Ponzi the $50 Billion Horse
Were it not for Rebbe Nachman’s parable about a horse and a pump, who could comprehend a fifty-billion dollar fraud?
Rebbe Nachman of Breslev tells a parable about a horse and a pump, which not only explains how the Evil Inclination operates, but is literally a prophecy of the bursting bubble of high finance, billion-dollar scandals and so-called Ponzi-schemes in today’s crumbling material world. The story goes as follows:
There was once a man who did not believe in what people say about joker-demons from the side of evil who sometimes trick people, as is known to have happened on various occasions.
One night a joker-demon came to him and invited him to step outside. The man went outside and the joker showed him a fine horse that he wanted to sell. The man examined the horse and saw that it was indeed a very fine horse.
“How much do you want?” he asked.
“Four rubles,” replied the joker.
The man saw that it was easily worth eight rubles, because it was a particularly good horse. He purchased the horse from the joker for four rubles and was satisfied that he had found a great bargain.
The following day he took out the horse to sell. Some people were interested and offered him a certain sum of money. But he said to himself, “Presumably if they are offering me such a sum, it must be worth double” – and he did not accept.
The man led the horse on further and some people offered him twice the previous offer, just as he had wanted. But he said to himself: “Presumably it is worth at least double this price.”
He led the horse further along until its price reached thousands. But the man would not agree to sell it to anyone. No matter how much anyone offered, he said, “Presumably it is worth at least double.”
Eventually there was no-one who could afford the horse except the king. The man took it to the king, who was willing to pay an enormous sum for it. Everyone said it was an excellent offer, but the man refused to accept it , saying to himself: “Presumably it is worth more.” Thus the king too did not buy the horse.
The man left the king and went to water the horse. There was a pump that people could use to get water for their animals. All of a sudden the horse jumped into the pump and disappeared without a trace – or so it appeared, because the whole episode with the horse was a trick by joker demons.
The man's screams and shouts drew a crowd around him.
“Why are you shouting?” they asked.
He replied that his horse had jumped into the pump. They gave him a sound beating, because he seemed insane. The hole of the pump was very narrow. How could a horse jump into it?
He saw how they were beating him, thinking he was crazy. He wanted to run away, but as he tried to escape, the horse suddenly stuck its head out of the pump. Once again the man started screaming, “Aach! Aach!”, because he was convinced it was his horse.
Again a crowd gathered around him and started beating him a second time because he seemed crazy. Again he wanted to flee, but as soon as he tried to escape, there was the horse sticking its head out of the pump. He started screaming again and the people gathered around again and beat him…
Rebbe Nachman concludes and says, “Evil tricks people time and time again with absolutely nothing – complete falsehood that contains no real substance at all. The person is tempted to follow evil, each time thinking he will satisfy his desires and gain more. Time after time he chases after these lies. Until suddenly they disappear and all his desires vanish, as happens at times. For a time the desires subside. But then, when the person wants to distance himself from them completely, they return and stick out their head, making him pursue them again. This keeps on happening: as soon as they stick out their head, he continues pursuing them… Understand this well.”
The barometer of emuna is when a person is content with his lot in life, in other words, he’s happy with whatever Hashem gives him. The West’s endless lust for more and more riches just shows how badly we need Rebbe Nachman’s teachings in the world, and particularly those about emuna.
Were it not for Rebbe Nachman’s wisdom, I personally couldn’t begin to understand the phenomena of how one person’s lust for amassing a fantastic fantasy-land fortune could lead him to ripping off the world for fifty billion dollars – that’s fifty thousand times a million dollars!
We would think that one of the world’s greatest financiers before his fatal downfall would possess greater than average intelligence and much sharper powers of judgment than your average Joe that’s off to an hour in the pub with his buddies after a day’s work on the production line.
The Madoff Scandal teaches us that men in high places are just as exposed to the tricks of the evil joker-demon – the Yetzer Hara – as anyone else. In fact, our sages say (Gemara, tractate Succa 52a), “The higher a person’s stature, the greater his evil inclination.”
Madoff’s imaginary horse grew and grew in value, but he wouldn’t sell. Madoff’s Ponzi Horse was worth one hundred million, then a billion, and then ten billion – but no, he couldn’t sell or stop. The joker-demon showed him a horse that reached a value of fifty billion dollars before the imaginary nag jumped back into the pump. Now, the entire world is chasing the wailing Madoff to beat him with a stick. It’s simply mind-boggling how Rebbe Nachman could foresee all of this.
Let’s not despair – Rebbe Nachman also told us that his fire would burn until Moshiach comes, so stick with us and stay warm close to the fire. If Rabbenu Nachman was so accurate about Madoff, the horse, and the pump, you can believe he’s accurate about Moshiach too, soon and in our days, amen.
Tell us what you think!
Thank you for your comment!
It will be published after approval by the Editor.