The Most Interesting People in Religion: 250 Anecdotes

This book includes 250 anecdotes about religion, including this one: An innkeeper joined a band of robbers and set up guests to be robbed by telling them at night that a caravan had passed and that they should join it so they would not be robbed. When the guests left the inn in hopes of catching up with the caravan, the robbers fell upon them and took their money and goods. Rabbi Meir was a guest at that inn one night, and the innkeeper woke him up to tell him to catch up with the caravan. However, Rabbi Meir explained that it was night and the night was populated with robbers. The innkeeper insisted that Rabbi Meir would be safe in the caravan, so Rabbi Meir then explained that he could not leave without his brother Ki Tov, adding, "When you find Ki Tov, who is now in the synagogue, I will leave." The innkeeper went to the synagogue, searching for Ki Tov, while Rabbi Meir stayed in bed and slept. In the morning, when it was light, Rabbi Meir left the inn but met the innkeeper, who complained, "I called all night for your brother, but no one answered." Rabbi Meir replied, "In the Torah, God calls the light Ki Tov, which means "it is good." One always finds light in the synagogue, for the Torah is there, and it guides our way. And now that it is morning — and safe — one finds light everywhere."