When I told a friend that I had been feeling depressed, he reached into his treasure trove of stories and sent me many versions of King Solomon’s Ring. He said it might help and that I would do well to share it so that it could also help others.
This version of the story is attributed to Rabii Meir Tsvi Hirsh Zachman and is from his New Interpretations of the Torah, written in 1928. It is best read aloud.
Once, in the middle of the summer, toward evening, when the air was clear, the sky bright, and the dimmed sun setting, King Solomon was sitting in his palace roof garden. He took enormous pleasure from that sight, overlooking the city of Jerusalem.
As he looked at people walking back and forth, he noticed a simple man, not from the royal family, all dressed, from head to toe, with golden clothes. He sent his messengers to summon the man.
When the man came and stood in front of him, King Solomon asked: “Where did you get all this gold? Are you a highway robber and a murderer?”
The man replied, “Heaven forbid!, I would never do such a thing. I am working with both my hands and I earn my livelihood with manual labor.”
He continued, “I am a good silversmith. It is well known that Jerusalem is considered to be the wealthiest city in the world, and people come to trade here from the four corners of the earth. Everyday, kings, ministers, and wealthy merchants come to Jerusalem. One has a broken ring, another a broken watch and all of them come to me to repair these items and I return them as new.”
The King put his arm around the man’s shoulders and said to him with a light smile on his lips, “If you are such a wonderful craftsman, let me test your great craftsmanship and wonderful wisdom and see what you can do.”
“I command you, a royal command, to make for me such a wonderful ring that will be able to affect a man spiritually, changing his mood of the moment. If the man is happy, he will become sad when he looks at the ring and if he is sad and worried, the ring will change his mood and he will become happy. If you can show me this, then I will reward you as befits your skill and wisdom. If you cannot fulfill my command, I’ll cut off your head.”
The silversmith asked the King to give him three days time. In his craftsmanship he had done many strange and different rings but he did not even know how and where to start for such a work. He grieved greatly, for he feared death.
After three days he went to the wise King Solomon, bringing with him several rings to show the king. He reached the royal palace and found King Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, sitting in the front room.
When Rehoboam saw the silversmith and his ashen face, he asked, “Why are you so miserable?”
The silversmith answered him: “I am walking to the king trembling and my knees are knocking. I am bringing to the king a golden ring, but I doubt whether the king would like this expensive ring.” He told Rehoboam that the king had asked him to make a ring that would change a man’s mood every time. ” I do not know how to make such a ring.”
When Prince Rehoboam heard these matters, he said. ” Put one ring on my finger and I’ll show you how to make it.”
The silversmith gave him one ring and Rehobaom put it on his finger. He took a nail and engraved on the ring three letters G, Z, Y -(in Hebrew Gimel, Zayin, Yod)- each at a different point on the ring. He said, “Take this ring to the king and he will favor you and will give you many presents and will not punish you.”
The silversmith happily went to the king with the ring. When King Solomon examined the ring carefully he recognized the three letters at the three points on the ring and the wise King Solomon, for whom all mysteries and secrets are revealed and known, understood the wise hint and read it: ” Gam ze ya’avor” which, in Hebrew, means THIS TOO WILL PASS.
When the kind examined the ring with the initials GZY he applied it to himself: “This too will pass”, that is to say, “that although now I am at the highest rank, a king of the whole world and can enjoy all kinds of pleasures, this will not last forever and my huge success will not last always.”
When such thoughts came to Solomon’s mind, he immediately grieved very much and indeed, it befell him exactly as he interpreted it. A great trouble came upon him, demoting him from his high position. And it came to pass that Solomon lost his crown and wandered as a beggar in remote lands.
And when Solomon, in his poverty, looked at the ring on his finger and read the initials GZY (this too will pass), it said to him, “The trouble that came upon me will not last forever, and I hope one day to return and gain be the king of Israel.”
And so it happened.
I hope that the story speaks to you as it does to me. When you are sad or going through difficult times, may it serve as a reminder that “this too will pass” and lift your spirits. When you are happy and enjoying the bounty of life, may it (rather than making you sad) remind you to be grateful and appreciate each and every moment, because THIS TOO SHALL PASS.
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