One day a certain old, rich man of a miserable disposition visited a rabbi, who took the rich man by the hand and lead him to a window. “Look out there,” he said. The rich man looked into the street. “What do you see?” asked the rabbi. “I see men, women and children,” answered the rich man. Again, the rabbi took him by the hand and this time lead him to a mirror. “Now what do you see?” “Now I see myself,” the rich man replied.
Then the rabbi said, “Behold in the window there is glass, and in the mirror, there is glass. But the glass in the mirror is covered with a little silver, and no sooner is the silver added than you cease to see the others, but you see only yourself.”