Once there was a small Jewish community living in a distant land, simple and poor people who worked to make a living and struggled to survive day-to-day.

One day, the king declared a new tax on the community’s residents, a particularly high tax imposed on one of the community’s esteemed members—a wise and righteous rabbi whom everyone loved and respected.

The rabbi couldn’t understand why the king was targeting him personally, and despite all his efforts to gather the money, he failed.

He wrote the king letters of supplication to cancel the tax, but all his pleas were rejected.

In utter despair, he mustered courage and requested a personal meeting with the king, to beg for mercy and plead for the cancellation of the oppressive tax, while believing and being certain that the king wouldn’t want to meet a poor and simple man like him.

To his great surprise, the king agreed positively and invited him to come immediately to his palace, and the rabbi embarked on a three-day journey to reach the king’s residence.

Exhausted from the journey, dressed in his simple clothes, the rabbi arrived at the king’s palace, and the guards escorted him into a large and magnificent hall, where he stood before the king on his throne.

The rabbi bowed on his knees, ashamed, pleading for the tax to be canceled, since he couldn’t afford the tax the king had imposed on him.

“Rise from your knees, dear rabbi, for you are an honored guest in my kingdom.”

“For many years I have been waiting for you to visit me to give you a precious gift.”

The bewildered rabbi stood up, confused, and asked:

“My king, then why did you impose such a heavy tax on me? And why didn’t you simply invite me to come?”

The king answered with a smile:

“I knew that if I invited you here to receive the favor I wanted to give you, you would reject it out of shame for accepting a free gift. At first, I granted you permission to come to my kingdom, but you never used it. Later, I sent messengers who hinted that I wanted to meet you, but you were too busy with your studies and the harsh life of poverty, so you didn’t understand the hint. The only way to convince you to accept my gifts was to impose a tax you couldn’t bear, so that you would genuinely want to meet me, hoping that your true need would create in you a place to accept the king’s gift.”

The rabbi’s eyes filled with tears as he stood embarrassed before the king.

“And now I wonder,” said the king, “will you accept from me a sack of gold coins I prepared especially for you?”