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44 Who Has the Right to Benefit from the Ten Commandments? T O L D B Y M O S H É K E R E N ( E I N E H O R N ) T O Z A L M A N B A H A R AV Hershele Ostropoler was on intimate terms with the rebbe,* who lived peacefully among his Hasidim in a certain town. The Hasidim guarded their rebbe and sat at his table at the melavah malkah feast, Saturday night after Havdalah** , feasting on his leftovers. They also doted on the members of his household. The local magnate, who was fabulously rich, frequented the rebbe’s house, too. The mistress of the house, meaning the rebbetzin, was a handsome and ample and attractive woman. The rich man, a purveyor who supplied provisions to the imperial army and was close to the authorities, had his eye on the lovely rebbetzin and could be found near her whenever possible. From time to time, he would bring valuable gifts to the rebbe himself and his family. The intimacy between the rebbetzin and the magnate did not sit well with the Hasidim. But they didn’t dare call the rebbe’s attention to what was going on, because they were afraid of the magnate and because they didn’t want to irritate the rebbe and spoil his good mood. Hershele the jester paid no attention to what was happening. He had his own opinion about the “friendship” between the rebbetzin and the tall, broad-shouldered magnate, who turned the eyes of the young women and the gentile maids in rich houses. The Hasidim asked Hershele to stand in the breach and warn the magnate to stop fooling around with the woman, because of the commandment “You shall not covet.” Once, before the Shavuot festival, the Hasidim were sitting and talking idly about the approaching holiday, the festival of the Giving of the 326 * A Hasidic rabbi. ** The ceremony that marks the end of the Sabbath. See commentaries to tale IFA 5361 (in this vol., no. 17) and tale IFA 8792 (in this vol., no. 5). Torah. Hershele and the magnate were among the group. Hershele began telling a story: “Back then, before the giving of the Torah, when our teacher Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments in the form of the tablets of the law, he invited the souls of the righteous to be there. One Jew who had left Egypt had owned an inn and tavern in the city of Ramses. When they left Egypt, he liquidated his business and came into the wilderness with all of the holy congregation. That day, all those who had left Egypt were gathered around Mount Sinai. But the ex-innkeeper had an idea. “ ‘I’ll pitch my tent at a crossroads a little way off from the mountain. Every pious person will pass my inn and come in and have a small drink before he says “We will do and obey.”* And on his way back after the giving of the Torah, before he submits to the yoke of the commandments, he’ll want to drink another small glass of brandy.’And that’s what he [the innkeeper] did. “When the pious people began returning from the mountain, after they had heard the thunder and lightning and had seen the tablets of the law and what was engraved on them, the innkeeper greeted the first man and asked him, ‘What did you hear? And what did you receive?’ “The pious man replied, ‘I agreed with everything that was proclaimed at Mount Sinai—“I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage:You shall have no other gods besides Me.” I said, “That makes sense; it is impossible to serve other gods. We must be faithful to the one and only God.” ’ “The innkeeper turned to the second man, who had arrived in the meantime. ‘And what did you hear?’ “The pious man said, ‘It is written in the Ten Commandments: “You shall not steal.” It is a good idea to observe this commandment. Someone who steals from his fellow is taking another person’s property for himself. You benefit, but the other man loses, so what the thief does is unjust.’ “The innkeeper turned to the third pious person who was waiting for a drop to drink—he was a rich man with lots of property: ‘Tell me, what...

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