Yiddish Anecdotes
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, Nov. 23, 1973-53.
7 isdom
From
Le Gemara
Good Judgment
ome rabbis had to transact
with a (Roman) lady with
Jrn all the great ones of the city
d to consort. They said, "Who
11 go?" Rabbi Joshua said, "I
go." So he went with some
,iples. When they got near her
se, he took off his phylacteries
went in and shut the door be-
' him. When he came out, he
.red, - -I taught his disciples,
sai. them, "When I took
my phylacteries, of what did
suspect me?"
We thought the master felt
t holy objects should not be
ught into an unclean place."'
And when I shut the door?"
We thought perhaps you had
tatter of state business to trans-
with her."
"md when I bathed?"
We thought perhaps the spittle
n her mouth might have fallen
your clothes."
:e replied, "Thus it was, and as
judged me favorably, so may
. judge you favorably."
— Sabbath, 127b.
*
* *
L5dom and Beauty
Emperor's daughter once said
Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah
lo was very ugly): "How is it
t your God saw fit to put such
ous wisdom in so hideous a
sel!"
e replied: "Why does thy father
p wine in an earthen pitcher?"
aow else should we keep it?"
asked.
People of your rank, said the
"should keep their wine in
sels of gold or silver."
`Iereupon the Empress per-
ded her father to transfer the
e from earthen to gold and sil-
vessels. The wine, however,
?d sour. The Emperor sum-
ied the Rabbi and inquired why
h.“1 given such poor counsel.
abbi Joshua answered: "I did
`,o show to thy daughter that
dom like wine is best kept in a
n vessel."
But," the girl objected, "are
,c not handsome scholars as
I?"
xts," answered the Rabbi, "but
y might have been greater
liars had they been ugly."
— Ta'anit, 7a.
*
*
Absent-Minded Professor
ab Ashi, the teacher of Rabina,
t a message to the latter on
Friday afternoon, asking him
a loan as a deposit on a piece
and. Rabina replied to the mes-
ger: "Please prepare the docu-
it and have witnesses."
Ashi came, he asked:
filen
a not trust even me?"
)ulds,
Thee especially I could not,"
wered Rabina. "Thy mind is
ays full of the Law, and there-
: thou art more likely than
leone else to forget the loan."
— Baba Metzia, 75b.
• * *
nce a man gave his father sev-
fat chickens. The father
ed: "My son, can you afford
!he son replied: "Eat what you
given and ask no questions."
nother man was grinding meal.
official came to conscript a
mber of the family to do forced
for the government. The son
d: "Do the grinding, my father,
I shall go. Thus will you avoid
discomforts of forced labor."
'he Sages said: "The first fed
parent well, yet his lot will be
Iehenna. The second made his
ter perform hard work, yet his
411 be in Eden."
— T. J. Pe'ah, la.
Hebrew Unrivaled
By NAHUM SOKOLOW
marvelous revival of the Hebrew
language in our times in Pales-
tine which is one of the greatest
achievements of the Zionist move.
ment, shows that the language was
only neglected, and that it was
essentially a living language.
The Hebrew language, with its
naturalness and noble simplicity,
has exerted an influence no less
powerful than that of biblical ideas
on the English mind. Knowing
little of artificial forms, it has a
natural sublimity of its own, and
a great logical clearness in dis-
criminating between nice shades
of meaning. It appeals strongly to
the English mind, because it is
the holy language, bringing the
Divine Word and coming from the
sanctuary of that ancient coven-
ant, whose faithful guardians are
the people of Israel. The Semitic
word has within historic times
exercised on the civilization of the
whole human race an influence to
which no parallel can be found,
and which, if . the future may be
measured by the past, is destined
triumphantly to extend, for the
incalculable benefit of mankind,
to the uttermost bounds of the
earth. The poetry of the Bible has
no rival.
The Hebrew language, mysteri-
Eager as Motke Habad was to my troubles were almost over, you
ously preserved like Israel, the
get rich, every time he managed have to give up and die!"
people after whom it is called,
to make a little money he would
* • *
through the tempests of many cen-
give it away to someone in dis-
A wealthy man was being laid
tress. So he repaired to his rich to rest, and his relatives followed turies, politically annihilated, but
neighbor, and asked him the secret the bier with loud lamentations. spiritually full of vigor, has never
ceased to be a vehicle for the ex-
of his success.
Motke Habad, happening to see pression of sublime- thoughts and
the
cortege,
joined
the
mourners
"Motke," said the other, "you
sentiments. Not only in the brilli-
must stop being a schlemiel. Don't and started weeping even more ant epoch of Hebrew literature
keep giving your money away. If demonstratively than the rest.
in Spain, from the 10th to the
you want to be rich, you must
"Are you too a relative of the 15th Centuries, but since then,
train yourself to behave like a hog deceased?" h e was asked.
Hebrew has been written in prose
for at least ten years."
He shook his head, but contin- and in poetry with power and ef-
"And then what happens?" ued weeping.
fect unattainable in any of the
asked Motke.
"Then why all your grief?"
languages that have ceased to live.
"That's the reason," he replied.
"Then," came the answer, "it
It is entirely wrong to consider
* * *
grows to be second nature."
A strange beggar began making Hebrew a dead language. Hebrew
* * *
the rounds in a certain town, ask- has never been dead. At no time
Motke became a teamster, but ing alms on the plea that all his in its long history has it ceased
he found the horse consumed all possessions had been destroyed in to be employed by the Jewish
the profits. He determined to wean a fire. To aid a Jew in such a people as a medium for the ex-
the beast from the habit of eating, plight was considered a bounden pression, whether in speech or
and began by depriving it of oats duty throughout the Russian Pale, writing, of the living thoughts and
one day a week, then two days, but it was customary for him to the living feelings of the Jew. Its
then three. After a month the carry a document signed by his use as a national medium of
horse seemed well on its way to rabbi attesting to the disaster. This everyday speech came, indeed, to
learning how to get along with schnorrer, however, showed no an end with the destruction of the
almost no oats at all, when it such document, and when asked political organization of the Jew-
suddenly collapsed and died.
for it, he drew himself up and ish people. But that catastrophe
Motke was beside himself with cried: "Didn't I tell you that all did not destroy the life of the
grief. Standing over the beast, he my possessions were destroyed? language any more that it de-
groaned, "Woe is me! Just when I That document was one of them!" stroyed the life of the nation. The
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