James Triplett spent many years studying psychology. Over the years, he decided that the field of psychology that interested him most was social psychology.
James had been engaged in research in this field, and in many cases had reached far-reaching conclusions. Now James was engaged in his main research, with which he wanted to receive the title of 'Doctor.' The research dealt with altruism - helping others without reward.
James began his research by observing almshouses and the people who gave them their money. He visited many places, and gradually his research began to produce results and conclusions.
Every day, James would go to a different place to observe as many types of population as possible. Over time, he realized that most of the begging groups and their helpers had many common denominators. It is no wonder, therefore, that when James arrived at Plassen Square, he stood there in surprise, unable to understand the phenomenon he was seeing.
On the side of the sidewalk stood a somewhat tall man. Behind him, slightly above him, hung a sign in large letters: "I am rich as a crow, but not enough! Donate to me!""
In front of the man, on the ground, stood an open luxury snakeskin suitcase, where he expected people to place coins. James looked at the man; he was wearing a clean suit, with the BOSS label prominently displayed on the cuff. James knew that this suit cost a lot of money. The shoes he was wearing were also from a luxury brand. But what surprised him most was the Rolex watch he was wearing. When he was a young student, James had worked evenings in a watch shop to pay for his studies. A watch like the one the man was wearing could cost thousands of dollars. The man's hairstyle also exuded luxury.
James, as mentioned, has never encountered such a phenomenon – a person belonging to the top decile collecting alms.
He sat down on a nearby bench and watched the beggar and the people who passed by him. The reactions of the passers-by were mixed: some of them burst out laughing when they read the sign behind the man, others looked at him angrily, others showed disdain for him, and one man even spat at him. But what they all had in common was that none of them put a single worn-out coin in the man's suitcase.
James waited for the man to finish collecting the alms and intended to follow him, to understand what motivated him to do such a strange thing.
Long hours passed. The man closed his suitcase, which was empty, removed the sign from behind it, placed it in his lap, and began to leave the place.
James followed him, and since there were many people walking by on the street, he even managed to walk close to him without the man noticing him. Now he could look at the Rolex watch closely. With the expertise he had gained from his work years ago, James suddenly realized that the watch was a fake, without a doubt. A successful fake, but a fake nonetheless.
James continued to look, then noticed that the label on the sleeve of the suit, which bore the name BOSS, had also been sewn onto the suit and was not original. The suit itself was not at all luxurious, and the label had been torn from another suit.
James still did not understand the significance of his conclusions, when suddenly the man turned right into a narrow alley. James followed him in and saw him meet a real beggar, who was dressed in old and tattered clothes. James remembered him; he too had collected alms in the square where he had watched the strange man. The two beggars continued walking together, until they came to a nearby bench and sat down on it.
James stopped walking at a safe distance from them, so that they would not notice his presence, and watched them curiously. He saw the beggar with the ragged clothes take out a large bag full of coins from his bag, divide them in two, put one half in his bag and hand the other half to the 'rich' beggar.
Now James understood the whole trick. The two beggars were real beggars and were working together. The 'rich' one got people to donate a lot of money to the other man, who presented himself as poor.
James studied the phenomenon in depth, and in his doctoral dissertation he wrote that he discovered that in this way people donated four times more to the poor beggar than they would have donated if they had not seen the man who presented himself as rich. Similarly, after sharing the money, they earned twice as much.
The explanation for this, James explained, is that the man who presents himself as rich makes people notice that there are poor people in the world, and this attention makes them want to donate to them...
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Our lives are full of opportunities to fulfill a mitzvah: at any moment a person can repay kindness, remember the Ten Commandments, and thereby fulfill a mitzvah every second, and so on. But for this to be considered a mitzvah, he must be directed toward the mitzvah. Gentiles also honor their parents, but a Jew who honors his parents and at the same time is directed toward the mitzvah is infinitely rewarded.
The same is true for the holiday of Sukkot, which is filled with mitzvot: the mitzvot of dwelling in the Sukkah for seven days, the mitzvot of the four species, the mitzvot of Hallel, and more.
The purpose of some of these mitzvot is to create in a person attention to something. Therefore, when fulfilling the mitzvah, one must pay attention to its meaning, and what one is supposed to learn from it.
For example, the Sukkah is a reminder of the clouds of glory that surrounded the people of Israel when they left Egypt; we must pay attention to this, and know that the Holy One, blessed be He, accompanies the people of Israel even today, and everything that happens is done under His supervision...
• Writer Avi Zohar is the author of the book 'The End of the Story''
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