Weekly Story: Ivan the Farmer

by Rabbi Sholom Avtzon

Being that we are learning the fourth chapter in Pirkei avos this Shabbos after Mincha, I chose to present the following parable that I heard from Reb Mendel Morosow sheyiche, who heard it from his father, the Frierdiker rebbe’s secretay, Reb Elchonon Morozow hy”d.

Being that it is extremely lengthy, it is being divided into two parts.

In one of the farm communities in the heartland of Russia, lived a family on their large farm. Things were going good for them; this year’s harvest was a bountiful one. Their son Ivan and his older sister Ana were always willing and in fact eager to help out. On the day Ivan became fourteen his father greeted him by the dining room table with a huge smile. “Ivan”, he said, “today I’ve purchased a plow just for you and you can plow, plant, and harvest that section that I can’t get around to it; like I always tell you, one day that entire farm is going to be yours.

Ivan thanked his father, he was so fortunate. All his friends have brothers with whom they will have to share and divide the field. He is going to get the entire field that belonged to the family for hundreds of years. What an honor!

Early the following morning he did his daily chores of milking their three cows and gathering the chicken eggs and watering the vegetables plots. He then rushed over to begin working on his own field.

He knew the procedures well; the first thing is that all of the rocks have to be removed. That should be easy; after all he remembers helping his father remove around twenty from the other field and then you can begin plowing. But after removing twenty and yet another twenty, he saw there were hundreds more. No wonder no one wanted to clear this field. But he will do it no matter how long it takes. He will show off his field to all his friends.

His father encouraged him and reminded him of the greatness of a farmer. Without farmers no one will have any food. Everybody needs us and we don’t need them. We are so important. These uplifting words as well as others, salved his aching bones, and finally two weeks later the field was clear.

His whole family congratulated him and made a small celebration for this milestone, he was thrilled and beaming with happiness.

The next morning he harnessed the cow to the plough. But by midday he realized he barely did anything. Sitting by his father’s side at lunch, he asked why is this field so more difficult to plow than all others.

Putting his hands on his shoulders, his father replied, my dear Ivan, don’t you realize this field has not been plowed for more than thirty years. The earth is extremely hard. First you have to poke holes in the ground with a metal pipe and then you can plow.

Thanking his father for his sage advice, Ivan did as he was told and yes after thrusting the metal bar thousands of times in the ground the plowing did go easier. But it was still difficult work.

So passed the entire farming season planting, hoeing, watering, guarding the newly grown stalks, harvesting and grinding the wheat. Ivan proudly did it all on his own. It was hard work but it is rewarding. As his father said a farmer is the most important person in the world and he is now a farmer. Wonderful.

But that winter was brutally cold and they were snowed in. Yes the large fireplace kept the family warm, but young Ivan was imagining this fireplace was built over 100 years ago, and yet during all that time no one figured out how to make it work better. There has to be a better way. Maybe they have a better way in other places not on a farm.

This thought remained in his head. How do people who don’t have a farm live? Is their life better or is the farmer’s life better. He thought about it when he was in bed and when he was alone in the field. And finally he decided, he has to see for himself, how do other people live their lives.

One day when his parents went to the market to barter with the other farmers, he mentioned his plan to his older sister. She just laughed and replied, “don’t you see in the cemetery fathers father is buried next to his father who is buried next to his father and the older stones, who knows whose there, probably his father and fathers father. We were born here and we all die here and so will our chlidren. This is our life.”

Seeing that her brother wasn’t convinced she continued, father is not as strong as he used to be, he is getting older. Who will help him if you aren’t here? A good person doesn’t forsake their parents.

Hearing this, Ivan replied, “you are right, father needs me.” But it was an interesting thought anyway. Both of them laughed and they talked about other things. However, the desire to see how other people live was become stronger.

One day, his father said, Ivan, I want you to take our grain tomorrow morning and sell it in the town. First you will take it to the miller who will grind it and put it in the bags and then he will tell you where to bring the bags too. Go to him early, unhitch the wagon and he will give you a different wagon to load up more grain to bring to him. Both wagons full will only fill up a few bags of flour.

By midday all of the grain he bought was ground into flour and the miller directed him to the train station in the next town.

Seeing many other farmers, he realized this is where everyone sells their wheat and barley to and he watched how the workers loaded up one car of the train after another with all seeds that the farmers sold.

Attentively watching them, he saw how they packed the sacks one on top of the other and after closing the door on the side of the train they continued loading additional sacks from the top of the train.

Seeing a train for the first time he waited until all the farmers left and the train blew its whistle and slowly pulled out.

So that is what I hear one night every other week it must be that the train stops off in a few places to buy from the farmers around that town and bring it someplace big. That train had a lot of cars full of grain; it has enough to feed thousands and thousands of families.

