A fantastic story with a moral as told by Harav Hagaon Moreini Yitzchok Dovid Shlita in Brooklyn Rosh chodesh Iyar 5779.

There was a man who lived in a small town in Europe.  It bothered him no end that everybody around him was corrupt and dishonest.  So he moved to a different town .  But people were the same.  Nobody was honest. He kept moving from one town to the next looking for an ish emes, a truthful person.To no avail.

He finally decided to go onto the forest and maybe find truth there. As he walked through the forest he became lost and just wandered.  Then from afar he saw light.  He came closer and saw a house completely engulfed in light. He came closer and knocked on the door.  No answer. He kept knocking . No answer.  He tried the door knob and the door opened.

He went inside and to his astonishment saw hundreds of candles. Some small, some large.  Some in earthen holders. Some in silver, brass, copper, and gold .  Some oil based, in small bowls, in larger bowls . He went into a second room and saw the same thing. Hundreds and thousands of different candles and lights and holders. All different. In a third room it was the same.

As He wondered around the house he saw an old man.  He went over to the old man and asked him, what are all these lights.  What's the meaning of this?  Answered the old man. The different lights each represent a different person in the world .  Why are they all different?  Each person is different answered the old man.  Some are small because they don't have long to live. Some are meager because they are poor. The golden ones are wealthy.

Oh wow.  Can I see my candle?  Sure, it's in the next room, third shelf, numbered 123. The man went into the next room and saw his candle.  Tiny, hardly any oil. That meant he would die soon.  He noticed the next light had ample oil .  So he decided to pour some of thst oil into his candle.  As his hand reached for the larger candle, he felt a hand grab his arm.  You're about to take oil from that candle.  Very dishonest.  You're running all over the country looking for emes, truth.  Where. By the other guy.  But when it comes to your own concern you don't care about the truth.  You're willing to steal the other guys oil .  Where is your quest for the emes, the truth,. Honesty.