Mrs. Hammer was waiting in line at her local butcher shop in Yerushalayim, waiting to pay. Two young children walked in just then and went right up to the register. The store’s owner, Mr. Epstein, asked Mrs. Hammer, “Would you mind if I just took care of these children as it will take only a few moments?”
Mrs. Hammer was in a hurry, but she nodded with a smile that it would be okay. She observed Mr. Epstein handing the children a large bag of chicken fat and bones, and writing an amount in his ledger book, as the children thanked him and left.
Mrs. Hammer was appalled! How could Mr. Epstein sell them only fat and bones? Most likely there were many mouths at home to feed in their family, and fat and bones... that wouldn’t sustain them. It might even be unhealthy! But Mrs. Hammer was too tired, and in a big rush, to express her thoughts.
Until the same scene repeated itself the next week. Now she spoke up. “Mr. Epstein,” she exclaimed, “Why are you giving only remnants to this family?”
Mr. Epstein explained: “About three years ago, the father of these young children fell ill. They had a hard time paying their bills, including mine. I carried them for years, as I couldn’t let a family of 9 children starve, could I? But then their account stretched beyond my limits.
“So, I started saving all the trimmings that would ordinarily be discarded, and giving it to them every week. Occasionally there is a good piece of meat in the bag, something that was inadvertently cut off during the trimming process. Each week, the children tell me to put it on their account, and each week I pretend to do so, but I don’t. What’s the point of putting it on their account when I know they cannot pay me? But I do it to preserve their dignity.”
Mrs. Hammer was incredibly impressed, and sorry for having misjudged Mr. Epstein. Being a woman of action, she started sponsoring chicken for that family every week, anonymously. This one encounter at the register, grew to a large chessed operation of providing poor families with chicken for Shabbos. Mrs. Hammer later became known as the “chicken lady.”
Reprinted from the Parshas Toldos 5784 email of The Weekly Vort
