The Rosh Yeshivah Behind the Counter

Rav Ezra was determined to keep the young Ovadiah Yosef in the world of Torah. One day the promising young scholar stopped coming to yeshivah for several days. Rav Ezra went to his home and was shocked by the poverty he found there. Ovadiah's father explained that he ran a small grocery and needed his son to work in the store. Rav Ezra tried to convince him how important learning was, but the father would not listen.

The next morning, when the father came to open his shop, he found the Rosh Yeshivah already standing behind the counter in a work apron. Rav Ezra explained that he had come early, when Ovadiah was opening up, and had told the boy that a substitute would work in his place without pay, and sent him back to yeshivah. Since the father needed help and could not afford to pay for it, Rav Ezra said, he would be that help himself, because his student's learning mattered more than his own time. The father gave in, and his son stayed in yeshivah.