We as the Jews have our external demons and our internal ones. The situation at Agriprocessors brought to light some internal issues such as how kashrut demands that animals be treated in life and how we are supposed to treat workers.
If you want to duke out some of our internal demons that relate to food, check out Hazon‘s blog, The Jew & The Carrot.
And if you’re really into it, apply to be on its editorial board! The Jew & The Carrot is seeking an editor-in-chief, a business manager, a circulation manager, associate editors and lead contributors.
wherethewindblows
1/9/2009
Forgive me if this doesn’t entirely relate to the main article, but there is a farmer in the story.
Whether or not they believe in God, most people would have heard the expression ‘God’s Will’, and most feel they have an idea as to what it means; but there is a funny story about how it is commonly misconstrued. My apologies if you’ve heard the story.
Ishmael was a well-respected mufti in his community, and people would come from far and wide just to hear him speak. He was slim and well proportioned because he shunned gluttony. He had dove’s eyes as he was gently in his mannerisms, and the people loved him. One day the rains came and the heavens opened and it rained and it rained. The water entered his house, so Ishmael wisely climbed onto the roof and waited for God to rescue him. A farmer came past in a four-wheel drive with one of those black snorkel things on it. He called out, “Ishmael come down and jump in my car”, to which the latter replied, “O thank you Mustafa, but I’m waiting for God to save me”. So Mustafa drove off and left him there. The water rose and, an hour later, a couple of Jewish emergency worker came by in an aluminium run-about and called out, “sir, we are picking up people caught in the flood, jump in the boat”, to which Ishmael replied, “bless you, my friends, but I am waiting for God to save me”. Finally, with water now lapping at this feet, a St John’s rescue helicopter hovered alongside him and a fellow called out above the noise of the rotors, “Sir, get off the roof or you will drown”, to which Ishmael gave his standard response.
Now when Ishmael arrived at the gates of heaven, for of course he was drowned, he was met by the angel Gabriel, and I must say the mufti was not a little miffed, so he asked the angel, “why didn’t God save me?”. Gabriel ruffled Ishmael’s hair, as he invariably does with the more stiff necked devotees, and replied, “But He tried, you silly fellow: he first arrived in a Land Cruiser, but you sent Him away. He then came in an aluminium boat, but you sent that away. He finally flew alongside you in a helicopter, but once again you sent Him away: what else could He do?”.
I think you know the moral of the story.