parsha bit: Ki Tisa

In this week's parsha the Israelites build the golden calf and God chastises Moshe for what "his" people are doing. Rabbi Berechiah, quoting Rabbi Levi, compares this situation to a king who rented out his vinyard to a grower. When the wine was good the king proclaimed "look what my vinyard produced", but when it was poor he said to the grower "look what terrible wine you produce". The grower protested that the king cannot have it both ways, saying "the vinyard is yours whether it produces good or bad wine". So too did Moshe protest God's statement, saying "the people belong to both of us, and neither of us can abandon them". (Pesikta d'Rav Kahana 16)

score -1 for Murray Ave Kosher

We're having a bunch of people over on Saturday, so I placed an order from the hot-foods section of the kosher market. I picked it up tonight, and the amount of chicken (in sealed pans) seemed light. So I asked -- this is a dozen breasts? Yes. I was dubious about the weight, so even though it hadn't been in the plans, I picked up a bag of frozen buffalo drummies to supplement.

When I got home, I found there were seven breasts. I called them to ask about it, figuring they forgot to give me a pan. (There was other stuff in the order, not just this one pan, so it could have happened.) No, they said, they gave me all the breasts they had; they didn't have a dozen.

You know, when I picked up the order would have been a fine time to mention that oh, we ran out, so do you want something else to supplement? (Or even, do you want something else instead?) Failing that clue, responding correctly to my direct question would have been a good idea.

In this case I'll be fine because I was suspicious and got something else on my own, but people often place larger orders where they just hand you a box. If you don't dig through that box in the store, you might not even notice enough to be suspicious until it was too late. I will certainly inspect boxes I get from them while still in the store, in the future. And I'll open sealed pans when I'm suspicious, too.