daf bit: Bava Batra 11

[cellio]

The g'mara spends a couple pages discussing tzedakah and charity. On today's daf we get the following story: it is said of King Monobaz (a foreign king in the first century CE who embraced Judaism) that he distributed all the hoards of wealth he accumulated, and also the hoards he inherited, in years of scarcity. His brothers and other members of the household objected, saying "your fathers saved money and added to the treasury, and you are squandering it". He answered: my fathers stored up below and I am storing up above. My fathers stored in a place that can be tampered with, and I store in a place that cannot be tampered with. My fathers stored something that produces no fruits, while I have stored something that does produce fruits (reward in the world to come). My fathers gathered treasures of money, but I gather treasures of souls. My fathers gathered for this world, and I gather for the world to come. (He brings proof-texts for each of these statements.) (11a)