Digital Maggid
Once, upon the conclusion of the High Holy Days, Rebbe Mordechai Nishkhizer set out for Bord to secure an esrog for himself. Along the way, he ran into a Jew standing beside an empty wagon, crying.
“Reb Yid, why are you crying?” asked the Nishkhizer.
“My horse, my livelihood, unbeknownst to me, he just disappeared down the road!”
“How much would it cost to buy another horse?”
“Fifty guilders.”
“Here. Here’s fifty guilders, go buy another horse and don’t cry.”
“But Rabbi, are you nuts? If you give away this money, how will you buy your esrog?”
“Silly Yid,” replied the Rebbe with a smile. “Don’t you know that the mitzvah of tzedaka is more important than the mitzvah of “take the fruit of the Hadar tree?”
