The Figs

This story took place in Tiveria, in the time of the Romans.

One day, the Roman Emperor took a stroll in Tiveria. As the Emperor was going down the street, he saw an old man with a white beard working in the fields.

The Emperor was very surprised to see such an old man working in the fields. He commanded his servant to summon the man to his carriage.

The man stopped working and approached the Emperor. The Emperor asked the man: “You look like a very old man. How old are you?”

“Well, Your Majesty, today is my one-hundredth birthday,” answered the man.

“What? Today is your one-hundredth birthday?” asked the Emperor. “Why then, are you working so hard planting trees? Do you think that you will live long enough to be able to eat from these trees?”

“Hopefully, Your Majesty, I will live to eat from these trees,” the old man answered. “Even if I will not live until then, my children and grandchildren will be able to eat from these trees.”

The Emperor then said: “If you live long enough to eat from your trees, please come to my palace. I would like to taste some of your fruit.”

“With G-d’s help, if I live long enough, I will come to your palace and share with you some of these figs that I am planting now,” said the old man.

Then, the old man went back to work and the king went on his way.

Many years passed…

Then, one day, a very old man came to the Emperor’s palace. The man was carrying a basket full of figs. The guards were very surprised to see such an old man at the palace.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” asked one of the guards.

“I am an old man from Tiveria and I have an invitation from the Emperor,” answered the man.

The guards were not sure if what the old man said was true. One of the guards went to the Emperor and asked him if he had invited this man.

The Emperor did not remember ever inviting him, but said: “Bring him in. I would like to see this old man.”

The guard went back to the palace gates, and escorted the man to the Emperor.

The Emperor asked the man: “Why are you here? I did not invite you! Don’t you know that no one is allowed to come here without an invitation?”

“Well, Your Majesty,” replied the old man, “I know that no one is allowed to come here without an invitation, but I have an invitation.

“Let me explain: Many years ago—when it was my one-hundredth birthday—I was working in the fields. You happened to be taking a stroll through the streets and you summoned me to your carriage.

“You told me that if I would live long enough to eat from the trees that I planted, I should come to the palace and bring you some of their fruit.

“Well,” the man concluded, “I am still alive and here are some of the figs from the trees that I had planted. Please take some.”

The Emperor then tasted some of the figs. He loved them! He was also very surprised that the old man was still alive! He ordered his servants to bring “The Golden Chair” for the old man.

The servants were surprised, because the golden chair was reserved for very special guests! “This old man must be very special,” they thought.

The servants did as the king had ordered. They brought the golden chair and the man sat down.

The Emperor then ordered: “Take the figs out of the basket and then fill the basket with gold!” The servants did what the Emperor ordered.

One of the officers didn’t like how the Emperor was giving honor to this man. He asked the Emperor: “Why are you giving so much honor to this simple old man?”

The Emperor answered: “If the king of the world gives this man so much honor, by giving him long life, I should give this man much honor too.”

The man, then left with a basket full of gold.

When the man came home, one of his neighbors found out how he got rich, and was very jealous of him. He decided: “Let me also take a basket of figs and give it to the Emperor. Then, in return I will receive a lot of gold!”

His wife told him: “Don’t take a basket! That old man was foolish enough to take a basket. You can take a big bag! A bag holds much more than a basket. That way we could get more money!”

So, the man’s neighbor took a big bag and filled it up with figs. It was so heavy. He thought to himself: “You know, my wife is right. I will get a lot of money if I bring this to the Emperor!”

The man then went to the palace and said to the guards: “I heard that the Emperor is taking figs and giving gold. Here are some figs. Now, could you please fill this bag with gold?”

One guard said: “I am going to go ask the Emperor if he does such a thing, because I never heard of this!”

So, the guard went to the Emperor and asked him: “There is someone outside that said that he heard that you take figs and give gold. Should I let him in?”

“No!” answered the Emperor angrily. “I don’t need his figs! Who would dare come here with such a request?

“Take the bag,” the Emperor commanded, “and put it down next to him. Then, whenever someone enters to or exits the palace, they should pick up a fig from the bag and throw it at him!

“Also, tell him that he cannot leave until the end of the day! That will be a good punishment for such a man,” concluded the Emperor.

The guard then went outside and told the man not to move until nighttime. He then put down the bag right next to the man.

“Hey! Give me my bag of gold!” shouted the man.

“What bag of gold?” asked the guard. The man answered: “Don’t you see a bag of gold? Right over there is my bag of gold!”

“That is not a bag of gold! It’s full of figs, and according to the Emperor, anybody who comes here has to take one and throw it at you,” said the guard.

A while later, a man came out of the palace and the guard told him to take a fig and throw it at the man. The man picked up a fig, threw it at the man, and left.

Every person who arrived at or departed from the palace, threw a fig at the man.

Night came and the man went home. He knocked on the door. “Who’s at the door?” asked one of his children.

“It’s me!” answered the man. As his wife was going to open the door, she asked her husband: “What took you so long?”

“Oh, I was busy getting my reward!” he answered.

“That means you must have gotten a lot of gold. Right?” she complimented.

The wife opened the door and she saw a mountain of figs! Her husband was covered with figs!

“What happened?” asked the wife.

“Well,” said the husband. “This is what they gave me instead of gold!”

What do we learn from this story?

We should never be jealous of anyone.

Breem!

There was once a chosid of the Alter Rebbe whose name we do not know, but we will call him Reb Berel. Reb Berel was a businessman who traveled a lot.

