Two Rabbis

In the course of their long wanderings, the two brothers, Rabbi Zusya and Rabbi Elimelekh, often came to the city of Ludmir. There they always slept in the house of a poor, devout man. Years later, when their reputation had spread all over the country they came to Ludmir agai, not on foot as before, but in a carriage.

The wealthiest man in that little town, who had never wanted to have anything to do with them, came to meet them, the moment he heard they had arrived, and begged them to lodge in his house. But they said:

Nothing has changed in us to make you respect us more than before. What is new is just the horses and the carriage. Take them for your guests, but let us stop with our old host, as usual.

This story is from Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart by Christina Feldman and Jack Kornfield.