The Secret of the Stone from Heaven: Why Did the Tanna's Wife Refuse to Become Rich?
Lesson No. 64 | * (Continued from 63) Tuesday night, the eve of the 15th of Av 5756, to the young men of the group in the Kloyz in "Beis Yisrael"
When Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta received a precious stone from heaven to buy provisions for Shabbos, his wife firmly refused to benefit from it. Through this wondrous story, a deep secret is revealed regarding the relationship between this world and the World to Come, and the power of pure emunah (faith) and simplicity.
A story is told about a righteous Jew named Reb Ozer, who stood one Thursday night doing hisbodedus (personal prayer), crying and crying out to Hashem that he had no provisions for Shabbos. At that very hour, a flour merchant was passing by on the street below the synagogue. He heard a Jew shouting and crying, and went to see if perhaps something had happened to him or if he was being attacked. As he approached the door, he heard Reb Ozer's hisbodedus, begging for the holy Shabbos. The merchant immediately understood what a supreme tzaddik and holy man was inside, and he promptly brought a large sack of flour to his house. When Reb Ozer returned from his hisbodedus, he found a sack of flour in his home that lasted him for several months. Instead of looking for free-loan funds and taking out loans, a person needs to go out to the field and cry out to Hashem. You will come home and see a house filled with every good thing; someone will already come and prepare everything for you in the most beautiful way.
A Diamond in the Middle of Hisbodedus
The Gemara relates that Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta went outside the city and prayed before God. He did hisbodedus and cried out, "Master of the Universe, what will be for the holy Shabbos?" Suddenly, he was given a precious stone from heaven. A person is standing in the middle of hisbodedus and suddenly finds a diamond worth a million dollars! A person cannot even imagine the power of hisbodedus.
He took the stone to a money changer, gave it as a deposit, and received a sum of money in return to buy all the provisions for Shabbos—meat, fish, and vegetables. When his wife returned home, she was amazed to see the table set with every good thing. After all, when she left, there was absolutely nothing in the house. She immediately asked him, "Where is this from? Did you go to a free-loan fund? I do not want you to take out loans, where is the money from?" Rabbi Shimon tried to evade the question and told her, "Just be happy, why are you so interested?"
Stones from the Earth, Not from Heaven
But his wife stood her ground. Just like the women of Israel in the desert who refused to give their jewelry for the sin of the Golden Calf and did not look for any loopholes, so too she said, "I am not starting to eat until you tell me where this food and money came from."
Rabbi Shimon was a humble and lowly person. He did not want to tell her that he had received a stone from heaven. A person does not need to tell everything, not even to his wife. Rabbeinu Yona brings down on Tractate Avos that one must guard their mouth and not boast about miracles and successes. However, since she said, "I will not taste a thing," he was forced to tell her, "I went to the field, I prayed before God to give me something for Shabbos, and behold, I received a stone worth a million dollars from heaven."
To his astonishment, his wife replied, "Excuse me, I do not want stones from heaven. I want stones from the earth. I demand that you take the stone and throw it back to heaven. Promise me that after Shabbos you will return it!" Rabbi Shimon asked her in wonder, "Why? What is the matter? What is wrong? We already received a treasure!"
The True Accounting of the World to Come
His wife answered him, "You are Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta, the greatest of the Tannaim through whom the entire Torah is transmitted, and you do not know that whatever one receives from heaven in this world will be deducted from you in heaven in the World to Come? Every penny you receive here in this world is deducted from your World to Come. Every drop you taste and every bite you eat in this world all comes at the expense of the World to Come!"
She continued and said to him:
"Do you want your table to be lacking, while your friend's table is full? That everyone here will learn in poverty, and we will be the only millionaires and receive our World to Come right now? I do not want even a hairsbreadth to be deducted from my World to Come. I am willing to lie on the ground my entire life and eat only a piece of bread."
Rabbi Shimon's wife was a truly righteous woman. She knew all the secrets of Judaism—what brings one to the World to Come and what detracts from it. Her emunah, simplicity, and true fear of heaven were absolutely perfect. 'A woman who fears Hashem, she shall be praised'; she had no confusion whatsoever, traveling on a single straight path for a hundred and twenty years without deviating to the right or the left.
Ultimately, Rabbi Shimon saw that she was right. She grasped the true point of life. True tzaddikim, like the Breslov Chassidim of old, lived in absolute simplicity. They would sleep on benches without a bed, go out to the fields to do hisbodedus in the snow without a coat, because they burned with a fire for Hashem, and they knew that any unnecessary comfort in this world detracts from their merits for all eternity.
Part 1 of 5 — Lesson No. 64
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