Honest to the Last Shekel: Stories from Great Rabbis

Rabbi Reuven Karlenstein, known for his warm and powerful talks, once shared nine amazing stories about honesty. These stories show how much our Torah sages cared about staying far away from anything that might be even a little dishonest.

1. “About fifty years ago,” Rabbi Karlenstein said, “there was a simple Jewish shoemaker in the city of Jaffa. The Chazon Ish—one of the greatest rabbis of the last generation—respected this shoemaker very much.

Someone once asked the Chazon Ish why he thought so highly of him. He answered: ‘This man is completely honest with money. He is clean and pure. Being so honest with money is just as hard as becoming great in Torah learning.’”

2. A man once came to the Chofetz Chaim to ask for a letter of recommendation. The Chofetz Chaim agreed to write it, but he didn’t have paper.

The man saw a sheet of paper on a nearby table and said, “Here, use this one.”

The Chofetz Chaim asked, “Who does it belong to?”

The man answered, “I don’t know. I think it has no owner.”

But the Chofetz Chaim got up and walked around the room, asking every person, “Is this your paper?”

The man was surprised. “Why are you making such a big deal? It’s just a piece of paper, not even worth a shekel.”

The Chofetz Chaim said: “Even if it’s only a tiny piece of paper, if it doesn’t belong to me and I take it, that’s stealing. The Torah says, ‘You shall not steal.’ A sin like this can bring harm and destruction. It’s not about the money—it’s about the truth.”

3. Rabbi Karlenstein continued: “Today, everyone has cell phones. But years ago, if someone was in an office and needed to make a call, he’d ask the worker, ‘Can I use the phone?’

The worker might say yes, but is he allowed to give permission? Is the phone even his?

And the worker himself—if he’s allowed to use the phone for personal calls, why does he hang up the second his boss walks in? Because deep down, he knows it’s not really okay. That little voice inside tells him it’s wrong.”

4. “One day I saw someone put up a sign on a public pole. A little while later, another person walked by and ripped part of the sign.

I asked him, ‘Why did you do that?’

He said, ‘I was just fooling around. It was a sign for selling etrogim.’

I said, ‘That sign belongs to someone. Tearing it is like damaging someone’s property. That’s not okay.’

Our sages said, ‘Most people stumble when it comes to money matters.’ These little things—like ripping a sign or borrowing something and forgetting to return it—can be real problems. We have to notice them.”

5. “‘Can you lend me five shekels?’ someone asks.

‘Sure. When will you return it?’

‘Tomorrow morning,’ he says—but then he forgets.

A week goes by. A month. He never paid it back.

That’s why it’s important to write down every loan, even small ones. If you don’t pay it back, it’s considered stealing.

Better to lose a lot of money than to gain even a little in a dishonest way.”

6. “Here’s another example,” Rabbi Karlenstein said. “A woman goes to the fruit stand and asks, ‘Are these cucumbers fresh? From today?’

The seller says, ‘Yes, fresh from today!’—even though they’re three days old.

Why does he lie? Because he thinks he’ll lose the sale if he tells the truth.

But Hashem runs the world. The Prophet Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) said: ‘If someone gathers wealth in the wrong way, he’ll lose it in the middle of his days.’

Money gained by lying doesn’t last. In the end, we lose more than we gain.”

7. “Sometimes a neighbor says, ‘I think you borrowed my drill. Did you return it?’

The man answers, ‘No, I never borrowed it. I don’t remember.’ He might even swear on his father’s grave—even though his father died years ago.

A week later, he remembers: ‘Oh yes! I did borrow it. I asked my son to go get it after Sukkot!’

Was he lying? Maybe not. Maybe he really forgot. But still—it’s better to always be honest and careful. Our memory isn’t always perfect, but our heart knows when something’s not right.”

8. “One time in America,” Rabbi Karlenstein said, “a man told me he ‘outsmarted’ his boss.

He worked at a dye factory. His boss, a religious Jew, hired a non-Jewish manager who got paid ten times more than the workers.

The worker was jealous and angry. So, during breaks, he went to the machines and mixed the wrong colors into the dyes. He caused big damage.

After a few ‘accidents,’ the boss fired the manager and gave the Jewish worker the job.

‘See?’ the man told me proudly. ‘That’s how you succeed in life.’

But I said to him, ‘That’s not success—that’s stealing. You hurt the manager. You hurt your boss. You sinned just to get ahead.’

Two months later, the factory closed. And that worker? He’s been living on help from others ever since.”

9. Rabbi Karlenstein shared one last story. Rabbi Mordechai Shulman, the head of the Slabodka Yeshiva, once sat on his porch looking at the yeshiva dormitory.

He said to his wife, “Every brick in that building is clean. There’s not even a tiny question about the money used to build it. Everything was honest.”

Even small things mattered to him. Once, someone printed donation receipts with candles on them. Rabbi Shulman said, “We don’t light candles for donors. People might misunderstand.” So they reprinted them.

Another time, a letter said the yeshiva “supports married students.” He corrected it: “We help them—but we don’t fully support them. That’s not the exact truth.”

These stories show us something beautiful: Being honest isn’t just about big things. It’s about the small things, too—a phone call, a piece of paper, a forgotten five shekels.

Our great rabbis lived with honesty in every corner of their lives. They knew that every action has meaning, and that living with truth brings real blessing.

May we learn from their ways and bring more honesty and light into the world.

(Based on “Yechi Reuven,” shared on the Dirshu website)