Getzel Shlomo was his name. He was a pauper, one of those beggars who roamed the town of Harki, going from door to door, asking for alms. If anyone pitied him and handed him a coin, and even if they didn't, his only response was "Shma Yisrael," and the townspeople were sure he was incapable of uttering any other words. He was regarded as an imbecile, a half-wit, who occasionally passed through their lives like a shadow and then was thought about no more.

The begger's young son, Chaim Shmuel grew up, it seemed, with little help from his parents. When it was time for his Bar Mitzva, a local, kindhearted teacher taught him how to read and don tefilin with the blessings. When the boy reached the age of fourteen, he left Harki to strike out on his own to try to make his fortune in another town where he wouldn't be known as "The begger Getzel Shlomo's son."

Life was not easy for him, but he was honest and hardworking, and he eked out a living doing handy-work. After ten years, he married the daughter of a local villager and settled down.

During that time, Getzel Shlomo continued his daily rounds of the householders of Harki. And throughout all the years no one ever heard him say anything more than the two words, "Shma Yisrael."

Now, Getzel Shlomo was very old, and he sensed that he was about to die. He called the members of the Chevra Kadisha (the Jewish burial society) to come to him and hear his last request. The men entered the bare room where Getzel Shlomo lay on a wooden pallet.

"My friends, I would like to ask you the favor that you carry out my final wish and bury me in the poorest section of the cemetery at the beginning of a new row. I am very sorry to say that I have no money to pay for the burial, but at least I have saved you the trouble of bringing water to wash my body," and he pointed to the corner of the room where a barrel of water stood.

The Chevra Kadisha members were astounded. Getzel Shlomo could actually speak! They had obviously been wrong about him. He was not the imbecile they all had taken him for. Then, Getzel Shlomo handed one of the gravediggers a basket and said, "Please be sure to bury this with me."

The gravediggers gathered around the basket, curious to discover what it might contain. Looking inside, they saw a pile of papers. "Maybe it's Getzel Shlomo's literary works," one joked, and loud chuckles broke out from the others in the crowd.

When, a short while later, they returned to Getzel Shlomo's room, they found him lying with closed eyes, reciting his last prayers. He then arranged himself and silently drew his last breath.

The Rabbi of Harki, who always made it a point to attend all funerals, whether of the great or the small, asked that he be notified of the time of Getzel Shlomo's funeral. When the Rabbi arrived, the sexton showed him the basket of papers and told the Rabbi that the deceased had wished to be buried with them. Was it allowed? The Rabbi's astonishment could be seen on his face as he flipped through the papers. They contained a meticulous accounting of every penny Getzel Shlomo had collected over all the years. The tiny figures told how he had collected money and then distributed it to the poor of Harki. Getzel Shlomo had performed the demeaning work of begging to spare others from suffering the shame of begging.

The Rabbi looked up at the crowd and declared, "Getzel Shlomo is a hidden Tzadik and he must be accorded the honor which is his due." The Rabbi himself undertook to recite the Kaddish until the dead man's son could be located.

It was only after two years that Chaim Shmuel heard of his father's death and discovered that his father had been a hidden Tzadik. It was then that he returned to Harki together with his family. He continued working very hard to earn his daily bread, but he never complained of his difficult lot. And he never thought of capitalizing on the growing reputation of his saintly father.

One person, though, took a particular interest in Chaim Shmuel, and that was the Baal Shem Tov. Soon after Chaim Shmuel returned to Harki, the Baal Shem Tov instructed his followers there to take him under their wing. He informed them that the son of the Tzadik possessed a very lofty soul and was destined for great spiritual and material riches.

Under the loving tutelage of the Chasidim, Chaim Shmuel began to advance in his study of Torah. He also became very successful in business and it wasn't long before he became one of the greatest philanthropists in Harki, as well as a well-respected scholar.