Once, Reb Berel went to the Alter Rebbe to request a bracha. One of the things that the Alter Rebbe told Reb Berel seemed very strange. The Alter Rebbe said: “Reb Berel, whenever you go on a business trip, take with you lechem mishneh.”

This was strange, because most of the time when Reb Berel went on a business trip, he did not stay over Shabbos. Why then, did the Alter Rebbe tell him that whenever he went on a business trip, he should take along lechem mishneh?

Reb Berel also thought that what the Alter Rebbe had said was strange, but of course he listened to the Alter Rebbe. On the first trip that Reb Berel took after the yechidus, he brought with him lechem mishneh, even though he left on Sunday and planned to return on Tuesday of that week.

Reb Berel did the same thing on his next business trip, too. Reb Berel would take lechem mishneh with him on all of his business trips, and this went on for five years.

One Friday morning, Reb Berel happened to be returning from a business trip. Of course, he still had his lechem mishneh with him, because he had not used it.

As Reb Berel was travelling in the forest, suddenly someone jumped out in front of him. It was a big, strong robber. The robber said: “Give me your money or you will die (ch”v).” Reb Berel had a large sum of money, which he planned to bring back to his family.

Reb Berel did not want to give up all his money, but if it would save his life, that is what Reb Berel would do. So Reb Berel gave the robber all the earnings from his journey. Reb Berel said to the robber: “Take my money, but now let me go back to my family.”

“No, no, no!” the robber said with a smirk. “You are coming with me. I have your money, and now I have you!” Reb Berel tried unsuccessfully to get away from the robber. The robber took Reb Berel deep into the forest, to his hideout.

At the hideout, which was underground, Reb Berel saw many items that the robber had stolen. But the robber did not expect Reb Berel to see them for long. No, the robber would not release Reb Berel. Just the opposite, Reb Berel would never leave.

The robber said to Reb Berel: “Prepare for your last minute on earth!” Reb Berel started to daven from the depths of his heart. He hoped that Hashem would have rachmones on him, but he prepared for the worst.

Reb Berel then said to the robber: “I know that I am in the middle of the forest, and I will never be able to get out of here. But, I would like to ask that you grant me my last wish.”

“Oh,” the robber said. “Why would you want to have a last wish? You will be finished soon anyway! Heh, heh.

“You know what,” the robber continued, after a short pause, “let me hear your last wish. Maybe, I will be kind enough to grant it to you.”

“Well,” Reb Berel said, “tonight and tomorrow is Shabbos. My wish is to spend one last Shabbos here.”

“Oh!” the robber said, laughingly. “That is such a strange wish—to stay here for ‘Shabbos.’ Okay, I will let you stay here for Shabbos, but I will be out in the forest.

“Even though I will be in the forest, I will leave my dog here to guard you, so that you will not escape. I warn you! Do not even try to escape, because then you will be finished off even before ‘Shabbos’ is over by my nice friend here,” the robber concluded.

The robber then left the hideout, leaving Reb Berel behind to be guarded by the robber’s dog. That dog was no ordinary dog. It was a very, very scary dog. Reb Berel had no chance of escaping with the dog around.

So, Reb Berel just davened. He davened to Hashem to help him. Reb Berel had his siddur with him, so he was also able to daven the three daily tefillos.

When Shabbos came and it was time for the meal, Reb Berel had… his challos! Now he finally understood why the Alter Rebbe told him to take lechem mishneh with him wherever he went. The Alter Rebbe knew what would happen.

Reb Berel was able to use his challos to make kiddush, (which you are allowed to do when you do not have wine,) and his meal consisted of just challah.

Since Reb Berel was not feeling too good, he was not able to eat a lot, so he just had a little bit of his challah.

Reb Berel looked at the dog that was in the hideout. Reb Berel thought: “Let me give that dog a piece of my challah.” So, Reb Berel took a piece of the challah and gave it to the dog.

The dog consumed the challah so quickly, that Reb Berel thought: “That dog must like my challah, but I have to save some for tomorrow.”

So, Reb Berel bentched, said shema and went to sleep. The next morning, he davened shachris, and it was almost like Yom Kippur! Later, he made kiddush on the challah, and had a small meal. (It appears that Reb Berel had with him at least three challos.)

As Reb Berel was eating, he remembered how much the dog had liked the challah the night before, and he decided to feed some to the dog again. The dog of course loved the challah, and started to become Reb Berel’s friend.

Later on, at the third meal, Reb Berel had some more of his challah. He almost automatically gave some to the dog. Boy, did the dog like it!

Soon Reb Berel’s last Shabbos was over. Of course, it was a Shabbos where davening was all that Reb Berel was occupied with.

Not long after Shabbos had ended, the robber came back to the hideout. He saw Reb Berel, and said: “Oh, you’re still here. That’s great! Well now I will finish you off.”

Reb Berel was silently davening to Hashem. The robber continued: “Actually, why should I have to work so hard? I will let my dog do the hard work!”

Then, the robber told his dog to get to work. He said in Russian: “Breem!” That meant that the dog should attack. But, the dog did not move. The robber tried it again. “Breem,” he shouted.

The dog still did not move. He just looked at the robber, and then at Reb Berel, and back again at the robber, but he did not move.

The robber did not understand. The dog always listened to what he was told to do. Why the sudden change? The robber was trying to figure out what was going on.

Meanwhile, Reb Berel was getting a little bored. He decided to help the robber out a little, so he shouted: “Breem!” Suddenly, the dog took action! He ran over to the robber, and…

The End of

(the robber, and)

This Story