A man named Joseph, who kept the Shabbat with uncommon care, had a neighbor who was rich, fearful, and utterly convinced of astrology. The neighbor was told by a professional astrologer that every coin of his wealth would one day pass to Joseph.
Horrified, the man sold his entire estate, took the proceeds, and bought a single diamond of extraordinary value. He sewed the diamond into the lining of his turban and said, half in triumph and half in spite, "Now let Joseph try to get this."
Some time later, crossing the sea by ship, the man was standing on deck when a sudden wind lifted the turban off his head and flung it into the water. A fish in the sea opened its mouth and swallowed the diamond. The fish was caught by a fisherman the next morning, hauled to market, and displayed for sale. Who happened to be buying? Joseph, looking for something special to honor the approaching Shabbat.
He bought the fish. He took it home. He opened it. And there, in the belly of the fish, lay the diamond.
The story, preserved in the 1901 anthology Hebraic Literature from the Midrashim, is one of the Rabbis' favorite shapes — a man hoarding against fate, and fate walking in through the kitchen door. The Talmud (Shabbat 119a) uses this very tale to teach that honoring the Sabbath brings wealth to those who observe it. The astrologer was not wrong about what would happen. He was wrong about what could stop it. Joseph did not chase the diamond. He went to market. He honored Shabbat. And the diamond, as the Rabbis like to say, found its home.