אֵין הַקּוֹמֶץ מַשְׂבִּיעַ אֶת הָאָרִי

ביטוי (אנגלית)

A handful will not satisfy the lion

הגדרה (אנגלית)

A little does not satisfy the lion’s hunger. By extension: the quantity is not enough to fill a great need. This small amount cannot satisfy the hunger.

("David was standing and studying Torah... the sages of Israel entered before him. They said to him: Our lord the king, your people Israel need sustenance! He said to them: Go, provide for one another. They said to him: A handful will not satisfy the lion, and the pit is not filled with its own earth." - Sanhedrin 16a; also: "For if, God forbid, I were to bring my head into the thicket of loans and pay interest, the handful would not satisfy the lion." - Sholem Aleichem, The Pot, 117; also: "In any case, the charity boxes of Jerusalem are thin and poor, and the handful does not satisfy the poor and needy." - Y. Burla, Yearnings, 262; also: "The handful cannot satisfy the lion - the budget is limited, and hundreds of thousands of villagers thirst for water, and millions of wells are neglected and dried up." - Karlebach, India, 270)