The piety and humility of our gaonim was legendary. There was many a sage who lived in meager circumstances, yet would extend himself to help his fellow man.
Rav Shmuel Shmelkis, who was known for his Torah knowledge was also famous for his many charitable deeds. His house was always open to the poor, and streams of visitors were usually seen entering his home day and night.
One day a poor person came and asked for money to purchase the Shabbos meal for his family. Unfortunately, that morning the rav couldn’t find a kopek in the house. The rav told the poor man to wait while he went searching through all the rooms.
Entering his bedroom, he saw his wife’s diamond ring lying on the table. He took it and gave it to the poor man.
“Here is this ring,” he said, “sell it and with the money you can buy enough food to last you a long time.”
The poor man gratefully accepted the ring and departed. A few minutes later when the rav’s wife went to her room to put on her ring, she discovered it was missing. Rushing out she told her husband, who explained that he had given it away to a poor man.
“What!” she cried. “Didn’t you know that the ring contained an expensive diamond, which was worth a lot of money?”
The rav immediately called his shammes and whispered to him. The shammes rushed out of the house. The rebbetzin waited anxiously for him to return.
A half-hour later, the shammes returned and announced that he had found the poor man.
“What about the ring?” asked the rebbetzin.
“I’m sorry, but the rav did not tell me to take back the ring,” answered the shammes.
“I don’t understand. Did my husband only send you to inquire after the welfare of the poor man?”
“The rav told me to look for the poor man and tell him that the ring he had given him was worth much more than he had thought,” answered the shammes. “Therefore, he should be very careful that when he sells the ring he should ask for a higher price.”