Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide

As the sun began to set, blessing were said over that candles, kiddush was recited, the
blessing was said over the challot and pieces passed around to everyone. Bowls and
spoons were brought from every home, and the villagers drew together around the table
and ate the stone soup, until the pot was emptied. One man from the village said to
Mendel, “How incredible to think you can make such wonderful soup just from a stone.
Our village has not had such a gathering in a very long time. Thank you for making our
village a better place to be.”
Mendel smiled at the man and looked around the crowd. “Who has the stone in their
bowl?” he called. A young girl said, “I do!” Mendel said to her, “Mazal tov. Now you
can start the next pot of stone soup.” The girl called out, “Stone soup next Shabbat!
Everyone is invited!” and the villagers all cheered.
For class discussion:
1. How did the stone soup make the world a better place?
2. Did Mendel and Joshua ever ask the people to contribute things to the soup?
For class life:
1. Another version of this Jewish story can be found in a picture book, Bone Button
Borscht by Aubrey Davis.
2. “Tikkun Olam is really about learning a lesson that changes you so you then can
help to repair the world” (Nechama Retting, personal communication). Look for
examples of tikkun olam in both secular and Jewish books, such as Milo and the
Magical Stones by Marcus Pfister; A Thread of Kindness by Leah Shollar; One
City, Two Brothers by Chris Smith; The Way Meat Loves Salt by Nina Jaffe;
Because Brian Hugged His Mother by David Rice; Wanda’s Roses by Pat
Brisson; and definitely Bagels From Benny by Aubrey Davis.
3. Discover some of the ways your class can work together to make the world a
better place, by visiting people in a retirement home, recycling, planting a garden
or picking up trash from the playground (and a million more ways, of course!).
Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide
USCJ Department of Education
Maxine Handelman
Handelman@uscj.org
39