Why the Aged Hadrian Met a Fig-Planting Old Man

(Lev. 19:23:) "WHEN YOU COME INTO THE LAND AND PLANT." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: "Even though you find it full of every good thing, do not say, 'Let us sit and not plant.' Rather, be diligent in planting, as it is said, 'And you shall plant every tree for food.' Just as you entered and found plantings that others had planted, so too you plant for your children." Let no one say, "I am old and tomorrow I shall die; why should I labor for the sake of others?" Solomon said (Eccl. 3:11), "He has made everything beautiful in its time; also the world (ha-olam) He has put in their heart." It is written "He'elem" (with a hidden spelling). Why? Were it not that the Holy One, blessed be He, hid the day of death from human beings, no one would build or plant, for he would say, "Tomorrow I shall die; why should I stand and labor for the sake of others?" Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, hid death from the hearts of human beings, so that a person would build and plant. If he merits, it will be for himself; if he does not merit, for others. It happened with Hadrian the king, who was passing by on his way to war, going with his legions to fight against a certain province that had rebelled against him. He found a certain old man who was planting fig saplings. Hadrian said to him, "You are an old man, standing and toiling and laboring for others!" He said to Hadrian, "My lord the king, behold, I am planting. If I merit, I shall eat from the fruit of my plantings; and if not, my children will eat." He spent three years at war, and returned after three years. What did that old man do? He took a basket and filled it with the firstfruits of fine figs, and approached before Hadrian. He said to him, "My lord the king, accept these figs, for I am that old man whom you found on your way, and you said, 'You are an old man—why do you trouble yourself and labor for others?' Behold, the Holy One, blessed be He, has already granted me to eat from the fruit of my plantings, and these in the basket are from them." Hadrian said to his servants, "Take it from him and fill it with golden coins." And they did so. The old man took the basket full of golden coins and began going about his house, boasting to his wife and his children, and recounting to them what had happened. His neighbor woman was standing there and heard what the old man said. She said to her husband, "All people go forth, and the Holy One, blessed be He, gives to them and provides them good; yet you sit in your house in darkness and gloom! Behold, our neighbor honored the king with a basket of figs, and he filled it for him with golden coins. Now you—get up and take a large basket and fill it with delicacies of apples and figs and the other kinds of fine fruit, which he loves greatly. Go and honor him with them; perhaps he will fill it with golden coins for you, as he did for our old neighbor." He went and listened to his wife, and took a large basket and filled it with apples and figs, and loaded it on his shoulder, and approached before the king on a side road. And he said to him, "My lord the king, I have heard that you love fruit, and I have come to honor you with figs and apples." The king said to his soldiers, "Take the basket and strike him on his face." And so they did, and struck him on his face until his face swelled and they smashed his eyes, and made an example of him. He went to his house, made into an example and weeping; and she, supposing that he was coming with a basket full of golden coins, saw his face swollen and his body broken and beaten. She said to him, "What has happened to you?" He said to her, "Because I listened to you and went and honored him with that gift, they struck me on my face. Had I not listened to you and put hard kinds of fruit in the basket, they would have already pelted my face and my whole body with them." And all this—why? To teach you that evil women bring down their husbands. Therefore let no one cease from planting; rather, just as he found, so let him add and plant, even when old. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, "Learn from Me," as it were He said—(Gen. 2:8) "And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east."