There’s an old classic tale from Jewish Poland in the 1600’s that we’ve shared before many times, but would like to share it again now that we have many parents in our Sukkah for Homecoming Weekend 2019.
There was a poor Jew named Izak from Krakow who dreamed of a treasure buried under the royal bridge in Prague. Prague was far off, dreams are dreams, so he left it at that. But he kept having the same recurring dream night after night, so he felt it was a sign and decided to make the trip. When he got there he saw that the bridge was heavily guarded, soldiers patrolling at all times. He tried at this hour, at a later hour, wandered around to different sides of the bridge, but couldn’t get quiet time to dig there. Finally, he was confronted by an officer who noticed this guy loitering too much around the bridge. Izak felt he had no choice, and thought perhaps he could get the officer to buy into his dream. So he told him the story. The officer laughed! He told Izak: “Look I dreamed that a guy named Izak from Krakow has a treasure buried under his oven. Do I travel to Krakow to dig it up? Of course not! Go home and don’t worry about dreams!”
Izak heard what the officer said and got right back on the road home. He wasted no time, dug up the oven in his home, and sure enough found buried treasure there! It is said, legend or otherwise, that the Izak Synagogue in Krakow (imposing architecture that survived the Nazis) was built by the newly rich Izak with the treasure he discovered in his own home.
The message of the story is that sometimes we have to journey far and wide only to discover the treasures we have right at home, in ourselves.
This is appropriate for parents weekend because sometimes its when kids go away from home, and journey and wander through life, that’s when they realize the treasures that already had in their own home, in their own families. Not everyone realizes this, and for many it does take time and journeys, but many do come to appreciate and cherish that which they took for granted.