Yossele was a Jew who lived in Krakow, Poland in the 1600’s.  He was an enormously wealthy man, but also very stingy—to the point that he was known in the community as Yossele the Miser.

When he died, the people refused to bury him for days, because they despised him for being so uncharitable with his money.  And when they did bury him, he was put in the back of the cemetery with the paupers and the outcasts.

But within a week of his death, the poor all started to beg the local rabbi for help, because the anonymous, weekly allowances on which they had depended for survival suddenly stopped coming.  The rabbi quickly realized that Yossele had been providing for so many of the town’s poor for decades—that Yossele the Miser was really Yossele the Tzadik, or the “righteous man.”  Today, he is remembered as Yossele the Holy Miser.

Thanksgiving is a time to be filled with gratitude, to be sure.  But it is also a time to reflect on our own actions, and to ask ourselves, first, “Have I done anything for anyone that warrants thanks?” and perhaps more importantly, “Have I been kind or generous or helpful, in order to receive thanks for what I have done…or simply out of love?” 

Yossele gave and he gave and he gave, without anyone knowing it and all while the townspeople regarded him as a stingy old man.  May we all perform such acts that are worthy of thanks…regardless of whether we ever receive a word of it.

Have a wonderful day.