The Day's Work (1944)

us. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Amen. [Music] Are you [Music] more Say your name. [Music] 2,000 years ago in Palestine, in the early morning in the village street, you could see the villagers getting ready for the day's work. This carpenter and his son are going to take some heavy pieces of wood to their shop. To make it easy for the donkey to carry the weight, the pieces of wood are slung across its back so that they balance on each side. Slowly they go down the street greeting the neighbors. When they arrive at the shop, the boy opens the door. Meanwhile, the father unloads the donkey and talks to a friend who's passing by. The son brings out the tools while the father sits down on a piece of wood which acts as a chair. Now the carpenter gets ready for the day's work. First he takes off his coat and folds it up to make a cushion to sit on. Then he takes an unfinished window frame which must be completed. In those days there were no factories. This carpenter made all the wooden things used in the village. Metal was expensive then, and wooden pins were used to fasten pieces of wood together instead of metal nails. The carpenter is teaching his trade to his son, but the boy has only got as far as working on a yolk that will be used to hold together a pair of oxen. Now a customer arrives. It is a farmer who wants to buy a yolk. A good yolk should be smooth where it rests on the neck of the beast. And the farmer feels it carefully. He's not quite satisfied and asks to see another one. This one suits him better. The carpenter points to the sign above his shop, which means, "My yoke is easy." He is famous for making yolks. The farmer pays and goes off with his purchase. Very pleased with selling the yolk, the carpenter prepares to leave the shop. In those days, a workman saw the whole job through from beginning to end. He is going to take the finished window frame and a door frame which he's made to a new house and fit them into place. The frames are rather awkward to carry through the narrow streets. houses in Palestine were built of stone and mud. Up above, the workmen are finishing the roof of this new house. The roof is being made of mud, which is spread over brushwood. 2,000 years ago, the inhabitants of Palestine were very fond of jokes. The workman has made up his mind to make the boy jump, and he does. Off he runs up the stairs to find the joker, but he forgets the roof is not finished and his foot goes right through. However, it's easy enough to pull away the mud and brushwood and set him free again. This other workman is laying tiles in the wall that is being built around the roof of the house. Through these tiles, the rain will run off so that it won't flood the roof. These builders, like the carpenter, were skilled village workmen. But equally important to village life was the potter. Off a lump of clay, the potter cuts a piece with a wire. He judges just the right amount that he'll want to make a pot. He puts this on his wheel and starts the wheel going round with his foot. As the clump of clay goes round, he shapes it with his thumb. But he's not satisfied with how this pot is shaping. So he breaks it up on the wheel and begins again. His shop is in the village street and he can watch the neighbors shopping as he works. When the pot is finished, he cuts it off the wheel with the length of wire. on the shelf at the back of the shop are a lot of pots which he has already made that day. These will have to be baked to make them hard. His oven is at the back of the shop. Below is a charcoal fire which he rakes out with a piece of wood. Broken pots lie around the oven. Above the fire is a door and inside is a shelf. On this he puts the pots to be baked. He closes the door and ra the fire again to make the oven really hot. Now a customer arrives. He wants to buy a jug. He taps the jug to see if it's cracked, and he doesn't think it's quite sound. The potter agrees with him and offers him some others. He prefers this one. There's some bargaining over the price, but he likes this one very much. So, in the end, he buys it. He takes it across the street to show the weaver in the shop opposite what a bargain he's got. And the potter starts work again. The children always linger at this shop to watch him at work. In the evening, as the workmen go home, the carpenter stops to talk over the day's news. But the carpenter's little daughter is on the lookout for him to come home. And she gets a ride, a very short one, but she's pleased. The evening meal for the family is nearly ready in the big stew pot over the fire, which is outside the house. 2,000 years ago, the Jews were very particular about their way of eating, and they all washed their hands carefully before a meal. The elder girl has got the jug and basin ready for her little sister and for her father and brother to wash when they come out of the house. They are washing by pouring the water over their hands. As the weather was usually warm, they didn't trouble to dry them on a towel. Now they sit down on the ground for the meal. The men and boys eat first, and the women and girls look on. To eat from the cooking pot, you took a piece of bread. After you had dipped it in a basin of olive oil, you use the bread as a spoon to get the stew from the cooking pot. With the evening meal, the father is drinking wine, which he pours out of a bottle made from the skin of an animal. But though they had no bottles of glass, they had drinking glasses. soon the father tells his wife and daughters to sit down and join the meal Oh, the little girl has to be shown how to eat properly without taking hold of the stewing pot. When no one's looking, she tries a second time to pull the pot with both hands. And her mother shows her how to use the bread as a spoon. Now, as it's getting dark, the elder daughter lights a stick at the fire and takes it indoors to light the lamp. After supper, the family gathers around the fire, which is made of charcoal and is rather smoky. When they're all settled, the Father begins to read aloud to them stories of the history of the Jews. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I shall not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a courage. In summer, this reading would take place on the roof. No day ever ended without a Jewish family together to read from the law and the prophets. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the ly the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep.