The Merchant Whose Only Cargo Was Hidden Torah

Another interpretation: One who acquires merchandise and goes out on the road fears the bandits, but the Torah is not so - can bandits take a person's Torah out of his heart? This is "For I have given you a good acquisition." Our rabbis said: There was an incident with a ship that had merchants in it, and there was one scholar there. They said to him: What is your merchandise? He said to them: It is hidden away. They said to him: Why do you not show it to us? He said to them: When I enter the city I will show it to you. They began to search around the ship and did not find it; they began to laugh at him. Officials [customs men or pirates] rose up against them and took everything that was in their hands; they had nothing to eat and nothing to wear. That scholar entered the study house, began to sit and expound, and they began to honor him and to provide for him. Those who had been with him on the ship began to come to him and beg from him. They said to him: Please, since you know us, plead our cause. What caused him to be saved? The Torah that was in his heart. This is "For I have given you a good acquisition."