Eating Stones

Rabbi Israel, the famed "Maggid of Kosnitz," once asked a rich man what he usually ate. The rich man was rather ascetic; he proudly described to the Chassidic master his one daily meal, in which he ate and drank nothing more than bread with salt and a jug of water.

"Fool," scolded the Maggid. "Go home and eat meat and other delicacies. Drink aged wine. If you don't, I am not finished with you yet!"

Later, the Maggid's disciples wondered why their master spoke as he did. Rabbi Israel explained: "If the rich man dines on meat and wine, then he would at least feel that the paupers in his town should be given bread and salt. But if he himself subsists on dry bread and salt, he might think that poor people could live on stones..."