Once upon a time there lived a man who was called Nahum Ish Gamzo. He was blind in both eyes, his two hands were cut off, he was lame on both legs, his body was full of sores and he lived in a tumbled down hut. The four legs of his bedstead stood in pails of water to prevent the ants from coming into his bed and biting him, since he could not protect himself against them.

One day his pupils, fearing that the house would fall in, wanted to carry him out in his bed first, and then the other pieces of furniture.

But Nahum said to them: "My dear children, carry out the furniture first, and then carry me, for you may be assured that as long as I am in the house, it will not fall in."

So they took out all the furniture, and after everything was out of the house, they carried him out on his bed.

No sooner had they done so than the house fell in.

Then his pupils asked him: "Dear Master, since you are such a pious man, how

is it that so much evil has befallen you and that you are reduced to such poverty?"

Nahum replied: "Dear children, I wished it on myself, and I will tell you how it all came to pass. Once I took a journey to visit my father-in-law, and had with me three asses well laden, one had good food, the other was laden with drink, and the third carried all kinds of good fruit. A poor man met me on the road and said: "Dear Rabbi, give me something to eat." I replied: "Dear man, wait a while until I unload the asses," and I began unloading, but before I had finished, the man had died on the road. I fell upon him and said: "The eyes which took no pity on yours, may they become blind; the hands which took no pity on yours, may they be cut off; and the feet which took no pity on yours, may they become lame." Not satisfied with this, I added: "May my body be full of sores."

Then the pupils said to him: "Woe unto us, dear Master, that we should see you in such a plight!"

Whereupon he replied: "Much more woe would have been unto me if you had not seen me in such a plight, for I hope that now the Lord will forgive my sin, as I am suffering so bitterly in this world."

Why was he called Nahum Ish Gamzo? It is because, whenever anything happened to him, good or evil, he said: "Gam zo letobah," which means: "This is also for the best."

Once upon a time the Jews wished to send a gift to the Emperor, so they took counsel together whom they should send to present the gift, a man who would carry out the message to the best satisfaction, They decided to send Nahum Ish Gamzo with the present, for miracles had often happened to him on his journeys. They sent a casket full of pearls and precious stones to present to the Emperor as a gift in the name of the whole of Israel. Nahum Ish Gamzo went on his journey and in the evening he reached an inn. There were many rogues at the inn, who rose in the night, stole the entire contents of the casket and filled it with earth, so that he should not notice that he had been robbed.

When Nahum got up in the morning and looked into the casket, he found that all the precious stones and pearls had been removed. So he said: "This is also for the best," went his way without further worry and presented the casket as it was to the Emperor, saying: "This is a present from the Jews, take it with good grace." For the Emperor knew that they were poor people.

The Emperor took the casket and opened it to see how the Jews felt toward him.

But when he opened it, he found that there was nothing in it but earth. Then the Emperor said: "The Jews are mocking me, they send me earth as a present, I will have them all put to death."

Suddenly Elijah the prophet appeared, disguised as one of the Emperor's counselors, and said: "My Lord the Emperor, do not shed innocent blood, perchance this is some of the earth which their forefathers used. For we find that whenever Abraham their ancestor threw this earth, it changed into swords, with which he subdued his enemies. And when he threw it upon an enemy it changed into arrows, as is written: 'He makes his earth as swords and his bow as stubble' (Is. 41.2). Perhaps this is of the same earth, with which one can conquer one's enemies."

When the emperor heard this, he said: "There is a province which has rebelled against me, I will try this earth and see whether I can subdue it." So he went to that city and threw some of the earth into it. The earth changed into swords, and he conquered the place. The rest of the earth he placed into the treasury and gave orders that the casket of Nahum should be filled with precious stones and pearls. The order was carried out, and Nahum was sent home with honor and dignity.

On his way back, he came to the same inn where his casket had been emptied. The thieves asked him: "What did you bring the Emperor as a present that he should have sent you back with so much honor?"

Nahum replied: "I brought to the Emperor what I had taken with me from here, and this is what brought me so much honor."

So the rogues took of the same earth, brought it to the Emperor and said: "O Lord Emperor, we bring you of the same earth as the Jew brought. He obtained it from us."

The Emperor tried it and found it to be the same as any other earth. Accordingly he gave orders that they should all be put to death.

The Jews, however, fared very well, and may it go still better with us. Amen.