The Legend (MUST read!)

“The Legend (MUST read!)”

Two brothers – one single, the second married with a growing family – split an inheritance from their father. They each received a wheat field on opposite sides of a mountain to support themselves. They would work all day and often spend the night under the stars.

One such night, the single brother lay awake, thinking. “My brother and I have equal sized fields and produce yields of identical measure. But I only need to support myself, while he needs to feed a wife and children. I’ll take ten bushels over to his storehouses.” So in the thick of night he gathered his gift and tip-toed over the mountain.

But when he awoke the next morning he tallied his storehouse and found that no produce was missing. The ten bushels he gave away seemed to still be present. He scratched his head and went on with his day.

That night, on the other side of the mountain, the married brother was reviewing his day. 24 hours before he had realized that while he had no problem supporting his family with his yield, perhaps what was holding his brother back from marriage was a lack of funds. “I’ll take ten bushels of mine and place them in his silo.” He too tiptoed in secrecy, shrouded by the night to deliver his secret gift. But, in the morning, he too found his silo full, as if the gift was never given.

To make sure the whole thing wasn’t a dream both brothers set up similar experiments: to re-attempt the gift giving. And yet, they still found their silos just as full in the morning. Both brothers arrived at the same conclusion: it must be a heavenly sign of approval.

One night, as the married brother carried his gift on his shoulders, he saw a figure – mirroring himself, coming over the peak of the mountain towards him. From the distance, the moonlight was not enough to make out who it was, but he was strikingly familiar. Only when they were nearly face-to-face did the brothers, each bearing gifts, recognize each other.

In that magical moment, everything was understood. Each had thought only about the wellbeing of the other. The outpouring of love and understanding between them at that moment rattled the heavens and reached God’s throne. It was this place that would eventually be selected to the home of the Temple in Jerusalem and its Western Wall, the Kotel.