3 years ago

Story Time: More Precious Than Gold

Our story takes us back a few hundred years ago. Reb Eliezer Lipa and his wife were simple Yidden who lived in the city of Tarnow, Galicia. They were never taught how to learn Torah or understand the words of davening, but they had real emuna and faith in Hashem • By Baila Brikman, Beis Moshiach Magazine • Full Story

They had two young boys, Elimelech and Meshulam Zusya. They hired the best melamdim to teach them Torah, but the two boys didn’t succeed in their learning. This made Reb Eliezer Lipa and his wife very sad, because they hoped that their sons would one day become talmidei chachamim.

Reb Eliezer Lipa worked as a water carrier. In those days, people had no running water inside their homes, so they paid water carriers to bring them water from the well or river. One day, as Reb Eliezer Lipa carried a bucket of water on his shoulders, he noticed his friends standing around a poor traveler and went to join them.

The traveler was really the Baal Shem Tov, but nobody knew! Everyone listened closely to the story he told:

One day, a rich man and a poor man were bringing a korban to Hashem. The rich man was bringing a big, strong ox, while the poor man was bringing a bundle of vegetables. On the way, the ox became tired and refused to move, so the poor man held out his vegetables so it would walk after him.

After the rich man brought up his korban, he felt very good about himself! The poor man, however, felt sad. What good were his vegetables compared to an ox?

That night, the rich man was told in a dream that Hashem got more enjoyment from the poor man’s vegetables than from his ox! Because Hashem doesn’t care how much money we spend—he cares about our kavana. When we serve Hashem with simcha and a full heart, our mitzvos are priceless!

Reb Eliezer Lipa wanted to serve Hashem with all his heart, just like the poor man! He rushed home and told his wife what he had heard. “These days, there is no Beis HaMikdash,” he said. “When we serve Hashem with sincerity and simcha, it’s as if we brought the most beautiful korban to Hashem!”

Reb Eliezer Lipa and his wife were very inspired. For the next few days, they tried to think of a mitzva they could do with their entire heart. One day, Reb Eliezer Lipa had a great idea! He had four big customers who gave him most of his parnassa. Instead of delivering water to them, he would tell the other water carrier to bring them water. Then, he would take over the job of delivering water to the city’s four shuls and only charge them half the price!

He couldn’t wait. Although he would be making much less money, Reb Eliezer Lipa was so excited to do a mitzva purely for the sake of Hashem! He arranged for the other water carrier to take over his old customers and went to draw water for the shuls. Some days, his wife would join him so she could also take part in this mitzva.

The couple were filled with simcha that they were serving Hashem with their full hearts. They hoped that in the zechus of this mitzva, their sons would grow up to be talmidei chachamim.

Two years passed. Meshulam Zusya became bar mitzva, and Elimelech turned eighteen. To their parents’ delight, they wanted to go away from home to learn in a yeshiva! They would finally be able to learn Torah properly!

After a while, Reb Eliezer Lipa heard that his sons were doing well and learning a lot of Torah. They were convinced that it was because of the mitzvos they were doing and thanked Hashem for his kindness.

***

One Friday, when Eliezer Lipa was drawing water from the well, he caught a fish in his bucket! He couldn’t believe his good luck! After weeks of not being able to afford fish for a few weeks, they would finally have fresh fish for Shabbos!

Reb Eliezer Lipa rushed home to bring it to his wife. When she cut it open, something shiny peeked out from under its skin. It was a beautiful diamond! The glittering stone made her very nervous. “We’ve always served Hashem simply and honestly with the work of our hands,” she told her husband. “Is Hashem trying to test us with a lot of money to see if we will still serve Him as before?” Together, they decided to take the diamond to the rav and ask him what to do with it.

“Hashem gave this diamond to you as a gift!” the rav told them. “Just give a tenth of its value to tzedaka, and then you can enjoy the rest of the money!” Despite the rav’s words, Reb Eliezer Lipa and his wife didn’t want to use the money for themselves. They decided to give the money to support talmidei chachamim (people who spent their days learning Torah) and to help poor people.

Although they could have been very rich from the diamond, they wanted to live simply. Reb Eliezer Lipa happily continued his work as a water carrier. It was a simple job, and it made very little money.

A year later, their older son Elimelech became a chassan, and his father-in-law agreed to support him so that after his wedding, he could spend all day learning Torah! Reb Eliezer Lipa and his wife were thrilled, and they thanked Hashem.

Their younger son, Meshulam Zusya, became a fine young man as well. He worked hard to learn Torah and had a lot of yiras shomayim.

***

One day, Reb Eliezer Lipa went to the well as usual. On his way, he stubbed his toe on something hard. Ouch! He bent down and noticed a shiny gold coin next to a broken jug! He dug further into the earth and found a huge pile of coins, enough to fill a whole barrel! He gathered all the coins and took them home.

“I found a treasure!” he told his wife. “Look at all these gold coins!” Instead of smiling, though, he was frowning. It seemed like Hashem was testing them yet again with more money! Together, they decided to bury the coins in their cellar and secretly give the money to tzedaka.

Soon after, their younger son Meshulam Zusya got engaged. When his father in law agreed to support him so he could learn Torah the whole day as well. Reb Eliezer Lipa and his wife thanked Hashem again for his kindness. They now had two married sons who spent their whole day learning Torah.

***

Five years passed. Reb Eliezer Lipa grew older, and it became harder for him to carry the heavy buckets of water throughout the town. He gave his job to a different water carrier, who agreed to give him a small amount of the money he would earn.

Now, Reb Eliezer Lipa was making barely any money at all! Although he had the treasure in his cellar, he didn’t dare use a penny of it for himself. He lived even more simply than before and continued giving a lot of money to tzedaka.

Around this time, Reb Eliezer Lipa’s uncle passed away. He had been a very rich man, and he left all his property and wealth to Reb Eliezer Lipa and his sons. Once again, they didn’t want to use the money for themselves.

They gave their current house away to the other water carrier, on condition that he would continue bringing water to the shuls for half the price.

Then, they packed up their things and whatever was left of the treasure and moved into their uncle’s house. Reb Eliezer Lipa gave the nearby land around their new house to talmidei chachamim. His two sons and their families came to live on the land as well.

Reb Eliezer Lipa and his wife could have been rich many times, but they chose to live simply and give a lot of tzedaka instead. Hashem rewarded them for their good ways by giving them tremendous nachas from their children. Today, everyone knows the names of their two sons, who at first could barely understand the words of Torah!

Their sons became chassidim of the Mezritcher Maggid and learned a lot of Torah from him. Their older son became the famous tzaddik Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk, and their younger son became the famous chassid Reb Zusha of Anipoli! We can learn so much from Reb Eliezer and his wife, who knew that serving Hashem with all their hearts was more precious than gold.

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