ירושלמי פסחים פרק ד הל' ט
חד זמן צרכין רבנן נידבא שלחון לר' עקיבה ולחד מן רבנין עמיה. אתון בעיי מיעול לגביה ושמעון קליה דטלייא א"ל מה ניזבין לך יומא דין א"ל טרוכסמין לא מן יומא דין אלא מן דאתמול דהוא כמיש וזליל. שבקון ליה ואזלון לון מן דזכין כל עמא אתון לגביה אמר לון למה לא אתיתון גביי קדמיי כמה דהויתון נהיגין אמר כבר אתינן ושמעינן קליה דטלייא אמר לך מה ניזבון לך יומא דין ואמרת ליה טרוכסימון לא מן דיומא דין אלא מן דאתמול דהוא כמיש וזליל. אמר מה דביני לבין טלייא ידעתין. לא מה ביני לבין בריי. אע"פ כך אזלון ואמרו לה והיא יהבה לכון חד מודיי דדינרין אזלין ואמרין לה אמרה לון מה אמר לכון גדיל או מחיק ואמרי לה סתם אמר לן. אמרה לון אנא יהבה לכון גדיל ואין אמר גדיל הא כמילוי. ואין לא אנא מחשבנא גודלנה מן פרני. כיון ששמע בעלה כך כפל לה את כתובתה
Yerushalmi Pesachim 4:9
One time, the rabbanim were in need of money, so they sent Ribbi Akiva and one of his colleagues on a fundraising mission. They approached the door of a wealthy donor to ask him for a contribution, but before they could knock they overheard him dictating a shopping list to his son.He instructed as follows:"Please go out and buy vegetables. Don't buy the freshest ones because they are expensive. Instead, find the wilted ones from yesterday and purchase those at a discount price."Ribbi Akiva decided that this household was a waste of their time, so he moved on to the next donor on his list.After they had visited all their other patrons, they had some time to kill and they decided they might as well give this guy a shot, so they went back and knocked on his door."How come you didn't visit me first, like the collectors usually do?" the man asked them."We'll be honest with you." Ribbi Akiva said. "We overheard you telling your boy to purchase discount vegetables and we figured you were not the kind of person who would donate largely.""What you overheard concerned my personal expenses. You have no right to assume what concerns me and my creator. Take this giant bowl to my wife and tell her to fill it with gold coins for you."Overjoyed, they approached the philanthropist's wife and told her the instructions they were given."Did he tell you to fill the bowl evenly to the edge or to pile coins on it until it overflows?" She asked them."He didn't specify one way or the other." they answered."I will fill it until it overflows," she told them, "and if that isn't what he intended, let it come out of my own personal finances."When her husband later heard what she had done, he was so pleased that he doubled the value of her ketuba.
The moral of the story is twofold. Firstly, do not be quick to judge someone's personality from a single encounter. Induction of such a manner is rarely accurate. The second lesson comes from the donor himself: one must recognize which expenses in life are transient and which are forever.
