Transcribed by Reb Shmuel Chayim Intrator Copyright (C) 1988 Cong Kehilat Jacob Hakrev UShma Division Reprinted with permission of Connections Magazine Ksav Sofer Story Alabama, 5748 Reb Shlomo speaking 
The Ksov Sofer, the Chief Rabbi of Pressburg in Hungary once attended a conference with several other leading Rabbis. At the gathering, the Ksav Sofer showed the Rabbis a coin, inherited from his ancestors, dating back to the Second Temple period. The coin was passed around the room for each Rabbi to hold and feel. At the end of the conference, the Ksav Sofer asked for the coin to be returned to him, yet none of the Rabbis claimed to have it. Mindful that the Rabbis in the room were the only individuals who had access to the coin, each were asked to check his pockets and to look around the room for it. When the coin did not turn up, the group reluctantly agreed to check each other's pockets and to look around the room for it. When the coin did not turn up, the assemblage of Rabbis reluctantly agreed to check each others pockets and personal belongings. One elderly Rabbi rose and objected to that agreement. Said he, "We are all honorable men, why should we resort to such a humiliating and accusatory search. I say let us all look more carefully around the room and even underneath the carpet." When the coin still did not turn up, the elderly Rabbi asked each Rabbi to search himself again. After all these searches, the coin was still not found. The Rabbis turned to the elderly sage and reasoned with him. "Look, it is embarrassing for us all to concede the obvious fact that one of us definitely has the coin. Yet the circumstances simply do not allow for any other possibility. We, therefore, have no other alternative but to search each other for the coin and thereby find it. The coin rightfully belongs to the Ketov Sopher and whoever stole it from him must return it." The elderly Rabbi, red-faced and trembling, rose once again and in a desperate plea begged his colleagues not to go ahead with the search. He said: 'We have no right to assume guilt or accuse wrongdoing when each of us insists that we do not have the coin. I suggest that we make one last search of the room and even raise the entire carpet to look for this coin." The Rabbis obliged their elderly colleague. When the entire carpet was lifted, the coin was discovered underneath it. The Rabbis were impressed with their elderly colleague and wondered in amazement how he knew that no one in the room had the coin and why he so vehemently objected to a personal search? The elderly Rabbi sat silently for a minute and then reached into his pocket and pulled out an identical coin dating back to the Temple. The Rabbi explained, "I, too, inherited a coin from my family dating back to the Temple and who amongst you would have believed my story before the lost coin was found in the middle of the room."