The Thief and the Naive Messenger
(a Parable)
by
Maggid MiDubno *
There was once a
thief who had his eye on the cash receipts of a very busy store. The store, however,
was always full of customers; so, an open attempt on the premises was not the
way to achieve his illegal goal. He watched daily and noticed that, near the
end of each business day, a young man left the store with a fat bag and headed
directly to the bank a few doors away. But the streets were also too busy for
an attempt at robbery.
Then the thief devised
a plan. He went into the fancy men’s shop next door. He told the salesman that
he needed a suit for his son but did not know his son’s size. The salesman
suggested that he point out someone on the street that resembled the “customer’s”
son and he would guess the proper size. When the young man passed by the thief
singled him out. The salesman guessed the size but the “buyer” said
that he wanted to
be sure and so he yelled out to the young man and proposed a “favor”.
“Could you please
try on a suit for us? You look like the size of my son and it would really help
if you could try on my selection so I can buy it for him.” The reluctant
messenger gave in to the pleading man and entered. During the try-on he put the
bag under his arm as he slipped the other arm through the jacket’s sleeve. The
thief grabbed the bag and started to run.
The messenger started
in pursuit but was stopped by the shopkeeper who demanded that he take off the
suit before he left. In the hustle and bustle the thief escaped.
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The quick lesson
here - Shout out: "Stop thief!" when someone breaks a trust.
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* source: http://www.torah.org/learning/tabletalk/5767/vayikra.html
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