Helping the Poor:

A Story Once just before Pesach someone arrived at the house of Rabbi Josef-Baer from Brisk, to ask a legal question:

The Questioner: Teach me, Rabbi; can one say Kiddush on Pesach over four cups of milk?

The Rabbi: Pray tell, are you perhaps ill?

The Questioner: No! Thank God, I’m physically well, but (he added in a low voice) wine is a little expensive for me this year.

The Rabbi to his wife, the Rebbetzin: Give that man 25 rubles for four cups of wine.

The Questioner: But, Rabbi, I came to ask a question not to request a handout, God forbid.

The Rabbi: This is only a loan until God blesses you with greater prosperity.

The Narrator: After the man had taken the money and gone, the rebbetzin raised a question.

The Rebbetzin: Why did you have to give him 25 rubles? Four cups of wine cannot cost more than two or three rubles.

The Rabbi: You heard his question. He intended to drink four cups of milk at the seder. Surely if he had the funds to eat meat at a complete seder then he could not have drunk milk with his meat meal. I read between the lines of his request and realized that he needed money for all the seder expenses.


haggadah Section: Maggid - Beginning