The passion he had suppressed so long began raging in him once again, giving him no rest. There is a way to leave the tedious and hard work of a farmer. Not that he looked down at his father or any of the farmers he knew, rather he felt that the work ethic his father had instilled in him would help him accomplish much more if he was not on the farm. If he was in a big city and doing whatever at this point he doesn’t know, but he will find out.

So one afternoon after he finished all his chores, he took the horse for a ride. He wanted to find the tracks and see if he could somehow board the train unobserved.

After some time he found the tracks and began trotting his horse alongside the straight path. Suddenly he saw there was a place the tracks made a sharp turn. Thinking about it concluded the train must slow down to almost a standstill in order to navigate this turn. After all if he was driving a wagon, which is much smaller, the driver would slow down. A few nights later when he heard the whistle and the inner debate began to rage in him. Should he leave or should he stay. His curiosity and desire would not be ignored, he will be leaving. My father will manage, he might have to hire someone, but in a year or two my sister will get married and her husband can do my job.

All he had to take is some food and his other set of clothing and meet the train by the bend. He remembered that there was a ladder attached to the rear of each train. When the train slows down he would climb onto a ladder in the rear of the train, onto a car where the grain was already stacked and would enter through the openings that was on the top of the train. Everything would be good.

Figuring that he might be on the train for three, four, or maybe even five days, his biggest problem was what would he be able to eat during these long days when he will be all by himself. He needed the food and a lot of it but no one should realize that he took it.

Rummaging around he found two old canteens and filled them with water and then decided to take some cheese and a sausage.

The fateful day arrived and he went early to the field to do his daily chores. Should I or shouldn’t I was the only thing on his mind. His decision went back and forth, until he said, “If I didn’t do it now, I will never do it. Being in the farm for the rest of my life as well as my children and their children remaining on the farm is not what I want. I am going, final and that’s it.”

By supper he ate quietly and said he was tired, wished everyone a good night and went to bed early. Sometime later he noticed that the lights in the house were being extinguished, meaning everyone was going to their rooms.

He waited until he knew everyone was sound asleep and then he picked up his bag and quietly climbed out of the open window. He then went to the field to pick the bag of food he had left there earlier and began the four-mile hike to the curve in the tracks.

Arriving there he went a hundred feet before the curve so the conductor won’t see him when he sits down and waits. Sure enough some time later he heard the blowing of the horn and saw a shining light.

Lying down on the ground he saw the train slow down to almost a standstill as it approached the curve and then proceeded very slowly.

This was the moment he was waiting for. Running over to one of the back cars, he grabbed hold of the ladder and climbed up. Looking at the door on top he noticed it wasn’t locked, rather there was a simple hook that held it closed. So he carefully pulled himself across the top, opened the hatch and seeing the bags of grain almost to the top climbed in.

He was thankful that he was open to leave the lid slightly opened, so this way he was able to get fresh air. He then laid down and quickly fell asleep.

How long he was sleeping he didn’t know, but suddenly he heard a commotion and he awoke with a start. For a moment he didn’t realize where he was, but then everything became clear to him. Evidently the train is picking up grain at yet another location.

Figuring that this location was similar to the one next to his parents far, he calculated from the amount of cars that still have to be filled up, that there will be two or three more pickups and then it arrives at the big city.

Only after the train began travelling again for a few moments, did he feel it was safe to pick up the lid and look out and it was just as he expected, they were travelling through farmlands and then into the woods and mountains.

Meanwhile the next morning his father awoke by dawn and as usual knocked on his door and said cheerfully, “Ivan good morning time to get up.” But to his surprise there was no response. After knocking a second time without getting a response, he slowly opened the door to see if his precious son is feeling okay. To his horror the bed was empty, the window wide open and the extra pair of shirt and overalls that were always hanging on a nail were missing. Ivan had disappeared.

His horrifying shout awoke his wife and daughter who came rushing out to see what had happened. When they saw the empty room they understand that he ran away, but where could he already go? Everybody knew him and why did he run away? He was so happy.

His sister didn’t know what to say. Should she repeat the conversation they had over a year ago, when he expressed a desire to be something else than a farmer and he must of somehow acted on it. But how would her parents take it, would her father accuse her of helping or encouraging him to leave?

But there the mother started talking and crying. Two weeks ago when he took some grain to the train, he left very early but returned late. When I asked him what happened he replied, “I looked at the train tracks, and then he mentioned you know the whistle we hear at night, that comes from the train.”

Opening the icebox she noticed some sausages were missing and said, “Evidently he took them as he knew he was going away for a few days or a few very long days.”

His father heard that and remarked, yes he mentioned small talk about the trains to me, but who would think he meant it. I don’t know, how but I will have to take care of the farm by myself.

