The Torah is more precious and valuable than any money or merchandise, and it accompanies a person in this world and in the World to Come. Even if one loses all his property, his Torah remains with him.

Rabbi Yosei ben Kisma said: Once I was traveling and a man encountered me. He greeted me and I returned his greeting. He said to me: Rabbi, from what place are you? I said to him: I am from a great city of Sages and scholars. He said to me: Rabbi, would you like to live with us in our place? I will give you thousands upon thousands of gold coins, precious stones, and pearls.

I said to him: Even were you to give me all the silver, gold, precious stones, and pearls in the world, I would live only in a place of Torah. Likewise, it is written in the book of Psalms by David king of Israel: “The teaching of Your mouth is better for me than thousands of gold and silver pieces” (Psalms 119:72).

Furthermore, when a person passes away from this world, neither silver, nor gold, nor precious stones, nor pearls accompany him, but rather Torah and good deeds alone, as it is stated: “It will guide you when you walk; when you lie down, it will protect you, and when you awaken, it will be your conversation” (Proverbs 6:22). “It will guide you when you walk,” in this world; “when you lie down, it will protect you,” in the grave; “and when you awaken, it will be your conversation,” in the World to Come. And the verse states: “Mine is the silver, and Mine is the gold, the utterance of the Lord of hosts” (Haggai 2:8).

There was an incident involving a certain Torah scholar who was on a ship with many merchants. They said to that scholar: Where is your merchandise? He responded: My merchandise is greater than yours. They searched the entire ship but found nothing that was his, and they began laughing at him.

Later, pirates attacked them, looted their merchandise, and took everything that was in the boat. The people on the boat disembarked onto dry land and entered the city. They had no food to eat or garments to wear.

What did that scholar do? He entered the study hall and sat and taught Torah. Upon seeing that he was very learned in Torah, the residents of that city stood and treated him with great deference, and they determined to provide him with a commensurate income, appropriate to live respectably and in dignity. The leaders of the congregation began to walk on his right and left and accompany him.

When the merchants saw this, they came to him and sought to placate him for their earlier insult, and they said to him: We request of you, do us a favor and speak on our behalf to the residents of the city, as you know what we were and what we lost on the ship. We request of you, perform a kindness on our behalf and speak to them so that even a slice of bread might be placed in our mouths, and we will live and not die of starvation.

The scholar said to them: Didn’t I tell you that my merchandise is greater than yours? Yours is lost and mine is intact. This is the meaning of: “For a good lesson [lekah] I have given you” (Proverbs 4:2). (Mishna Avot 6:9; Tanĥuma, Teruma)