The Servant and the
Ministers
Baal HaSulam
Once there was a king
Who was so fond
of his servant,
He wished to
make the servant
Superior to all
his ministers.
He recognized the great,
Unfailing love within his servant’s heart.
But it was not kinglike
To promote a
person
All at once
For no apparent
reason.
Rather, the proper manner for a king
Is to disclose his reasons to all,
Revealing his
profound wisdom.
What did the King do?
He appointed his servant
To guard his
very own castle.
He also told
one of the ministers,
A gifted comic,
To pretend he
was a rebel
Against the
kingdom,
And to attack the
castle
When the king’s
guards were unprepared.
The minister did as he was told.
With great resourcefulness
and shrewdness
He pretended to
assail the king’s castle.
The servant, now guarding the castle,
Risked his life
and saved the king.
He fought the
minister
With
unrelenting bravery
Until all could plainly see
His love and
loyalty
To his king.
Then, the
minister removed his costume
And all laughed
with glee
(As the servant
had fought with all his might
Only to
discover it was all
Imaginary and
completely unreal).
They laughed even more
When the
minister told
Of his
imaginary character,
Deeply cruel at
heart,
And of the
great fear
He was sure he
had seen.
And every detail
In this
dreadful struggle
Brought a round
of laughter and great joy.
But even so,
The servant was
still a servant,
And unschooled,
as well.
How could he be
made superior
To all the
king’s ministers and servants?
The king pondered this question,
And as before,
commanded the same minister
To pretend he
was a robber and a murderer
And wage a
bitter war against him.
The king was certain
That in the
second war,
He would reveal
to his servant a wondrous wisdom,
Enough to make
him worthy
Of leading all
the ministers.
And so the king appointed the servant
To guard the kingdom’s
treasure.
And that same
minister dressed up
As a vicious
murderer
Set out to
steal the king’s secret riches.
The poor guard
Fought once
more with all his might
And with
complete devotion
Until his quota
was filled.
Then the
minister took off his costume
And there was
great joy
In the king’s
palace,
Even more so
than before
As the details of the minister’s tricks
Brought about
great laughter.
Since now he
had to exhibit
Even further
wisdom and craftiness.
Because it was
now evident
That there was
no cruelty whatsoever
In the kingdom,
And those they
thought were cruel
Were only
jokers.
In fact, that
minister needed great ingenuity
To convincingly
appear as a villain.
