Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide

All the other parts of the body laughed at the tongue and said, “Who do you think you
are? You are not important at all!”
The tongue replied, “Soon you will all agree that I have more power than any of you.”
The parts of the body were still arguing over who was the most important the next
morning as Benaiah went to give the milk to the king of Persia. The legs walked proudly,
the hands carried the jar securely, the eyes made sure Benaiah did not trip. As Benaiah
approached the king, the tongue suddenly took over and said, “Here is the dog’s milk you
wanted.”
“What?” said the king. “Dog’s milk?! Are you making fun of me?” And he had Benaiah
thrown in jail.
All the parts of the body quivered with fear. “Now do you see,” said the tongue, “that I
am the most important part of the body?”
“Yes, yes!” cried all the other parts of the body. “You are the most important.” The
tongue spoke up to the guards in the jail. “Excuse me, but I made a mistake before. I have
in my jar the milk of a lioness.” The guards brought Benaiah to the king, Benaiah
explained the mistake, and the king drank the milk of the lioness. In a few days his
sickness was gone and he was cured.
Benaiah returned to King Solomon and told him the
entire story. Solomon wrote about the power of the
tongue in his book of Proverbs, so everyone would
remember the importance of each word we say.
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For class discussion:
1. Would Benaiah have been able to get the milk with only his tongue, or did he
need the partnership of all his body parts?
2. Why is the tongue, and what we say, so important?
For class life:
1. The rabbis provide many guidelines for how we should speak to each other,
including warnings against lashon ha-rah (bad or harmful speech). Try to go for
an hour in your class without anyone saying anything hurtful to anyone else. If
you can do an hour, try a whole day!
2. Try reading other books about the importance of what we say, such as A Sack Full
of Feathers by Debby Waldman, Chicken Soup by Heart by Esther Hershenhorn
and The Hardest Word by Jacqueline Jules.
Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide
USCJ Department of Education
Maxine Handelman
Handelman@uscj.org
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