The Other Side of the Story - Milk, Honey?

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The Other Side of the Story - Giving People the Benefit of the Doubt

On Shavuos, we eat milky foods to remind us that the Torah's teachings are as sweet as milk and honey. One such teaching is that we must judge others, including our spouses, favorably. Think about that the next time you ask...

Milk, Honey?

A young man in Jerusalem was home watching his baby one evening when the baby woke up. "No problem," he thought, "a little milk and the baby will fall right back asleep."

But there was no milk. "How frustrating," he thought, staring into the empty fridge. "Is my wife so unorganized? Can't she keep an extra bag of milk on hand? (In Israel, milk comes in bags.) Now, I'll have to hold the baby for an hour until she comes home. The baby will be perfectly happy, but I won't."

Suddenly, in a flash of genius, he decided to borrow milk from his upstairs neighbor. "Sorry," said his neighbor, "we're out of milk. As a matter of fact, we even borrowed a bag from you this afternoon, but we used it!"

"So!" he thought, walking downstairs. "My wife had done just what I would have wanted; she lent the milk to the neighbors who needed it for supper. We don't really need it anyway, because I'll just hold the baby until my wife comes home to nurse him. But I'll try one more neighbor."

He continued past his apartment to the downstairs neighbor. "Sorry," said his neighbor, "we're out of milk. As a matter of fact, we borrowed a bag from your wife this afternoon, but we used it..."

Moral: A lack-dose of lactose is not what matters most.

(Heard from Rabbi Dovid Kaplan)


The Other Side of the Story Archives


Based on "The Other Side of the Story" by Mrs. Yehudis Samet, ArtScroll Series

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