‘We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.”
(Lamentations 5:9)
Whoever eats bread without washing their hands first, cuts themselves off from Torah (Scriptures) and the “sword in the wilderness” will cut them off from faith and holiness. In other words, the disregard of one mitzvah (religious precept or commandment) could easily lead to the disregard of other mitzvahs. We learn that “whoever makes light of washing the hands will be uprooted from the world.” (Sotah 4b)
It happened in the days of the persecution (by the Romans) there was an innkeeper who used to cook swine’s flesh as well as kosher meat and serve them to his patrons, in order that nobody should know that he was Jewish. After much observation of people who came into his inn, his practice became: If anybody entered the inn without washing his hands, he knew that this must be a non-Jewish person and set swine’s flesh before him. But if he washed his hands, he knew that this must be a Jewish traveler and gave him meat that was kosher.
On one occasion a certain Jewish merchant came into the inn to eat and did not wash his hands. He served the merchant pork, and he ate. When the time came to settle the account, the innkeeper said: “You have eaten a piece for ten copper coins.” “Yesterday,” said the other, “I ate the same meat for eight, so how can you ask for ten today?” The innkeeper answered, “I served you pork.” When the man heard this, he became very upset and whispered to the innkeeper: “I am Jewish, how could you set swine’s flesh before me?” The innkeeper explained, “When I saw that you did not wash your hands before eating, I believed that you were not Jewish.” Based on Yoma 83b
We learn that “If there is no bread, there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no bread.” (Pirke Avos 3:17) Kosher is more than merely food, but also how one acts and conducts themselves.
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
Click here for more storytelling resources
Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)
If the stories are not shared they will be lost.
Please share this story with family and friends and let us know what you think or feel about the stories in a comment or two. Like us on Facebook or tweet us on Twitter
Please share this story with others
The rabbi has tried to add at least one or two new stories each week, with the hope of strengthening faith and understanding through the many readers and communities. Due to rising expenses and the need to work longer hours and harder, his stories have become less frequent.
What was originally started as a way to share old and forgotten tales of faith costing almost nothing and representing a few hours a week of time commitment evolved into a project demanding a lot of time and expense. The highest cost is the time cost – working on this site many hours a week. This is all very good, and we’re delighted at the steady growth in popularity of the Story Tour Blog, but please don’t let us become victims of our own ‘success’!
No income from the Story Tour Blog has been realized, but expenses have grown such as web-hosting, software and other web-based development costs. Our goal is to raise $2500.00 which would allow us to improve the Story Tour Blog. If you feel you’ve received some value, or would like to help support the site’s ongoing presence, please share. Any donation would be much appreciated and will help to keep the site online and growing.
You can simply send a donation securely and instantly by clicking the link below
Stories Should Never Come To An End Page
Discover more from Story Tour
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.