hahroustuh yehrpehk kohhahnahl chee keedehr

The greed of the rich is never satisfied. (Or literally, the rich do not know how to be satisfied)

There is a story that illustrates this saying.

The Greedy Man

There was a very rich man. He owned many valuable properties, vast forests, palatial like estates, camel caravans, sand heep and cattle herds.
His numerous servants worked day and night. They toiled to fill his silos with precious grains and cereals.

But the rich man was never satisfied. He always desired to increase his wealth, to triple it, to increase it ten fold. He especially liked gold.
He would sit for hours and admire his chests full of gold. He was charmed by the yellowish, bright color. Continually he meditated how to amass more gold.

One day he overheard the following discussion. Supposedly, there is one night during the year, when stars from the east and west meet during a split second. They “kiss” or embrace each other and again go their ways. If, during that exceptional moment of embrace of the stars, a person loudly calls out his most cherished and passionate desire to the stars, it will immediately be fulfilled.

That particular night is called “hampartzman keesher,” or the night of ascension.

On the ascension night, the rich man prepared a a bowl of pure spring water and a mirror. When the day’s work was finished and all his tired workers were home sleeping, the rich man left his mansion to reach the summit of a very high hill nearby. He carried the plate of spring water and the mirror. On top of the hill, he could see the vast celestial vault of the heavens “decorated” with innumerable stars.

The rich man was amazed by the grandeur of the sight.

His mind flashed with the thought, “I wish all the stars would turn to gold and they all belonged to me.”

He found a suitable place to sit. He placed the plate of water so that the moon was reflected in the plate. Then he held the mirror in such a way that
he could see the refection of the moon in the plate of water.

He then beheld the mirror and refrained from blinking his eyes while seeing the moon’s reflection on the plate of water.

Suddenly, the heavens because resplendent with a celestial light. A mysterious voice of nature began to speak as if the mountains, trees, hills and forests developed the the power of locution and greeted one another joyfully. Suddenly, the rich man beheld a miraculous event. From both ends of the sky (east and west), the stars with lightening speed came together and “kissed” each other affectionately.

The rich man immediately began to address them loudly.

“Oh heaven celest, fulfill my heartfelt wish. Whatever I touch, let it turn to gold, gold, gold”

It is said that the heavens fulfilled his desire because the rich man spoke at just the right moment.

The rich miser full of unbounded glee hurried back home to inform his wife of his amazing fortune.

His happiness was so overpowering that he immediately embraced his wife before he even spoke a word.

He kissed her joyfully, but then he frightfully stepped back as bitten by a poisonous snake. His wife was turned into a golden statue as if frozen in time.

In his extreme state of distress, he touched her soft hair which also immediately turned to gold fibers and became hard like the hairs of wild pigs.

Seeing this sad turn of events the rich man became depressed. He sequestered himsel in a room and remained alone for several days without eating or drinking.

He could not, of course, remain like that for long. After some days, he called his servants and ordered them to bring him food and drink. They quickly brought him a feast and set his table royally.

The rich man as if crazed by the greed of a miser grabbed a piece of bread. But as soon as he touched the bread, it turned into gold. The same thing happened to whatever else he touched. Everything, including the dishes, the food and the table turned to gold.

The rich man could not eat a morcel of food even though he was surrounded by a sumptuous feast. He soon died of starvation and thirst.

Three apples fell from the heavens. Whoever is not a miser, can pick them up and eat. The apples turned to gold in the hands of the miser.