Yaakov Hibbert Presents… I Almost Sold a Jew For A Quarter

Several years ago, a rabbi from out-of-state accepted a call to a community in Houston, Texas. Some weeks after he arrived, he had an occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change.

           As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, ‘You’d better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it’. Then he thought, ‘Oh, forget it, it’s only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a ‘gift from G-d’ and keep quiet’.

When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, ‘Here, you gave me too much change’.

The driver, with a smile, replied, ‘Aren’t you the new rabbi in town?’ ‘Yes’ he replied. ‘Well, I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I’ll see you in Shul on Shabbos’.

When the rabbi stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, ‘Oh, Hashem, I almost sold a Jew for a quarter.’

Our lives are the only thing some people will ever read. This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as a JEW, and will put us to the test! Always be on guard – and remember – You carry the name of Hashem on your shoulders when you call yourself a ‘JEW’.

This week’s Parshah opens with “Vayelech Moshe – and Moshe went”. The Medrash interprets the word “vayelech” to mean words of rebuke. But since when does ‘going’ suggest anything to do with rebuke?

There are two ways to rebuke someone. You could tell them off verbally, or you could just rebuke them by exposing them to the right way of doing something. In this instance, the very walking of Moshe through the Jewish encampment was itself a lesson – just watching Moshe walk was a lesson. His actions spoke as much as his words did.

This type of rebuke; of leading by example will enable us to understand a difficult RaMBaM [Maimonides] who explains that there are two types of Nevi’im (Prophets). There are those who receive prophetic insight just in order to broaden their knowledge in a certain area. Whereas others get messages in order to pass them on to the masses.

By definition the word ‘Navi – Prophet’ translates as someone who cries out to the people. There are numerous places where the root of the word ‘Navi’ – ‘Nav’ means “to verbalise”. How then can the RaMBaM call someone who receives prophetic vision with no instructions to pass them, a Navi?

Says R’ Y Abramsky [1886-1976] that even the Navi who doesn’t articulate the vision he experienced, is nevertheless speaking in a different way. How? Via his actions. Just as we have seen that Moshe would reprimand the Yidden by his mere walking.

Good Shabbos, Yaakov