Washing dishes and muzzling oxen

Deuteronomy 25:4 – You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

Last weekend I spent the entire weekend at the sink at St. Andrew Orthodox Church, washing dishes. We were having our annual heritage festival, which involves dancing – Greek, Arabic, Russian, Irish – a silent auction, and food. Lots and lots of food. Most of this food is from Greece and various parts of the middle east.

So, the kitchen is the place to be during all of this. There is constantly something toothsome coming out of the oven. And if you’re right there, someone is going to ask you to taste it to make sure it’s ok. And, even when the cabbage rolls are running out, the folks working in the kitchen have access to the fresh ones coming out of the oven.

Because, as Deuteronomy says, you don’t muzzle the ox while he’s treading the grain.

So, I washed dishes all day, and ate like a king. Or, perhaps, like a sheikh.