The Chest of Soil

The Jews once wanted to send a gift to the court of Caesar, to persuade him to hold back the harsh decrees he was planning against them. The gift was bought with the last coins of a poor and beaten people. They chose Nochum Ish Gamzu to deliver it, because miracles were accustomed to be performed on his behalf, and they sent him with a chest filled with precious stones and pearls.

On the way Nochum spent a night at a certain inn. During the night the people of the inn took all the stones and pearls from the chest and filled it with soil. In the morning he saw what had happened. He did not blame himself or lose heart. He said, "This too is for the best," and went on his way to Caesar.

Nochum arrived at the palace and told the guards that he was the emissary of the Jews, bringing a chest for Caesar. He was brought straight inside. When the chest was opened and Caesar saw that it held nothing but dirt, his eyes widened in fury. Insulted, he said that the Jews were mocking him, and that he would kill them all. Nochum did not flinch. He thought, "This too is for the best."

Then Eliyohu HaNovi appeared, dressed as one of the Roman ministers. He said to Caesar, "Perhaps this is some of the earth of Avrohom Avinu. When he threw it at his enemies it became swords, and when he threw straw it became arrows."

There was one enemy city the Romans had never been able to conquer. They tried some of this soil against it, and the city fell. Caesar's men then went to the royal treasury and filled Nochum's chest with precious stones and pearls, in gratitude for his gift, and sent him home with honor.

On the way back he stayed again at the same inn. The people there, amazed that he had returned alive and with such honor, asked, "What did you bring to Caesar that he honored you like this? Did he not see what was in the chest?" Nochum answered, "Whatever I took from here. Oh yes, he loved the dirt."

The people of the inn at once tore down their own houses and loaded the rubble, an entire shipment of dirt, and brought it to Rome. They told Caesar, "The dirt that the Jew brought came from us." They tested it in battle and found no special power in it. Caesar threw a clod of it skyward, and it did not turn into arrows. He ordered the thieves put to death for trying to deceive him.