Jean felt unlucky all his life. It seemed that everything he tried to do was destroyed before it was even created. This happened with every job he tried to do. In just one day he always caused serious damage, and all through no fault of his own.
Jean decided that his luck had probably disappeared and that he must try to find it. With great vigor and as a last attempt, he headed for the dangerous forest, where he thought he might discover where his luck had gone.
The tall trees scared him a little, and the stories about cannibals who lived in the dense forest didn't make him feel any better, but he decided that without luck his life was not worth living, so he slowly entered the thicket of the forest.
The terrifying face that appeared before his eyes left no room for doubt: a large cannibal stood before him with a pitchfork in his hand. Jean felt that bad luck had followed him here and there, and in a moment he would be prey to the dangerous man. To his surprise, the cannibal did nothing to him. He said that he had stopped eating people years ago, because he felt no taste in eating; his luck had abandoned him and taken his sense of taste with it. Jean told him that he had come to seek his fortune, and the cannibal asked him to seek his fortune as well.
Jean continued his way deeper into the forest. He enjoyed looking at the many trees, on which large, juicy fruits grew, and continued to walk slowly.
Suddenly he saw a tree with wide branches. A stream of clear water flowed beneath it, but for some reason the tree was empty of fruit. A short path led to a cabin, where Jean met the tree's owner. The man told him that the tree was also unlucky, and despite the stream flowing beneath it, it was bare of fruit. He asked Jean to find the tree's luck as well.
Jean continued walking through the forest, and then he saw a bright flash in the distance. He quickly approached the place and saw a prince sitting on a large stone and crying. The prince said that after the death of his father, the king, a rebellion broke out in his country. He could have quelled the rebellion with a single order to his army, but the problem was that he could only give the order from the palace, and the palace was surrounded by rebels. If he went near there, he would undoubtedly be killed. He heard Jean's story and asked him to seek his fortune for himself too...
Jean began to realize that he was not the only one unlucky. Now he also sought the luck of the man-eater who had lost his sense of taste, of the tree that did not grow fruit despite the stream that flowed beneath it, and of the poor prince who could not enter the palace.
•
Jean was deeply saddened by the pain of his friends.
Meanwhile, in the clearing, he saw a man standing with a crystal ball next to him. The man told Jean that he could solve problems. In other words, he had enormous powers, and in simple words – he was a sorcerer.
Jean told him that he was looking for his own luck and that of his three friends. The man listened with interest, looked intently at the crystal ball, and said to Jean: "Unfortunately, the crystal ball does not show me a solution to your problem, but it shows me wonderful solutions to the problems of your three friends.".
The man explained the solutions to Jean, and Jean, happy that he had managed to get solutions for his friends, turned on his heels to reveal to them what the sorcerer had told him.
The prince was still sitting on the stone, crying. Jean told him that at the edge of the forest there was a huge tree. Next to the tree was a small, thorny bush that looked real, but the bush was placed there to hide a hole in the ground. When he got there, he would have to lift the bush, and there he would find a tunnel that led straight into the palace. "Your father dug the tunnel for a time of trouble," the sorcerer explained to him.
The prince listened with excitement. He thanked Jean and offered him to come with him, and that he would appoint him as his chief advisor and enrich him greatly. Despite his entreaties, Jean refused his offer, and only said that if he came with him, his bad luck would surely cause the prince to be caught...
Jean quickly reached the owner of the strange tree. The sorcerer told him that under the tree was buried a chest containing treasure that a robber had hidden there many years ago. The chest blocked the water from the stream from watering the tree. The man offered Jean to dig with him in the ground and share with him what they would find in the chest, but Jean did not agree. He said that if he tried to take part of the treasure, his bad luck would surely cause the tree to collapse on them...
Jean arrived at the cannibal. He told him his story so far and how he had solved the problems of the prince and the tree owner.
""The sorcerer also revealed to me the solution to your problem," Jean told him. "He said that to regain your sense of taste, you must eat a man who thinks he is unlucky, and who, although he has been lucky several times, has not thought to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that have come his way.".
The cannibal understood the advice.
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Rosh Hashanah is the day on which everything that will happen to all creatures in the world throughout the year is determined. Our rabbis said that on Rosh Hashanah itself, the fate of each person is determined "where he is." That is, according to the spiritual state in which he is on Rosh Hashanah itself, without examining what his state was before.
When a person experiences troubles and difficult situations during the year, he is sorry and does not understand why this happened to him. But on Rosh Hashanah, this could have been prevented easily and simply, through repentance and good deeds.
It is difficult to change a difficult event that occurs during the year, because in order to change a decree that has been made, many rights and many efforts are needed.
But it is very easy to prevent it from being decreed in the first place.
Therefore, when a person asks to change a decision during the year, the argument against him will be: Why didn't you take advantage of the wonderful opportunity that came your way at the beginning of the year?
• Writer Avi Zohar is the author of the book 'The End of the Story'.
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