An old rabbinic tale records the concern of a man of God for a young friend who was becoming worldly and materialistic.
The rabbi invited him for his study and led him to the window.
“What do you see?” he asked.
There was playground next to the house. “I see children playing.”
Then the rabbi took a little hand mirror out of his pocket and held it before the visitor’s face. “Tell me what you see now?”
“I see myself,” he said, wondering what was going on.
“Isn’t strange,” the rabbi asked, “that when a little silver gets between yourself and others, you see only yourself?”
John W. Rilling
