" Thank you for bringing me flowers for Shabbat," Dassi's Mom said to her. "But..."

"But what?" asked Dassi, as she arranged the five bunches of flowers that she had brought in honor of Shabbat.

"But why so many? Just one bunch would have been enough. Why did you bring us five?"

"Also, Dassi," Mom continued,"the anemones you've brought are really beautiful, but why anemones when they wither after a day...? Perhaps it would have been better to bring another kind of flower or maybe a few different kinds?"

Dassi smiled, looked at her mother, as though she was about to explain something important. She stopped arranging the flowers for a minute.

"Mom," said Dassi, "do you know whom I bought these flowers from? "
"No," answered Mom.

"In school, there is a cleaner who grew them in her back yard. Thank G-d, she is blessed with a big family, and you can tell that they don't have so much money and that every nickel counts. I wanted to help her and give her some money, but I thought that she was likely to take offense, and I didn't want to insult someone who earns an honest livelihood and turn her into a 'charity case'. "

"She sells these flowers every Friday. If I had only bought one bunch, that tiny amount of money simply wouldn't have done much to help her out of her poverty. I told her that I was buying her flowers on behalf of several people, and that she was making it much easier for us to get hold of the flowers we needed in honor of Shabbat. Like this, the lady was happy to help and also to bring home money for her family's Shabbat needs."

Dassi's mother gave a knowing smile.

Mom and Dad, if you want to discuss this story with your kids, there are guide questions in the Educator's Guide.