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The Dirty Penny

In the city of St. Petersburg two hundred years ago, a desperate situation arose in which a ransom of tenthousand rubles was demanded for a young bridegroom. This experience was not uncommon in those

days, when unscrupulous police, military, or other people in power would arrest or kidnap Jews anddemand ransom, for they knew that Jewish law required the Jewish community to do anything-includingselling a precious Torah scroll-to save a Jewish life.

Three talmudic students in the area realized that the only place to get such a sum was from awealthy man named Ze'ev. Now ze'ev is the Hebrew word for wolf, and this man was aptly named. Hewas ravenous for wealth and would do anything to acquire it. He could also be vicious when turningpeople away who requested donations. He never contributed to anything.

These three rabbinic students were to become famous rebbes. The youngest of the three waslater known as the Alter Rebbe, Shneur Zalman of Lyady. He was the leader of the three because he wascertain that they would be succesful with Ze'ev. The other two were Reb Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev and

Reb Mendel of Vitebsk. They were far more skeptical about getting money out of Ze'ev, and wereconcerned about wasting precious time. But they wanted to accompany Shneur Zalman to provideprotection. He agreed on condition that they would not say anything during the fundraising, no matterwhat happened.

Ze'ev was stunned, and somewhat honored, to see a delegation of three rabbis at his door. Healso was suspect, but he invited them in nonetheless. They had tea and talked about the weather for awhile. Finally Shneur Zalman got around to telling the story. He told of an orphan boy who had nofamily and whose wedding was only a week away. The boy had been arrested on a trumped-up charge,and now he could not be released without the paying of a ten-thousand-ruble ransom.

As Shneur Zalman spoke, Levi Yitzhak and Mendel could see tears welling in Ze'ev's eyes. Atthe end, Ze'ev said, "Such a sad story. You have touched my heart. So I would like to help." LeviYitzhak and Mendel were startled. How had Shneur Zalman done it ? Then quite suddenly their delight

turned sour, for Ze'ev reached into his pocket and pulled out one rusty, dirty kopek-worth a penny-which may have been in his pocket for ten years. He handed this paltry sum to Shneur Zalman as if itwere a major contribution.

The two older students were shocked by such miserliness, but they had agreed before comingnot to say a word. This was Shneur Zalman's project.

What did Shneur Zalman do ? He began to praise in the most lavish language imaginable thiswonderful contribution: "Oh, sir, you do not know what this means to us. We are so grateful for yourgenerosity. I want to bless you and your wife and your children that you should be successful in yourbusiness, you should be the beneficiary of good health, you should be graced with love....." On and onhe went, giving blessings in abundance.

Finally, when Shneur Zalman had finished, the three rabbis gathered to leave. Ze'ev stood at the

door. As they were departing, Ze'ev said, "You have touched me so much with this story, I feel that Imust give you more." He reached into his pocket and pulled out another dirty kopek.

Reb Levi Yitzhak and Reb Mendel were infuriated, but they said nothing, as they had promised.Reb Shneur Zalman, on the other hand, began a new round of praises and blessings that lasted anotherten minutes.

Finally they were out on the street, walking away from the house. Levi Yitzhak said to his friend,"Are you crazy ? We just spent an hour for two lousy kopeks !"

"Hush,"whispered Shneur Zalman.Sure enough, when they were about a hundred feet from the house, the front door opened and

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Ze'ev called out, "Teachers, come back."They returned to the front door. With a great deal of fuss, Ze'ev proudly handed them a one-

ruble coin. "I want to make a serious donation." Of course, Shneur Zalman spent yet another fiveminutes with new praises and blessings.

They began walking away. Mendel said, "The way I calculate it, we just spent over an hour toget one ruble. At this rate, it will take us ten thousand hours. We ought to have the boy out of jail infour or five years."

"Hush," whispered the future Alter Rebbe.Again the front door opened and Ze'ev called out. They returned, but this time he gave them ten

rubles. A few minutes later it was one hundred rubles. Then five hundred; then one thousand. Finally,after a dozen returns, he wrote out a check for the balance so that they had the full amount of tenthousand rubles.

The two skeptics were numb with amazement. It had taken a few hours, but they had the entiresum. As they walked away, they asked excitedly, "How do you do it ? How did you know he would giveso much ?"

Reb Shneur Zalman said, "When our hearts are covered with a thick shield, the barrier not onlykeeps things from coming in, it also keeps them from going out. There is no way to remove this shield

over the heart all at once. So what we must do is find a way to make the tiniest crack. Then each littleopening of generosity leads to another.

"This idea of slowly breaking down our barriers is the secret of all success: it works for charity,it works for learning, it works for love. Every time we do a good deed, it builds the capacity to do more.No matter what you want to accomplish, you can begin with something that may seem trivial, even adirty penny. Let yourself slowly evolve, widening the crack. Ultimately you will be able to pass througheasily."