Irving's Famous Deli - A Parable

2,000 years ago, Irving had a chain of restaurants from Jerusalem to Nazareth, and from Haifa to Be'er Sheva known as Irving's Famous Deli.

His schedule was intense, and there came a time when Irving needed to travel for a month. He called in his two sons and daughter, telling them:

"I'm going to give each of you 10,000 shekels, and when I return, we will measure how wisely you invested that money."

Upon his return, his first son said, "I did a great job! I expanded our Jerusalem restaurant and now your 10,000 shekels have grown to 20,000 shekels.

His second son said, "I too did a great job! I bought our corned beef supplier, which cut our corned beef costs in half." 

"Your 10,000 shekels have grown to 25,000 shekels."

And then his daughter spoke: "Dad, I donated your 10,000 shekels to feed the poor at our restaurants. I have none of that money left."

"What kind of business investment is that," shouted Irving. "You started with 10,000 shekels and now you have nothing! Nothing!"

"It's the best kind of investment," his daughter replied. 

"We helped humanity. And the Rabbis were so pleased, that they sent their congregants to eat in our restaurants."

"As a result, our business doubled!"

"You're now the richest man in Jerusalem, but you have something greater than money, the love of everyone because of your generosity."

Irving sat speechless, and when he finally spoke, with a big smile he said to his daughter: 

"Because of you, I made the wisest of all investments, helping the poor. And as a result, God smiled upon us with his benevolence. Thank you!"

"You're welcome dad," his daughter answered. "And the lesson is you can never go wrong by helping those in need."

With Love To All - Dick