It will be a mitzvah!
One day, as Judith is reaching inside
her fridge for something for dinner, she notices a plastic-wrapped chicken
right at the back, on the bottom shelf. She removes it from the fridge
and she’s not happy with what she sees. This is a chicken she bought many
weeks ago and has forgotten about. It’s looking very ragged and unappetising
- even a bit smelly. But just as she`s about to throw it in the bin, her
husband Harry stops her.
"Don’t do that," says Harry. "Our neighbour
Bernie has been out of work for months and he and his family probably haven’t
had a roast chicken meal for ages. I think you should give him the chicken."
"But it`s no good, it’s probably gone
off," says Judith.
"It doesn`t matter," says Harry, "just
do it. It will be a mitzvah!"
So Judith gives the chicken to her next
door neighbour. But then, two days later, they learn that Bernie is terribly
sick and has been taken to the local hospital.
"We must go to the hospital right away,"
says Harry, "and pay Bernie a visit – it will be a mitzvah!"
The day following their visit, they learn
that Bernie has died.
"Oy gevalt," cries Judith, "what
on earth shall we do, Harry?"
"What shall we do?" Harry replies, "We
shall go to Bernie’s levoyah, that’s what. It will be a mitzvah!"
Two days after attending Bernie’s levoyah,
Harry says, "Judith, we`ve got to pay a visit to Bernie’s family while
they’re sitting shivah. It will be a mitzvah!"
So Judith and Bernie go next door to join
the family in prayers for the loss of their husband and father. By the
time they return home, Judith is crying. "Harry," she sobs, "don’t
you think it was wrong of us to give Bernie that old chicken?"
"You must be joking, Judith," replies
Harry. "From that one old chicken, we got ourselves four mitzvahs!"
levoyah: funeral
shivah: 7 day period
of mourning
mitzvah: good deed.