Sit In The Sukkah, Not In Your Plate!

In the days before Reb Yissacher Dov of Radoshitz became known as a Rebbe, he was so poor that he often fasted because he simply had no bread to eat.

One year he had eaten nothing for a few days before Yom Kippur, and even after the fast was over he had nothing better than meager rations of bread and water. Nor could he afford to prepare anything at all for the oncoming festival of Sukkot.

After the evening service on the first night of the festival he remained in the synagogue, for he knew that at home there was nothing to eat. But he did not know that on the eve of the festival his wife had sold some modest item of jewelry that she had found among her possessions, and with the proceeds had bought braided challahs, candles and potatoes.

When he decided that most people had by now finished eating in their sukkot and had probably returned to their houses, he left the synagogue and went home.

Entering his sukka, he was overjoyed to see candles and challot on the table. He washed his hands, recited Kiddush, and sat down to eat. By this time he was well-nigh starving, so he ate the potatoes which his wife served him with a ravenous appetite.

While he was eating, a thought flashed through his mind.

"Berl," he said to himself, "you're not sitting in the sukka: you're sitting in your plate!"

And he stopped eating.