To Insult Poverty or Natural Defect, no Venial Crime
Whoso mocketh the poor, reproacheth his Maker.—Prov. xvii. 4.
Despise not the poor, thou knowest not how soon it may be thine own lot.
Despise not the deformed, their defects are not of their own seeking, and why shouldst thou add insult to misfortune?
Despise no creature; the most insignificant is the work of thy Maker.
Rabbi Simeon, the son of Eleazar, returning from his master's residence to his native place, was highly elated with the great knowledge he had acquired. On his way, he overtook a singularly unshapely and misfeatured person, who was travelling to the same town. The stranger saluted him by saying,—"Peace be upon thee, Rabbi." Simeon, proud of his learning, instead of returning the civility, noticed only the traveller's deformity; and by way of joke, said to him,—"Racca,[1] are the inhabitants of thy town all as misshapen as thou art?" The stranger, astonished at Simeon's want of manners, and provoked by the insult, replied—"I do not know; but thou hadst better make these inquiries of the great Artist that made me." The Rabbi perceived
- ↑ A term of reproach.
