The Sultan of Egypt ruled over the whole land, and he had the Rambam, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, the famous Maimonides, as his advisor and personal physician. Many times, the Rambam treated the Sultan and saved his life, and the Sultan loved him dearly. However, the Sultan’s non-Jewish ministers were very jealous of the Rambam. Many times, they would go to the king and try to get the king not to like the Rambam. But the Sultan, of course, would not listen to them because he knew the Rambam was a loyal physician and servant to him.
One day, one of the ministers who really despised the Rambam went to the Sultan and told him, “You know, everybody knows that you love the Rambam very much, but you have to know, he’s not as loyal as you think. He is now planning something against you, and he wants to overthrow you and poison you.” Of course, the Sultan didn’t want to listen or hear, but that minister kept saying the same thing over and over until the Sultan was doubtful. On the one hand, he knew the Rambam loved him and took care of him. On the other hand, maybe the Rambam had switched. Maybe he had found somebody else that he liked. Maybe he really did want to poison him.
So the Sultan decided he was going to put the Rambam to the test. He was going to have the Rambam be the one to decide whether or not he should live or die. He would take two pieces of paper and put them in a box. On one, he would write “to life”; on the other, he would write “to death.” The Rambam would pick one out of the box, and whichever one he picked, that would be his lottery. So the king hired the scribe to write the notes. The minister who hated the Rambam went to the scribe and told him to write “to death” on both notes. And so he did. He put the two notes into the box without the Sultan’s knowledge, and they both said “to death.”
The Rambam was summoned by the Sultan, not knowing anything. The Sultan told him, “You know, it was told to me that you want to poison me.” The Rambam told the Sultan, “Come on, my dear Sultan. You know how loyal I am to you.” The Sultan said, “Yes, I do. However, Lashon Hara (evil speech) has its effect, and I have my doubts. So because of that, I decided that you will decide what will be with you. You will put your hand in the box and pick one note. If it says ‘to life,’ you live. If it says ‘to death,’ you die.”
When the Rambam came before the Sultan, the scribe looked at him with an evil smile and told him, “Today is your final day. You are going to die today.” When the Rambam looked at the minister who had falsely snitched on him and saw his evil smile, he figured out that both notes in the box said “to death.” So the Rambam put his hand in the box, took out the note, and immediately put it in his mouth and swallowed it. Everybody was shocked. What did he do?
The Rambam turned to the Sultan and said, “My dear Sultan, if the note I took is ‘to life,’ then the one that’s in the box says ‘to death.’ And if the note I took and swallowed is ‘to death,’ then the one that’s left in the box is ‘to life.’ And you know, I took the wrong one.” Right away, the king went into the box and took out the note, and it said “to death.” Ha ha! The Rambam got angry at the minister who had falsely snitched on him and told him, “Now I’ll put you to death.”
The minister said, “No, no, no. This is not justice. It’s not a real lottery.” The king asked, “Why not?” The minister said, “Because the Rambam knew that the note in the box said ‘to death.’” The king asked the minister, “How would the Rambam know that?” The minister replied, “That’s not possible, because both notes said ‘to death.’” The king exclaimed, “What? You tried to fool me and the Rambam?” Then he told his men, “Put him to death, and put the scribe to death.” They were both hanged.
The Rambam lived, and the king’s affection grew even more and more. And we see how HaKadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, Blessed be He) protects and saves the tzaddikim (righteous people) from anything bad.