eted down a little from his excitement, "one thing that doesn't fit
in. It says particularly in the Torah that there will always be poor
people among the Jews, 'the poor shall not cease out of the land.' There
must always be poor, and this would make an end of them altogether!
Besides, the precept concerning charity would, Heaven forbid, be
annulled, the precept which God, blessed is He, wrote in the Torah, and
which the holy Gemoreh and all the other holy books make so much of.
What is to become of the whole treatise on charity in the Shulchan
Aruch? How can we continue to fulfil it?"

But a good head is never at a loss! Reb Nochumtzi soon found a way out
of the difficulty.

"Never mind!" and he wrinkled his forehead, and pondered on. "There is
no fear! Who said that even the whole of the money in the possession of
a few unfortunate rich men will be enough to go round? That there will
be just enough to help all the Jewish poor? No fear, there will be
enough poor left for the exercise of charity. Ai wos? There is another
thing: to whom shall be given and to whom not? Ha, that's a detail, too.
Of course, one would begin with the learned and the poor scholars and
sages, who have to live on the Torah and on Divine Service. The people
can just be left to go on as it is. No fear, but it will be all right!"

At last the plan was ready. Reb Nochumtzi thought it over once more,
very carefully, found it complete from every point of view, and gave
himself up to a feeling of satisfaction and delight.

"Dvoireh!" he called to his wife, "Dvoireh, don't cry! Please God, it
will be all right, quite all right. I've thought out a plan.... A
little patience, and it will all come right!"

"Whatever? What sort of plan?"

"There, there, wait and see and hold your tongue! No woman's brain could
take it in. You leave it to me, it will be all right!"

And Reb Nochumtzi reflected further:

"Yes, the plan is a good one. Only, how is it to be carried out? With
whom am I to begin?"

And he thought of all the householders in Pumpian, but--there was not
one single unfortunate man among them! That is, not one of them had
money, a real lot of money; there was nobody with whom to discuss his
invention to any purpose.

"If so, I shall have to drive to one of the large towns!"

And one Sabbath the beadle gave out in the house-of-study that the Rav
begged them all to be present that evening at a convocation.

At the said convocation the Rav