Kaptzin Pasha, part 2

 

 

The Sultan closed and sealed the letter and said to the Jew, "I would like you to deliver this letter personally to the Chief Executioner in such-and-such a place."

 

The Jew took the letter and promised the Sultan he would carry out his instructions. He had no idea what was written in the letter and he went home.

 

Now this Jew meticulously observed the mitzvah of circumcising Jewish boys. Whenever he was invited to perform a circumcision he would not allow any obstacle to stand in his way, because this mitzvah was very precious in his eyes.

 

God wanted to save His faithful friend and so He arranged that on the very day that the Jew was supposed to deliver the Sultan’s letter to the Chief Executioner, a man came from a certain village to invite the Jewish minister back to the village in order to circumcise his son. Since the Jew never under any circumstances missed an opportunity to perform this mitzvah, he started thinking: "How can I carry out the Sultan’s instructions to deliver his letter?"

 

God arranged that at just that moment the Pasha came towards him. The Jew told the Pasha that he had come from the Sultan, who had given him a letter to deliver to the officer in question. However, today God had sent him the opportunity to perform the mitzvah of circumcision.

 

"And my custom is never under any circumstances to pass up this mitzvah," said the Jew. "Therefore I would like to ask you to take the letter and deliver it."

 

The Pasha was delighted, because now he would be able to make further accusations against the Jew for not having carried out the Sultan’s wishes with respect to the letter. The Pasha took the letter from his hand and delivered it into the hands of the executioner, who immediately seized the Pasha and threw him into the fiery furnace. He was burned up just as he deserved in accordance with the divine law of "measure for measure".

 

 

To be continued.