דילוג לתוכן המרכזי בעמוד

In the Market of Zhakrobat

By: Uri Alon illustrations: Menachem Halberstadt

The famous tale of “Joseph and the Shabbat Fish” is known to us in many different adaptations, and is presented here in a very funny rhyming version.

 

“This Day is More Precious than All Other Days” (from a Shabbat song)

Joseph goes to the Zhakrobat market looking for special things to prepare for the Sabbath, to honor the important “guest” that visits his home each week anew. These preparations for Shabbat build up anticipation of the day, and help celebrate it as something special and different from the rest of the week. The story also invites us to think about wealth and poverty, and about ways to achieve happiness and spiritual contentment.

Shabbat shalom and happy reading!

Age Group: PRESCHOOL

Book-Related Family Activities

The story of “Joseph Who Treasures Shabbat,” as told in Aramaic in the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 119:

Joseph-who-treasures-Shabbat had a neighbor who owned a lot of property. Fortune-tellers told him, “Joseph-who-treasures-Shabbat will consume all your property.” — [So] he went, sold all his property, and bought a precious stone with the proceeds, which he set in his turban. As he was crossing a bridge, the wind blew it off and cast it into the water, [and] a fish swallowed it. [Subsequently] it [the fish] was hauled up and brought [to market] on the Sabbath eve, just before sunset. “Who will buy it at this late hour?” they protested. “Go and take it to Joseph-who-treasures-Shabbat,” they were told, “as he is in the habit of buying a great deal for Shabbat.” So they took it to him. He bought it, opened it, found the jewel inside, and sold it for thirteen vessels filled with gold coins. A certain old man met him [and] said, “He who lends to the Sabbath, the Sabbath repays him.”

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פרויקט משפחתי – הצגה יוסף מוקיר שבת

Copies Distributed:

120,000

Publishing:

כתר

Year of Distribution:

5955 2014-2015