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 ell...0.0.10••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• • • t ■ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .• • • • 1 • • what's going on in THE WORLD ?? ? • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • JEWISH NEWS Keeps everyone abreast of happenings here, there and everywhere ! 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