The Will and the Wise
Motzoei Shabbos Story: A family that came to Reb Motele Zlatopoli to justly divide the inheritance of their father suddenly had a conflict among them.
by COLlive Reporter · COLliveBy Dovid Zaklikowski for Hasidic Archives
A family once came to Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Twersky, who was known as Reb Motele Zlatopoli, for leading the shtetl of Zlatopil in Ukraine.
They had a question about their inheritance.
“Our father did not leave a will,” they told the rabbi, and they asked that he wisely divide their father’s belongings among the siblings.
He did, and the family happily began to divide the inheritance.
As they were going through the process of dividing his belongings, they found their father’s will. The calculations in the will differed from the rabbi’s decision.
Those who would receive more according to the will said, “It is a mitzvah to fulfill the words of the deceased.” Those who received more according to the rabbi’s ruling said, “It is a mitzvah to adhere to the direction of the wise.”
They returned to the rabbi for guidance on what to do.
Reb Motele told them they should follow what the will says.
“If you follow what it says in the will, you will surely be fulfilling ‘the words of the deceased,’ because he surely died. However, if you follow the first ruling, there is doubt as to whether you will be fulfilling ‘the direction of the wise,’ for perhaps that person is not wise. And doubt does not override a certainty.”
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