Going Against the Grain

An old Jewish man goes to a diner every day for lunch. He always orders the soup du jour. One day the manager asks him how he liked his meal.  The old man replies, “Wass goot, but you could give a little more bread.”  So the next day the manager tells the waitress to give him double the amount of bread, four slices instead of two. “How was your meal, sir?” the manager asks. “Wass goot, but you could give a little more bread” comes the reply.  So the next day the manager tells the waitress to double the bread again eight slices. “How was your meal today, sir?” the manager asks. “Wass goot, but you could give a little more bread,” comes the reply.  The manager is now obsessed with seeing this customer say that he is satisfied with his meal, so he tells the waitress to cut the entire loaf length-wise into two halves and include each with the meal.  When the man comes in as usual the next day the manager now thinks he will finally get the answer he is looking for.  So when the old man comes up to pay for his meal, the manager asks in the usual way: “How was your meal today, sir?”  The old man replies: “It wass goot as usual, but I see you are back to giving only two slices of bread!”

When God brought the Jewish people into Canaan, it was a place containing two grains (wheat and barley) that were to be used to do a lot of baking (loaves of bread).  The Bible says in the Book of Deuteronomy 8:8-9, “A land of wheat and barley … A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness.”