Rabbi Yohanan ben Matya instructed his son to hire Jewish laborers and feed them properly. The son went out, hired the workers, and came back with a question that stopped his father cold.
"Father, I agreed to feed them adequately. But what does 'adequately' mean when feeding the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Even if I prepared for them a feast like the banquet of King Solomon — where every delicacy in the world was served, where a thousand sacrifices were offered daily (1 Kings 4:22-23) — even then it would not be adequate to their merit."
Rabbi Yohanan was struck by his son's insight. The boy was right. These were descendants of the Patriarchs, inheritors of the divine covenant, members of the nation that had stood at Sinai. What meal could possibly honor that lineage?
But the practical problem remained: workers must be fed, and not with banquets. So Rabbi Yohanan went to the laborers before they began their work and said: "I will provide you with bread and legumes — simple food. But know that even if I gave you the feast of Solomon, I could not repay what you are owed by virtue of your ancestry." By setting expectations in advance, he honored their dignity without making promises he could not keep.
The sages taught that this story illustrates a fundamental principle of Jewish employment law: feed your workers before they start, agree on terms clearly, and always remember that every Jewish laborer — however humble — carries the merit of the Patriarchs. The bread you give them is not merely bread. It is your acknowledgment of who they truly are.