One evening there was a knock at the door and dozens of people stood outside.  The owner of the house asked them who they were.  One of them responded, “I am happiness.  He is emuna.  That one is wealth.  This is health.  The tall one is success.  The hoodlum over there is power.”  And so he identified each one.  We are your wishes and desires.  But, he said to the bewildered family, “you may choose only one of us.”  The family was uncertain.  Success or health?  Happiness or money?  Finally, the patriarch decided, “we will take emuna.”  Emuna entered the house – and all of the other wishes began to follow him.  “What’s going on,” wondered the father aloud, “you said we could only choose one wish?”  “That’s true,” explained happiness, “but wherever emuna goes, we all follow.”

Rav Menachem Azolai as translated by Dov Elias