Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide

THANKS FOR BREAD
Once a boy who had just eaten lunch turned to his mother and said, "Thank
you very much." But his mother said, "You should not thank me alone, for I only
prepared the food."
The boy wondered, "Whom should I thank?" He went to the grocery store and
saw the grocer. "Thank you, Mr. Grocer, for the very fine bread that I ate at
lunchtime."
"Oh," said the grocer, "you should not thank me alone. I only sell the bread. I
do not bake it."
So the boy went to the bakery where all the bread was made; and there he saw
the baker. "Mr. Baker," the boy said, "I want to thank you for the wonderful bread that
you bake."
The baker laughed and said, "I bake the bread, but it is good because the flour
is good. And the flour comes from the miller who grinds it."
"Then I will thank the miller," said the boy and he turned to leave. "but the
miller only grinds the wheat," the baker said. "It is the farmer who grows the grain
which makes the bread so good."
So the boy went off in search of the farmer. He walked until he came to the
edge of the village and there he saw the farmer at work in the fields. "I want to thank
you for the bread that I eat every day."
But the farmer said, "Do not thank me alone. I only plant the seed, tend the
field, and harvest the grain. It is sunshine and good rain and the rich earth that makes
the wheat so good."
"But who is left to thank?" asked the boy, and he was very sad, very tired, and
very hungry again, for he had walked a long way in one day. The farmer said, "Come
inside and eat with my family and then you will feel better."
So the boy went into the farmhouse with the farmer and sat down to eat with
the farmer's family. Each person took a piece of bread and then, all together, they
said,
Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha’olam, ha’motzi lechem min ha’aretz.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, who brings bread out of the earth.
And then the boy discovered that it was God whom he had forgotten to thank.
____________
From Seymour Rossel, When a Jew Prays. New York: Behrman House Publishers, Inc.,1973.
© Behrman House., Inc., reprinted with permission. www.behrmanhouse.com
Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide
USCJ Department of Education
Maxine Handelman
Handelman@uscj.org
99