When Akiva Invested Tarfon's Gold in the Poorest Bank

Midrash Aggadah Midrash on Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon (Hebraic Literature, 1901)

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 18, 2025

The sages said of Rabbi Tarfon that though he was a very wealthy man, he was not generous according to his means. There is a gentle reproach in that line. A man who could give thousands was giving hundreds.

Rabbi Akiva heard the criticism and offered a solution. Would you like me to invest some money for you in real estate? he asked Tarfon. A very profitable holding, I promise you.

Tarfon agreed and handed over four thousand gold denarii.

Akiva took the coins and immediately distributed every last one among the poor.

Time passed. Tarfon eventually grew curious about his investment. Where is the land you bought for me? he asked.

Akiva led him to the beit midrash, the study hall, and pointed at a little boy reciting Psalm 112 aloud. The boy read each line until he reached verse 9: He has distributed, he has given to the needy; his righteousness endures forever.

The parable ends there, unfinished — because the point is the silence that follows. The real estate Akiva bought was not in this world. Tzedakah, in the rabbinic economy, is not charity given away. It is capital transferred to a safer bank.

Themes

Charity Rabbis Righteousness Wisdom

Biblical References

Psalms 112:9

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