REINCARNATION
A rabbi, this one also a tzadik (a tzadik in Jewish life is a man who has almost conquered all his evil inclinations, something that most men live with all their lives) wants to teach one of his students about reincarnation. First you have to understand that a tzadik has powers that go beyond what most people have, and at times can see beyond the immediate present.
So this tzadik tells his student to go out of the small town they lived in (they were called shteitels) toward the big city on a certain road (it’s a dirt road; that’s all they had at that time). And about midway between this small town and the city he will see a large tree next to the river that runs along side the road, and that he should hide in the woods on the other side of the road and watch and see what happens under that tree. He is also told not to interfere in any way with what happens.
He sees a man driving a horse and carriage come from the small town, apparently very wealthy judged by his dress. This wealthy man stops his driving, walking with his cane, he carries a bag out of the carriage, and sits under the tree to rest in the shade. In the bag is a great deal of money, which he begins to count. After counting this money, he rests awhile, then gets up, gets into the carriage, and drives away. However, he forgets, and leaves the bag of money under the tree.
A second man, dressed shabbily and obviously very poor, comes along and sits under the same tree to rest, and notices the bag and the money inside. Thinking that good fortune has shined down upon him, he walks away with it.
A third man, neither very wealthy nor poor, comes along, sits under the same tree. By this time, the first man realizes he left his bag of money under the tree, he returns to the tree and sees the third man sitting there; but he doesn’t see his bag of money.
Thinking that this third man took his money and hid it, he demands that the man return the money to him. The man says he knows nothing about any bag of money. However, the first man beats him mercilessly with his cane, demanding his money. This demanding and beating continues until the third man is left there in a pool of blood and unconscious.
After seeing all this, the student returns to his small town and to his teacher (the rabbi). He describes everything he witnessed asking what kind of justice that was. One man loses his money. Another man owning nothing in the world comes along and gets all the wealthy man’s money. And a third man, totally innocent, almost gets his life beaten out of him. What kind of justice is in this world?
Again, the rabbi, being a tzadik and having a certain amount of prescience, explains as follows:
Many years ago there lived in a town a wealthy man who owned a factory where he had many employees. He fired one of these employees with out paying him for many months’ labor, consequently owing him a great deal of money. The employee brings this to the attention of the local judge who says he will judge the case after hearing both sides.
Now this wealthy man had a great deal of power (as many wealthy men do) and the judge allowed himself to be influenced by the wealthy man’s power. The judge therefore ruled in favor of the wealthy man.
"What does this have to do with what happened under that tree?" asks the student.
Rabbi answers: "In a former life, the first man who was very wealthy was the factory owner who cheated his employee out of his wages. Now in this life it is he who loses his money. The second man who was shabbily dressed was the employee who was cheated out of the money. Now in this life he is paid his rightful wages (with interest). The third man who gets beaten mercilessly was the judge who did not judge impartially. He surely deserved that beating."
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