R. Johanan once left Jerusalem riding on an ass and his pupils followed him. He saw a woman picking out the grain from the dung of the animals of the Arabs.

When she beheld R. Johanan she tied her kerchief round her head and went up to him and said: "Rabbi, pray feed me."

And R. Johanan said to her: "My dear daughter, who are you?"

She replied: "I am the daughter of Nakdimon son of Gorion."

Then he said: "My dear daughter, what has become of your father's wealth? He was a very rich man."

Then she replied: "Dear Rabbi, there is a proverb in Jerusalem: 'Whoever wishes to salt his wealth so as to preserve it should give alms.' (Others say: 'Whoever salts his wealth and does not give alms loses it in the end.') "

R. Johanan said: "Where is the wealth of your father-in-law?"

And she replied: "The loss of the one brought about the loss of the other."

And then she said: "Do you remember signing my ketubah (marriage contract) as one of the witnesses?"

Then he turned to his pupils and said: "I well remember signing her marriage contract, and I read therein that the dowry was one thousand times one thousand gold florins, which she had from her father, besides the amount which she received from her father-in-law."

Then R. Johanan wept and said: "Happy are ye, children of Israel, when you fulfill the will of God, for then there is no nation or tongue which can have power over you. But if you do not fulfill the will of God, you are delivered into the power of a low nation, nay, you are delivered into the power of their beasts."

The question is asked in the Gemara: "Is it true that Nakdimon ben Gorion did not give alms? Is there not a tradition that whenever he went from his house to the college, they spread under his feet silken garments for him to tread upon, and after he had passed the garments were divided among the poor?"

Some say that he did this only for the sake of show and honor, but others say that he should have given more than he did, and that is why he lost all his wealth, as the proverb says: "According to the quantity which the camel eats is the size of the load that is put on his back," which means that if a man has much, he must also give much in charity. Nakdimon ben Gorion did not do this, therefore he became poor. R. Eliezer the son of Zadok said, "As surely as I should like to see the rebuilding of Zion, so sure am I that I have seen that woman in the town of Acco picking up the barley from between the horses' hoofs, so poor had she become."