Book of Jasher (Sefer haYashar) 20

~279~ An act of one Hasid who never swore to lie and did not even swear on a true oath, and he was very rich. And at the time of his death, he called his son and said to him: My son, be careful not to swear at all that all this wealth that I entrust to you I did not buy, but that I kept my mouth from the oath, therefore the Almighty made me successful in all my goods and in all the work of my hands. His son answered him and said to him: I will fulfill your commandments and I will not swear at all. And when that Hasid passed away, swindlers came to that orphan and asked him for a lot of money, saying that his father owed them or he would take an oath and be freed. The orphan said in his heart: If I swear to them I will blaspheme heaven and break my father's commandments. It is better for me to answer them whatever they ask of me and not swear. He went on paying the fraudster all the wealth his father left him, until he was left poor with nothing. And with all this he pursued the mitzvot and fulfilled the mitzvot of his father, and respected the disciples of the sages. And finally, a swindler came and said to him: I have one more dinar left for you. He said to him: Please let me know that I don't have a moment's worth of living left, and God knows that if I had nothing I would kill you. He said to him: Come and swear to me that you have nothing to repay me, and they were taken to the judge. And the judges said to him: repay him his dinar or the seven that you have nothing. He told them: I will not swear. The judges said to the swindler: Either he will repay you or put him in the prison. At that time, the orphan wept and said: Lord of the world, it is clear and known before you that I have nothing, and if I had anything I would be distraught. May your name be praised forever because of the silver and gold that I had for the most part, from everything I remained youthful and empty. And now I am thirsty and in want of everything, and if they had not demanded of me I would not be so sorry, because naked I came out of my mother's womb and naked I will return, may the name of God be blessed from now on and forever. What did his righteous wife do? She was ashamed to ask the charity for anything. She took linen clothes to wash, to redeem her husband from the remein and feed and provide for him and his sons.

~280~ One day she and her sons were standing on the seashore and saw a ship coming, they waited for it until it reached them. When the owner of the ship saw her, who was a beautiful woman, he was greedy in his heart and said: She is from the family of kings. He asked her and said to her: Why do you wash clothes? She told him everything that had happened to her and her husband. He said to her: I will give you a gold dinar and wash my clothes. And she took the clothes to wash them and took the gold dinar from his hand and gave it to her eldest son, to redeem her husband from the ramain. Between this and that, the owner of the ship made goods and repaired the mast, and when she saw the justification to return the clothes to him - she hid the owner of the ship and ran away with her. And her sons, Millin and Buchin, would see her, and say: Alas for us, our mother, what shall we do? And they returned to their father and gave him the dinar, and told him how their mother was killed. And he tore his clothes and mourned for his wife, and paid the dinar and left the prison and said in his heart: What shall I do? If I return to my home I will die of hunger and cheaters will come to me and do to me like the others did to me, I better go somewhere else. And wept a great cry and said: God saw and looked at how I and my sons were left as orphans without any living in the world. And they all wept together until their strength was exhausted from the great and very bitter weeping they had done, and they went from there to another place. And they courted the openings, until they came to a large river close to the sea. And there was no sea to cross. what did he do He took off his clothes and took his little son and put it on his shoulder, and put himself in the river. As he reached half the river, the water washed away and he put his son down. And the Almighty summoned one threshold boy and he went out and entered the dry land on him. And his father would go before him naked, until he came to another country. And the babies were crying with each other in the river in the meantime, until a ship came and they came. And the same Hasidic came to one country, and since the people of the country saw him naked, they asked him: Where are you from? He said to them: I am a poor Jewish man. They said to him: What is your art? He said to them: I know how to study and write. They told him: We don't want that. If you want to graze our cattle then you can sit with us, and we will give you a good wage. He said to them: Yes I will. And they gave him their children and he would shepherd them in truth and faith. They said to him: Take care that you do not approach this river which is the deepest, that if they fall from the flock you will never leave here. He said to them: Yes I will.

~281~ One day he was sitting by the river's edge and remembered all the wealth and wealth that his father had left for him, and he wept bitterly and said in his heart: Why should I live when my wife is taken captive and my sons are discovered and I am left alone. It is better to die than to live, and he threw himself into the river. And there were snakes and scorpions there, he immediately hurried and turned to go. And when he turned to go he heard a voice calling him by name and said to him, come back here. And he turned back and saw the figure of an angel. He said to him: Come here, for a few days and years keep this treasure for you. Take for yourself this treasure that I kept for you that has reached the end of rising to greatness, on which you kept the commandments of your father and never swore. Immediately the treasure was shown to him, and the angel said to him: Go buy this river from the lord of the country, and then build a great city here. And so he did, and the man went to the master of the state and said to him: Master, do you want to sell me this river that is from such and such a place to such and such a place? The Lord said to him: Fool, what will you do with him? He said: Nevertheless, sell it to me. Immediately the river sold him with precious blood and they gave him immediately, and he wrote to him and witnesses testified to him in a universal and final sale. He immediately hired laborers and built a large city and large flatrines on the bank of the river, until he became king. And his hearer went far and wide, and from all places people would come to buy goods from her, and he would show respect to everyone who came and went. And they heard it throughout the land and gathered there for merchandise, until the ship came that took his sons back. When he saw him, the Hasidic took his sons into his paltro and did not reveal himself to them, but treated them better than his servants, and invited the ship's men to a feast. Another time, the ship in which his wife was stranded came, and he invited all the ship's men to eat with him. The owner of the ship said to him: My lord the king, I cannot put down the ship that my wife is on. The king told him: Harini is sending two loyal boys to guard her. The boys went, and the owner of the ship went to the feast. And the boys say to each other: Woe to us, because this ship resembles the ship in which our mother was wrecked. and would cry all night. And their mother said to them: Why are you crying? They said to her: We remembered that our mother was imprisoned in such a ship. She immediately recognized them, and cried all night and did not say anything to them.

~282~ The next day the owner of the ship came and saw her in a sad mood, he said to her: What's wrong with you? She said to him: You had no choice but to let these burglars abuse me? Immediately the owner of the ship went to the king and said to him: My lord the king, did you have anything but these spies that you sent to my ship to play with my wife all night? Immediately the king called them and said to them: Is it true what I heard you did with each other's wife all night? They said to him: God forbid that we do such things, let this man's wife come and testify against us and if the truth is telling the truth, kill us. Immediately the woman was brought before the king and the king said to her: My daughter, do not disappear, do not dare to tell me everything. Immediately she fell on her face to the ground and said to him: My lord the king, give me permission and I will speak one thing before you. And the king said to her: Speak. She said to him: Please, my lord the king, ask them where they are from. They immediately told him all the events. Immediately the woman stood and embraced them and kissed them and said: Live your soul, my lord the king, they are my sons. and shouts and cries, and told him the whole incident. When the king heard her words, he immediately recognized that they were his sons and she was his wife. And the king said to the owner of the ship: Tell me the truth how this woman came to you, and if you don't tell me the truth I will cut off your head. He said to him: My lord the king, I am a maid by the sea who used to wash clothes. And as long as your soul lives, my lord the king, I did not touch her and I did not need her for ever, and now do whatever you want of me. Immediately the king said to him: Go in peace to your country. And the king said, Blessed is he who pays a good reward to those who fear him, and blessed is he who restores a loss to its owner. And the king stood with his wife and sons in great wealth. And our rabbis said: And what is it that he did not keep except for one mitzvah that his father commanded him that the Holy One, blessed be He, paid him like this - especially since he keeps many mitzvahs. May the Holy One, blessed be He, pay good wages to thousands, as it is said: And do kindness to thousands, etc. This is why it is said: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.