The Gemara asks: how far does a person have to go to honor their parents? The Gemara tells the story of Dama ben Nesina.
Back in the times of the Beis HaMikdash, the Kohanim were looking for a special gem for the ephod. The ephod was like an apron that the Kohen Gadol wore, and on the shoulders it had two big, precious gems. These gems were very hard to find, but the sages heard about a Roman man named Dama ben Nesina who had one.
They traveled to his home and said, “Dama, we heard you have this beautiful gem for the ephod. Can we buy it from you?” Dama said, “Sure. How much are you offering?” They said, “Five hundred thousand gold coins.” Dama answered, “It’s worth at least eight hundred thousand.” They agreed, because they really needed it. Dama was very happy. He said, “Great! We’ve had this stone in our family for many years, and I’ve been waiting for a good buyer.”
He went to get the stone, but when he found the chest it was locked. He looked for the key everywhere until he realized the key was under the pillow where his father was sleeping. His father was resting peacefully, and Dama didn’t want to disturb him. Out of respect for his father, he refused to wake him up. He went back to the sages and said, “I’m sorry, you’ll have to come back later. My father is sleeping, and I can’t wake him.”
The sages were amazed. They waited an hour, then two, but his father kept sleeping. Finally, they could not wait any longer, they left and bought another similar stone from someone else. Dama had lost what looked like the deal of a lifetime.
But the next year, Hashem rewarded him. A perfect parah adumah, a red cow, which was very, very rare, was born to Dama’s herd. The sages ran back to him and asked to buy it, because they needed to use it in the Beis Hamikdash. Dama said, “I know you would pay me any price, but I only want the amount of money I lost from last year’s deal.” They happily agreed, and Dama got exactly what he had missed out on before.
From this story we learn: if Hashem rewarded a Roman, just because he wouldn’t wake his father, imagine how much more Hashem will reward us when we do the mitzvah of honoring our father and mother.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 52.
