The Hasidic Parable

Where the True Treasure Is to Be Found

Where the True Treasure Is to Be Found henever a young man would journey for the very first time to the tzaddik [the hasidic holy man] to visit his court, Rabbi Bunam would tell him that he should know what occurred in the case of Reb Izik [the son of] Reb Yekelish of Krakow, who built the synagogue in Krakow known as Reb Izik Reb Yekelish's shul. And this is what took place: Reb Izik R. Yekelish dreamed a number of times that he should journey to Prague, and there, adjacent to the king's palace beneath the bridge, he should dig in the ground where he would find a great treasure and would become rich. So he journeyed to Prague, and upon arriving he approached the bridge near the royal palace. But soldiers were walking on patrol there day and night, and he feared to proceed to dig in the ground in quest of hidden things. He was greatly distressed, for after having gone to such tremendous effort he would be returning home with nothing. All day long he would walk back and forth near the bridge, preoccupied with his thoughts, and when it became dark, he would return to the inn to rest Again the next day and the day following, he would 172 Where the True Treasure Is to Be Found henever a young man would journey for the very first time to the tzaddik [the hasidic holy man] to visit his court, Rabbi Bunam would tell him that he should l~now what occurred in the case of Reb Izil~ [the son of] Reb Yel~elish of Kral~ow, who built the synagogue in Kral~ow l~nown as Reb Izil~ Reb Yel~elish's shu!. And this is what tool~ place: Reb Izil~ R. Yel~elish dreamed a number of times that he should journey to Prague, and there, adjacent to the l~ing's palace beneath the bridge, he should dig in the ground where he would find a great treasure and would become rich. So he journeyed to Prague, and upon arriving he approached the bridge near the royal palace. But soldiers were wall~ing on patrol there day and night, and he feared to proceed to dig in the ground in quest of hidden things. He was greatly distressed, for after having gone to such tremendous effort he would be returning home with nothing. All day long he would wall~ bacl~ and forth near the bridge, preoccupied with his thoughts, and when it became darl~, he would return to the inn to rest. Again the next day and the day following, he would 172 The Polemics of an Hour of History 173 corne in the morning to that same place and he would walk around there all day long, and toward evening he would return again to the inn. Day after day, the official standing there, the head of the king's guards, would see a Jew who looked like a poor man clad in sadness and distress, walking around and around near the bridge. So he called out to him and, in a gentle way, asked him, "What are you looking for, for whom are you waiting here all these days?" So he told [the guard] all that had happened, that several nights in succession he had a dream that here a great treasure is buried, and for this purpose he carne, with great effort and trouble, to Prague. And then the official broke out laughing and he remarked to him, "Was it worth journeying such a long way simply because of a dream? who believes in dreams anyway? I myself had a dream in which I was told to journey to the city of Krakow where there is a certain person named Izik R. Yekelish, and that if I dig there beneath his stove, in the house of that Jew, Izik R. Yekelish, I would find a great treasure. But do you think I would trust in empty dreams? And for this purpose to journey to Krakow? And in corning here, you did just that sort of foolishness!" Now, when Izik R. Yekelish heard the official's words, he understood that the real purpose of his corning here was that he might hear those words and know that the treasure is not found here but rather in his very own house, that he must dig and seek within his own dwelling and there he will find the treasure. He...