AN HONEST TO GOODNESS
MIRACLE By Rabbi Allen S. Maller
There
was a Jewish man who made his living chopping wood so the people of
his village could heat their ovens. One Friday afternoon he went into
the forest to cut some wood for people to use to cook their Sabbath
dinner. He was chopping wood near a small lake when suddenly the ax
head flew off the ax handle. and fell into the nearby lake. The man
began to cry.
An
old man passed by and asked him why he was crying. The woodcutter
replied, “Because I am very poor and I can not afford to buy
another ax. Without the ax I can’t chop wood to make money to feed
my wife and children.”
The
old man, who was really Elijah the Prophet said, “I have a special
magnet that can bring things up from the bottom of a lake. I will
recover your ax head for you.” The old man tied the magnet to a
long branch, waved it over the water, and up came an ax head made of
gold.
“Is
this your lost ax?” the old man asked.
The
woodcutter knew he could sell an ax made of gold for a lot of money.
He also knew that gold is very soft and can not cut wood. He could
sell the golden ax and buy a new iron ax and lots of other things,
but that would take many days, and the people who depended on him for
firewood to cook their Sabbath dinner would go hungry. He told the
old man, “That is not my ax. I need an ax that will cut wood.”
The
old man threw the golden ax back into the lake and waved the branch
with the magnet over the water again. This time a silver ax rose to
the surface. “Is this your lost ax?” asked the old man.
The
woodcutter knew that he could cut firewood for Shabbat dinners with
the silver ax because the silver ax could cut wood, although not as
well as an iron ax. He also knew that he could sell the ax for much
more than the cost of a new iron ax so it would smart to say the ax
was his. But he realized if he said the ax was his ax he would be
lying. He knew our Torah teaches us not to lie. He shook his head no.
Elijah
threw the silver ax back into the lake and waved the long branch with
the magnet over the water for a third time, and an iron ax head rose
to the surface. “That is my ax head” said the woodcutter
joyfully. He thanked the old man, attached the ax head to the ax
handle and went back to work.
Elijah
was very proud of how faithful the woodcutter was to the Mitsvah of
Shabbat responsibility and to the Mitsvah of honesty. While the
woodcutter was chopping wood, Elijah raised up the gold and silver ax
heads and left them for him. When the woodcutter returned home he
told everyone about the miracle that had happened and showed them the
gold and the silver ax heads.
One
of his neighbors thought, “I will find the old man with the magic
magnet and get a gold ax for myself.” He ran to the same place and
threw his iron ax into the lake and then pretended to cry very
loudly. Elijah came by disguised as an old man and offered to
retrieve his ax for him. When the gold ax rose to the surface Elijah
asked the man if it was his lost ax, and the man said that it
definitely was his. Elijah knew that the man was lying so he let the
golden ax sink to the bottom of the lake and walked away.
Now
the man really started crying because both the golden ax and his own
ax were lost at the bottom of the lake. He returned home and told his
wife what happened. She told him he lost his iron ax because he
thought he could fool Elijah, and he lost the gold ax because he
lied. All this was was due to his greed. Our Torah teaches us not to
turn a miracle into magic for our own advantage. Miracles can happen
to honest, faithful people because they don’t try to trick or test
God. The man listened carefully to everything that his wife said and
stopped being greedy.
Now
that was a real honest to goodness miracle.