Trying to cheer her parents, the daughter said, “father, from now on I will milk the cows and do some of his chores.”

Thank you replied the father, but in a year or two years you will marry and join your husband on his farm. I think I will hire some workers as sharecroppers. Saying that, he went out to the fields with a heavy heart.

Back to Ivan, he tried to occupy himself as much as he could by looking out the top, when the train was going slow, which was proceeded by a long hoot of the horn. But most of the time he just laid on the bags. Sometimes he began regretting his rash decision, but there is no going back now anyways, so he will have to see what happens.

Then the train slowed down and looking out he saw he was in a place that had many buildings and it was already evening. A short time later the train came to a complete stop and he realized that here is where they will unload all the sacks so he has to get out and see what he can do besides being a farmer. Lucky for me the ride was for only two and a half days.

After a while he saw it is cloudy and very dark, so Ivan decided this is the best time to go out through the top hatch. Peeking out, he didn’t notice anyone so he carefully pulled himself up and out and after sliding over to the ladder he carefully climbed down and taking his one bag walked out of the train station unobserved.

Looking around he was surprised to see all of the tall buildings but he didn’t know anyone. In fact he didn’t even know where he was. Suddenly he became nervous. Where am I to go? To whom should I appeal for help? Oy! Why didn’t I think about this when I left? So when he came to a park he sat down on a bench to think, what should he do.

Suddenly he hears someone saying, “Young man why are you sleeping in the park and why are you wearing clothing of a farmer?”

Opening his eyes he realized he must have fallen asleep as it was now almost sunrise and standing next to him was an elderly gentleman with very nice clothing.

So he replied, “my name is Ivan, I am the son of a farmer from a distant village. However, I always thought and dreamt of a better life than being a farmer. So three days ago I got onto the train and hid amongst the sacks until the train arrived here last night. I climbed out and walked down to think what I should do and I must have fallen asleep.

The man replied, young lad you look like an intelligent person who took a tremendous risk in order to gain knowledge. I am a professor in the University, and I am willing to teach you.

I am positive my wife will be thrilled to have you in our house as weren’t blessed with any children so you can be the son we didn’t have.

Thank you so much, replied Ivan. Sometimes during the last few days I questioned my decision. But with your kindness I know it was the right decision, I know it is going to be difficult for me to learn everything, but as a farmer I am used to work hard.

So Ivan if you are willing please come along.

Picking up his bag Ivan followed the professor to his house. Entering the house the professor instructed his worker to prepare a big breakfast for Ivan. Afterwards he was shown to his spacious room, and while he was sleeping new clothing were purchased for him.

This time when Ivan awoke, he pinched himself to make sure this is all not a dream. He is in a tremendous house, with his own bedroom a comfortable bed and the professor is going to teach him. Opening the door of the room he heard the professors voice coming from the living room. So he walked toward it.

As he was about to enter the room, the professor looked up and said Ivan I hope you had a good rest. After introducing him to his wife, he then said, Ivan, when will you want to begin your studies?

Ivan replied, “I left my loving family and everything I have in order to learn, so if we can begin today I will be extremely appreciative.”

Hearing this, the professor turned to his wife and said, you see what a wonderful child he is. I am telling you he will make tremendous progress. Then turning to Ivan he said come join me in my study so we can begin right now.

The professor sat down with him for an hour and was pleasantly surprised; although Ivan never had a formal education, he had a good understanding in the general concepts of math (multiplication, fractions, ratios, etc.), and understands the basics of medicine, although mainly associated to farm animals like a veterinarian, but had no clue on how to write or read.

At the dinner table Ivan told them all about himself. How it is to grow up on a farm and the tasks and responsibilities he had even at a young age. How his father tried to instill in him the pride of being a farmer and why he left. I love my parents and sister and I know I will miss them, but I hope that one day when I return as an educated person, who can help others my parents will be proud of me and forgive me leaving the house.

The professor’s wife then said, “Ivan I will teach you how to read and write in the mornings, while my husband will teach you math and science in the late afternoons and evenings. And sometimes I will take you around the city and you will understand our culture.

Ivan was so happy at their generosity and said you are so kind to me, who was a total stranger to you and yet you are treating me as a member of the family. I would like to know if I can call you my aunt and uncle.

The professor and his wife beamed with happiness and that expression said it all. The young man reciprocated their love to him and they now will be a family.

Being used to waking up at dawn, Ivan continued doing so. But instead of tending to the animals and fields, he did his studying. In a short time he learned how to read and progressively improved in his reading and vocabulary, that by the end of the year, he was on high school level.

Seeing his desire to learn and recognizing his tremendous ability they hired additional tutors for various subjects. A year and a half later, they were informed that he was excelling in all of his studies. So they decided to let him take the examinations to the University and to their sheer happiness he passed in the top ten percent.

To be continued next week.