have a great Hashem and great tzaddikim! Why am I saying this? Let me explain.

“One night, I heard a knock on my door. I went to the door to see who it was, and I saw a very holy looking Rabbi. I let him in and asked him what he needed, and what he was doing here in middle of the night.

“He said that he was running away from General Napoleon, and now he felt very sick and needed a place to stay for the night.

“I gave the Rabbi a room, and he stayed in my house for a while. Just a few days ago, he passed away in this very house.

“Before he passed away, he thanked me for letting him stay here, and told me: ‘In a few days, two people will come to your house, and you will be able to help them very much.’

“’These people,’ he said, ‘will look like Jews, even though they will not behave like Jews. I would like to ask, that you should help them return to the proper way. If you would just scare them, that would help them very much.’

“I was very surprised with what the Rabbi said, and at first I thought that I would never do such a thing. But now, when you came, you reminded me of the Rabbi’s words, and that is why I scared you as much as I could,” concluded the old man.

The next morning, Reuven and Shimon continued on their journey as frum yidden. They arrived home safely, and then lived happily ever after.