"I'm Making Wooden Bowls for You to Eat from When I Grow Up" – 5 Thought-Provoking Parables

Who are a person's true friends?!

A king summoned one of his servants for a trial. The servant realized that probably someone among his friends framed him at the royal palace, and so he resolved to prepare for the meeting. He decided the wisest step would be to bring someone who could speak in his favor before the king.

This servant had three friends: Reuven, Shimon, and Levi.

Without much thought, he approached his best friend, the one in whom he invested all his wealth — Reuven. He couldn't believe that Reuven dismissed him out of hand and wouldn't even agree to leave his house to accompany him to the king.

Disappointed by his good friend, he turned to his friend Shimon. Although he hadn’t invested in Shimon as he did with the first, he believed this friend owed him his life — or so he thought...

Shimon agreed to his request but with one condition: "I will come with you up to the palace gate! See, I am afraid of the king; I cannot enter the trial with you..."

The servant understood that if his "good" friends weren't willing to come with him, why would Levi, with whom he barely interacted and often neglected, agree to his request?!...

But as a last resort and with no choice, he approached Levi's house, pleading for help.

Here awaited a surprise. Levi jumped up with joy and said, "Of course, I will accompany you, not only to support you in the trial but also to speak to the king and advocate on your behalf..."

That's the parable; the moral is simple:

Each person has three friends in this world: the money in which he invested all his life, his family, and the mitzvot and good deeds he performed. At the time of his passing, he turns to them, "Come with me," and soon discovers that wealth and possessions stay in their place and don't budge, his family accompanies him only to the grave’s edge, and the only friend — the one he invested in the least — the mitzvot and good deeds he did, go with him to the World to Come and advocate in his favor...

If only we knew where it's worth investing...

(Photo: shutterstock)

The Deeds of Parents Serve as a Sign for Their Children

There was an old man who was left alone and couldn't care for himself. His hands shook, his sight was weak, and his walk unsteady. His son took him to his home and cared for him with the help of his wife and their four-year-old son.

Every evening, the family sat around the table for dinner. The old man's condition made it difficult to eat. Due to his shaking hands, food would fall from his spoon, his eating was noisy, and drinks were spilled from his glass. His son and wife were annoyed by the mess created.

"We must do something about my father," the son said to his wife. "I've had enough of milk on the floor, disgusting eating sounds, and dirty tablecloths."

They set a small table in the kitchen corner and set the old man's place there to eat alone while the rest of the family sat around the main table. Since the grandfather broke some china plates, they served his meals on a wooden plate. Sometimes, a tear could be seen in his eye, but the only words spoken to him were scoldings when he dropped a fork or food.

His four-year-old grandson watched all this quietly.

One day, before dinner, the father saw his little son playing with a piece of wood on the floor.

The father asked his son smilingly what he was doing. The child sweetly replied: "I'm making wooden bowls for you and mom to eat from when I grow up."

The words struck his parents like a bolt of lightning. Tears started to flow down their cheeks. Although no word was spoken, they both knew what had to be done.

That evening, the father took the grandpa by the hand and gently brought him back to the family table. For the rest of his days, he ate all his meals with the family, and they never scolded him again, even if food or a fork fell from his hands, dirtying the floor or tablecloth.

Remember, regardless of the relationship with your parents, you will miss them when they are gone.Call, ask, tell them how much you love them — before it's too late...

Remember, our children learn how to treat us from how we treat our parents. Parents who honor their parents set a personal example for their children and will be honored by them when their time comes to leave, not, God forbid, the opposite.

The Elephant and the Stake

A child went to the circus with his father and saw a large elephant tied to a wooden stake stuck in the ground. That very day, he learned at school about the powerful elephants that can knock down big trees with their trunks. "Dad, how is it that the elephant doesn’t run away?" asked the child. "It's so strong! I’m sure that if it can topple a tree, it can easily pull out this small stake barely stuck in the ground..."

The father smiled a little sadly. "I’ll tell you why," he said. "When this elephant was just a small and weak calf, they tied it to a stake so it wouldn’t run away. The elephant struggled and struggled but couldn’t move the stake. Every day it tried to pull it out, but it failed. And one bright day, it understood the stake was stronger than itself, gave up, and just didn’t try anymore… But the truth is, if it persisted, it would discover it could pull it out without any problem...

The big and strong elephant we see at the circus doesn't escape because it believes it can’t. It remembers its inability, the sense of helplessness it internalized shortly after being born. The tragic part is that the elephant never truly questioned its inability. It never tried to reassess its strength..."

Remember, if there’s something you tried to do in the past and failed, try again today. You might discover that now you have exactly what it takes to achieve the goal you once abandoned.

How many people were at the bottom financially, rose up and recovered, and even became wealthy? How many singles who despaired of finding a match found a partner far beyond their expectations and dreams? Never give up in any area.

There is no place for despair if you truly rely on Hashem. If you truly rely on Hashem and do not give up — Hashem will not leave you without aid and will send salvation...

(Photo: shutterstock)

Do Good – Receive Good!

A father and his son were walking together in the mountains.

Suddenly, the son tripped on a rock and cried out: "Ahhhhh!!!".

To his surprise, he heard a voice echoing back from the mountains, answering him exactly the same way: "Ahhhhh!!!".

The surprised son shouted: "Who are you?".

And the voice quickly replied: "Who are you?".

"What do you want from me?", the boy yelled.

"What do you want from me?", the voice answered.

Upset by the response, he replied "You’re a coward!".

And the voice answered "You’re a coward!".

With tears in his eyes, the boy looked at his father and asked "What’s happening here?".

The father smiled at his son, walked to the cliff edge, and shouted loudly: "You’re a champion!".

In a moment, the voice answered him "You’re a champion!".

The boy was amazed and didn’t understand how it could happen.

"People call it echo," explained the father, "but the truth is that's life. They give back what you provide them. Our life is a reflection of our simple actions — everything that is said, done, or thought will return to us. If you wish to increase love in the world, give out love from your heart to others!..."

Every action, word, or thought of ours affects the world of actions, on creation. Every time we fulfill a mitzvah or, God forbid, commit a sin, we influence something in the higher worlds, setting the mechanism in motion, which eventually moves the wheel impacting us... Remember, one who thinks, speaks, and acts kindly, Hashem will draw kindness upon them in return!

Do Not Despair

A lone survivor from a shipwreck drifted with the current and was cast ashore on a desolate island. He fervently prayed to Hashem for rescue, scanning the horizon from end to end daily.

Exhausted, hungry, and injured, he managed to build a small hut from wood washed up on the shore. At least he would have shelter from wild animals.

He placed a few belongings adrift with him in the hut — these were all his worldly possessions.

One day, after leaving the hut to search for food in the forest, a fire broke out, consuming the hut and his possessions. The flames grew, threatening to burn down the entire forest. Black smoke billowed upwards, everything was lost — the hut, the possessions...

He groaned in sorrow and pain, turning angrily to Hashem: "How, how could you do this to me?! How can you bring disaster upon disaster?"

The next morning, early, he awoke in a nearby cave to the sound of approaching ship engines. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" he asked his rescuers.

"We saw the fire and smoke signals you sent up...", they answered.

It is easy to lose hope when things don't happen the way we think they should. It's easy, but we mustn't despair. Everything in this world happens with a reason, purpose, and intention. In everything, even the hardest and most painful, we must search for the thread leading to the next good thing.

Remember this next time "your little hut burns down" — it might be a smoke signal being sent to where it needs to go, to get you out of where you're stuck — to a new and better place...