Not for Sale as a Pledge
A needy man wanted a sefer to leave as a pledge, and Rav Pinchas of Koretz refused to lend out the Rambam's Moreh Nevuchim.
A story ofRav Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam)רבי משה בן מימוןProfile ›
It is told that a poor man once came to the home of Rav Pinchas of Koretz, needing a loan and hoping to leave a sefer as a pledge.
Rav Pinchas's son went to find a book that was rarely opened. He chose a copy of the Moreh Nevuchim that sat on the shelf, and brought it to his father to ask whether it could be lent out.
Rav Pinchas would not allow it. He explained that simply owning the Rambam's seforim is a segulah that brings yiras Shomayim down upon a person. A house with the Rambam's seforim is a house with that blessing, and he did not want it to leave.
The poor man's need was real, and so was the father's care for the household. The Rambam's sefer was the one thing he would not part with, because of what he believed its presence did for those who lived under that roof.
What the family remembered was his reason: the Rambam's seforim were not mere furniture, and their very presence in a Jewish home was a source of reverence for Heaven.
Source: Imrei Pinchos, Shaar HaTorah 124; see also Midrash Pinchos, p. 43b, no. 9. No English edition identified.
Take a moment today to look at where your seforim sit. If any are piled in a corner or hidden away, give them a clean shelf where you can see them and where your children will see them too. Then take one down and learn a paragraph or two. A home that shows respect for Torah teaches that respect without a word. If you do not yet own a sefer of the Rambam, consider buying a small volume and keeping it in a place of honor.