The Other Side of the Story - Pot Luck

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

The sight of a steaming pot of beans, potatoes, meat and spices does not usually inspire shock and embarrassment. But it did in the case of ...

Pot Luck

Our neighbors, a young couple with children, were getting ready to move, and packing occupied most of their time. I offered to help by doing some of their Shabbat cooking. I made them a kugel, a salad, and for the main course a small but full pot of cholent (Shabbat stew). My daughter brought them these items Friday afternoon.

Saturday morning I served my own family's meal. Removing one of the little pots from the fire and opening it, I was greeted with a sight that filled me with shock and embarrassment: Instead of the slice of chicken and the few pieces of squash which were to have been my main course, I saw cholent.

How could this be? Wasn't this the pot I sent to my neighbors?

Oh, no! I sent them the wrong pot! Instead of a main course for them and their family, they got a meager, single serving of chicken and a few bites of vegetable.

I would explain it to them later. In the meantime, I could only hope that they read regularly this "Other Side of the Story" column, which beautifully teaches about judging others favorably!

Submitted by an Ohrnet reader


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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