Thought I’d share this really sweet story from Aish for today.
Paid In Full
There is a fellow who owns a jewelry store in Israel. One day a nine year old girl walked into the store and said, “I am here to buy a bracelet.” She looked through the glass cases and pointed to a bracelet that was $3,000. The man behind the counter asked her, “You want to buy that bracelet?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“Wow, you have very good taste. Who do you want to buy it for?”
“For my older sister.”
“Oh that is so nice!” the storekeeper replied. “Why do you want to buy your older sister this bracelet?”
“Because I don’t have a mother or father,” the little girl said, “and my older sister takes care of us. So we want to buy her a present, and I’m willing to pay for it.” She pulled out of her pocket a whole bunch of coins that totaled just under eight shekels, a little less than two dollars.
The fellow says, “Wow! That’s exactly what the bracelet costs!” While wrapping up the bracelet he said to the girl, “You write a card to your sister while I wrap the bracelet.” He finished wrapping the bracelet, wiped away his tears, and handed the little girl the bracelet.
A few hours later the older sister entered the store. “I’m terribly embarrassed,” she said. “My sister should not have come here. She shouldn’t have taken it without paying.”
“What are you talking about?” the storekeeper asked.
“What do you mean? This bracelet costs thousands of dollars. My little sister doesn’t have thousands of dollars – she doesn’t even have ten dollars! Obviously she didn’t pay for it.”
“You couldn’t be more wrong,” the storekeeper replied. “She paid me in full. She paid seven shekel, eighty agurot, and a broken heart. I want to tell you something. I am a widower. I lost my wife a number of years ago. People come into my store every single day. They come in and buy expensive pieces of jewelry, and all these people can afford it. When your sister walked in, for the first time in so very long since my wife had died, I once again felt what love means.”
He gave her the bracelet and wished her well.
During the High Holy Days, we come to the Almighty and we want to buy something very expensive. We want to buy life. But we cannot afford it. We don’t have enough money to pay for it. We don’t have the merits. So we come to the Almighty and we empty out our pockets, giving him whatever merits we have plus promises for the future. I’ll pick up the phone and call someone who is lonely, I will learn an extra five minutes of Torah, I will be kind and I will be scrupulous about not speaking lashon hara (gossip) for one hour a day.
The Almighty says, “You don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve felt what love means.” He sees how much we love Him and how much we yearn to improve, and He says, “You know what? You have touched my heart. Here it is, paid in full.”
I will not be on the internet for today (this is a scheduled post) so I won’t be able to respond to your comments right off. But please do share your thoughts!
And feel free to join our family’s tradition of watching Veggietales’ Jonah as well. 😉
Have a meaningful fast!
~writefury
writefury 
That’s so sweet, I love stores like this!
And veggietales are a must duh.. 😛
Aish has some really great stuff. 🙂
Of course! And it’s a great way to keep the little guys’ attention through the story.
ya, 🙂 hope you had a great yom kippur!
You too!
Oh my! That’s such a sweet story!! 😀
I know! Some tears were shed in our family. 🙂 We were going to read it out loud, and it was determined that I shouldn’t be the one to read it… older sister and all…. oddly self-serving. 😛
This is one of the most touching things I’ve ever read.
Yay! Veggietales! ^_^
It’s pretty adorable. I love how he just gives her the bracelet without hesitation. And the backstory to it. 😀
Veggietales is one of the few shows I can look back on and think “I had such good taste as a child”. XP I can finally appreciate the british-ness of Jonah!
And I still love the song under the credits. I was cajoling everyone to wait for it to play before turning it off. XD
*rolls on floor laughing* Dear me…
This is the song that runs under the credits! These are the credits, so this is where it goes! HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MOVIE SO WE’LL SAY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY!
There should be a rule that the song under the credits has something to do with the movie’s basic plot! BUT THAT RULE HAS NOT BEEN MADE, SO FOR NOW WE’LL HAVE TO SAY! HEY HEY HEY HEYHEYHEYHEYHEY! XD *jigs*
*hug attacks you* X-D
*hug attacks you back* XD and I was afraid you wouldn’t know what I was talking about…. Silly me. 😛
*hug attacks you more* X-P
We should do our own version of the song! X-D
(Also, the way the Tenth Doctor hugs people is just so cute. He grabs them around the waist and swings them up in the air. He looks pretty fragile, but no… :-P)
*10th doctor hugs you* I got one!
This is the song that runs under the comments
This is the comments, so this is where it goes
Has nothing to do with the blog post so we’ll say!
Hey hey heyheyheyheyheyhey! XD
BRILLIANT! *hugs both the Doctor and Rosey at once*
There used to be a rule that the song under the comments
Was annoyance and spamming quite enough
But this is my blog here so for now we’ll have to say
HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY!!
XD this might have to be the after-post widget…
There should be a rule that the song under the comments
Had something to do with the blog post all along
But that rule has not been made so for now we’ll have to say
HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY!
There once was a time when the song under the comments
Was something discussing the blog post’s basic point
But this is not that song, so for now we’ll have to say
HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY! XD
We are super bored, so the song under the comments
Has nothing to do with the blog post at all
Because our boredom assayed so for now we’ll have to say
HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY!
This is officially going to be an after post. XD
YESSSSSSS X-D
How would some one not know that song? Silly you indeed 😛 you should post the end credits song incase some one… some how doesn’t know it 🙂