Rabbi B - The Cow That Kept Shabbos (Shabbat)

[Music] there was once a very righteous farmer who lived in arizona he took very good care of all his animals each weekday the farmer would do his work around the farm he would cheer the sheep collect the eggs and milk the cows he'd also plant plow build few he would work all week long bon chabas the righteous farmer would rest from all the week they were because shabbos is a holy day and torah commands all jewish people to rest from all the 39 melakos on shabbos not only did the righteous farmer rest his whole family did too even his animals enjoyed a day of rest from their busy week too well one day the righteous farmer came upon hard times oy my dear family this year has been very tough for us there has been little rain and little crop the cows made less milk the sheep grew less wool and the chickens laid less eggs over the weeks the farmer's shabbos table became more bare with less and less food each week the righteous farmer decided that he would have to sell his strongest cow to bring in some much needed fit money for his family on the next friday morning the righteous farmer took his cow to the market in order to sell it luckily he met a non-jewish man in the market who was looking to buy a cow as soon as the man saw the cow he knew he had to have it what a magnificent animal you have here strong legs good horns truly a wondrous creation is he for sale yes he is said the farmer but i am asking a very high price for him the non-jewish man agreed to pay the high price for the cow and an exchange was made the racist farmer was paid well and the non-jewish man had now had a strong cow for himself the non-jewish man brought the cow straight away to his farm and put the animal to work what a magnificent animal exclaimed the man as cow easily pulled his heavy plow across the field he was very happy with his purchase that is until the next day saturday morning arrived which for the jewish people was chavez but for the non-jewish man it was just a regular work day he went to the barn to get the cow ready and found the animal quietly resting on some hay come along now said the man time to get to work those fields won't plow themselves but try as he might the man could not budge the cow he pulled and pulled with all the strength but the cow would not move then he tried putting the plow harness over the animal's head but the cow just shook it off he was not working today you see the cow was so used to working for the jewish farmer that the cow thought it was shabbos for him too the cow was keeping shabbats but the non-jewish man was furious that jewish farmer sold me a lazy cow he only worked a little bit yesterday and now he's broken i want my money back immediately the non-jewish man marched to the farm of the jewish farmer and pounded on the door i want my money back you sold me a broken cow he worked and worked all day yesterday but today he won't even budge it's like he's taking the day off just then jewish farmer realized what was going on he began to laugh why are you laughing do you think it's funny that you tricked me not at all said the righteous farmer i think the cow is just keeping shabbos let me come to your farm and i will fix everything the two men walked together to the non-jewish man's farm the jewish farmer could see the cow in the barn laying down and resting like he did back at his own farm on shabbos the righteous farmer bent down to the cow's ear and whispered mr cow you were not commanded by the torah to keep shabbos only i was that's why you rested on my farm here your new owner does not need to keep shabbos so neither do you with that the cow stood up and walked over to his new owner ready to work the non-jewish man could not believe it he asked what did you tell the cow the righteous farmer explained everything to the man he told him all about shabbos and how the cow had gotten used to resting on the holy day the non-jewish farmer was stunned and then he thought about it if even a cow can understand the beauty of shabbos then maybe i should too he turned to the righteous farmer and asked him could you please teach me about shabbos i want to learn all about it and keep it too but you are not jewish explain the righteous farmer you don't need to keep shabbos the man decided there and then to become a jew so that he can also keep shabbos and follow in hashem's ways the man began learning torah he became a jew and chose the name yohan ben torta translation yohanam the son of a cow [Music] rabbi b loves hearing from fans please send any fan mail drawings or questions to rabib music gmail.com [Music]