Today we will look to two different versions of the same story, using them both to help us explore the concept of אֲַחַריוּת or responsibility.
Before we get started, take a moment to reflect on your own responsibilities at home and in your life. Think about questions such as:
Who is in charge of taking out the trash? Who picks you up from
Hebrew school? Who is responsible for taking care of the grass?
Write some of your responsibilities below.
Some of these responsibilities may be shared by multiple people, but think, what might happen if one of those people did not continue to keep up with their responsibilities? What problems might arise as a result?
Write some possibilities below.
As Jews, we recognize that sometimes we must be responsible, even when it might not help us directly. This is because we appreciate the things that were done by those before us.
Before you read the first source, take a moment to reflect on some things that your parents or grandparents might have done to make it possible for you to exist today.
Terms to Define:
| Ancestor | |
| Descendent |
Keep these terms in mind as your read today
One day, Honi the Circle Drawer was walking along the road when he saw a man planting a carob tree. Ḥoni said to him: This tree, after how many years will it bear fruit?
The man said to him: It will not produce fruit until seventy years have passed.
Ḥoni said to him: Wow, and you will live seventy years? You will wait that long to eat from this tree?
The man said to him, just as my ancestors planted trees for me, I too am planting trees for my descendants.
Ḥoni sat and ate bread and he fell asleep. A mountain formed around him while he slept, and he disappeared from sight, sleeping for seventy years. When he awoke, he saw a certain man gathering carobs from that tree. Ḥoni said to him: Are you the one who planted this tree? The man said to him: I am his son’s son. Ḥoni said to him: I have slept for seventy years. And he saw that his donkey had had children and grandchildren whilst he had slept.
Source 2
Honi yawned It was a bright, sunny day, but he felt very tired He sat down to eat Then he fell asleep While he slept a cave formed around him He slept for seventy years and then awoke The cave disappeared He yawned again and opened his eyes The day was still sunny and bright Everything looked the same except for one thing Honi was now sitting in the shade of a beautiful carob tree He stood up and picked a fruit off it and ate.
Honi saw a man picking fruit off this same tree He asked the man, “Do you know who planted this tree?”
The man answered proudly, “Of course My grandfather did My father and mother planted trees after him I planted my own trees, and now my children are beginning to plant their own ”
Honi said to the man, “May I ask you one more thing?” The man answered, “Of course ” Honi asked, “May I borrow a shovel?” Honi, too, planted trees for the future
- 1. Source 1 and Source 2 are different versions of the same story. What are some of the major differences between them?
- What are the important parts of the story?
- 3. Why does the farmer in the story plant carob trees if they take 70 years to grow?
- Use your answer to the question above to explain the sentence from the story:
“just as my ancestors planted trees for me, I too am planting trees for my descendants”
- What do you think the purpose of this story is? What is it trying to tell us about responsibilities? What might happen if the farmer did not plant trees?
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Just as the farmer planting trees wanted to make sure his descendants would have something to eat, our ancestors took actions to make it possible for us to be alive today.
What are some of the things that your ancestors did to make it possible for you to exist today?