The Upside Down Gemara: A Powerful Lesson About Judging Others

"You shall surely give to him, and your heart shall not feel bad when you give to him" (Deuteronomy 15:10).

Sometimes we see something with our own eyes and feel completely certain that we understand what happened. But even the clearest evidence can be misleading when we do not know the full story. The following remarkable incident teaches just how careful we must be before judging another person.

Why Did the Wealthy Man Suddenly Refuse to Donate?

The head of a certain yeshiva found himself facing a serious financial crisis. The yeshiva had fallen into significant hardship, and eventually the Rosh Yeshiva decided to travel to England to raise desperately needed funds.

During his trip, he arrived at the home of a distinguished wealthy man. He introduced himself, described the yeshiva and its needs, and showed his host an album filled with photographs depicting life in the yeshiva and its diligent students immersed in Torah study.

The wealthy man was deeply impressed by everything he heard and saw.

"Please wait a few moments while I bring my checkbook," he said.

Before the man left the room, the Rosh Yeshiva noticed a volume of Gemara resting on the table and asked permission to look through it.

"It would be a pleasure and an honor for me to have the rabbi study from my Gemara," the wealthy man replied.

A few moments later, the man returned, holding his checkbook in one hand and a pen in the other.

Then he looked at the Rosh Yeshiva.

The rabbi appeared completely absorbed in the Gemara before him.

Suddenly, the wealthy man stopped.

"Please forgive me," he said apologetically, "but I have changed my mind. I have decided not to donate anything."

The Rosh Yeshiva was stunned.

"Why?" he asked. "What flaw did you find in us?"

"I cannot explain," the man replied.

The Rosh Yeshiva pressed him to explain what had suddenly changed his mind, but the man continued to refuse.

"I do not want to hurt you," he said.

The rabbi began walking toward the door. Just before leaving, however, he turned around.

"Look, I am not demanding anything from you. You do not owe me a thing. But please tell me why you suddenly decided not to donate. I have a feeling that some kind of mistake has been made."

Finally, the wealthy man agreed to explain.

"I am very sorry," he said, "but I am not prepared to donate to someone who presents himself as a Rosh Yeshiva and does not even know how to read."

The rabbi stared at him in astonishment.

"Why would you say that? Who told you that I cannot read?"

"When I returned to the room," the wealthy man explained, "I saw you looking at the Gemara on the table. But the Gemara was upside down. Its top was facing you, and yet you appeared to be reading it. I realized that you apparently could not even recognize the letters."

The wealthy man had reached what seemed to him like an obvious conclusion: The man standing before him was not really a Rosh Yeshiva at all. He must have been a fraud trying to obtain tzedakah through deception.

The Explanation He Never Expected

The Rosh Yeshiva asked permission to say just one thing before leaving.

"Please understand," he began. "I was born in Tzan'a, Yemen. Throughout my childhood, we studied Torah before the Mari, with all the students gathered around a single book.

"My regular place was opposite the Mari, at the top of the book. As a result, I became accustomed to reading upside down.

"Of course, today I can read normally as well. But whenever I come across a book that is upside down, as happened just now, I instinctively open it and can read it fluently.

"Please bring two identical books. You read from one normally, and I will read the other upside down. Then you will see for yourself."

The homeowner hurried to find two identical books.

They began reading.

The Rosh Yeshiva read quickly, clearly, and fluently from the book placed upside down before him.

Tears filled the wealthy man’s eyes.

"I apologize," he said emotionally. "Please forgive me for not giving you the benefit of the doubt. Come back inside, and now I will write you a very substantial check."

What We See Is Not Always the Whole Story

This remarkable story teaches us about the tremendous obligation to give other people the benefit of the doubt.

Sometimes the evidence appears overwhelming. We see something with our own eyes, and we cannot imagine any reasonable explanation other than the one we have already reached.

The wealthy man had not invented what he saw. The Gemara really was upside down. The rabbi really was reading from it.

His mistake was not in what he saw.

His mistake was believing that what he saw told him the entire story.

Even when we feel certain that someone has acted improperly, we should be cautious about reaching conclusions too quickly. When possible, we should speak to the person, ask questions, clarify what happened, and try to understand what might be behind the behavior we witnessed.

Sometimes one small piece of information can completely transform the picture.

And sometimes the person we were ready to judge turns out to have been reading the situation from an entirely different angle.

The story appears in the book One Thing I Asked, from the treasury of the renowned Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein.