Monday, November 24, 2008

You think polygamy is the only advantage?

So, this is what life is like in the fast lane. What I mean is, by some miracle or other, blogger has started working properly on the iPod. What joy this means I can not properly express, but suffice it to say that it is certainly a wonderous occasion.
In shiur today Rabbi Chaim Schapiro told a probably-apocryphal tale. It seems like way back when there was a large gathering of Jews, and someone accidentally spilled some milk into a pot of cholent or some such other victual. There was less than shishim, and the crowd was consternated (whyever not?). A great rabbi who was present proclaimed that, since everyone was experiencing such consternation, they should get a non-Jew to taste it, and if it didn't taste milky, then a Sephardi should taste it (like the mechaber), and if he didn't think it was milky, then the Ashkenazim could eat of it too.
Nice story, no? It obviously could never have happened in Israel, because the ashkenazim there treat their fellow brothers like dirt, but one does like to think that somewhere out there it might possibly have occurred.

4 comments:

e said...

Ha! Last year a morristown alumnus told we the same story.

Anonymous said...

When I was in Morristown, I had a had a similar but different shayla. There was a bottle of milk which was more than just a safek spoiled, which everyone knows isn't botul afilu b'elef. So, like any yerei shomayim, I

Edward*, the head-janitor, realized my sofek and offered his services for te'imas akum. He poured a large quantity of the milk into his cupped palm, drank it down, and confirmed that the milk was completely bad. Because he was helping a yid out, he had the zchus not to even flinch from the foul flavors. After thanking Edward for alleviating my sofek, I poured the milk down the sink as I originally intended to do.

Anyways, pointless story, but it was just gross watching a guy pour obviously spoiled milk into his palm and drink it down without even reacting.

* Edward. Apparently a veteran janitor at the RCA for 18 years, was most famous for his drunken fits and unintelligible speech. His origins were uncertain, but it is believed that he came from some island in near South America (Palau?). He prided himself on his seniority as janitor at the Rabbinical College.

During a Tomchei off-Shabbos, one of the junior janitors, a man of Hispanic origins, entered the Tiferes study hall with blood spraying from his chest. He accused Edward as having stabbed him in a drunken brawl. The police were summoned and apprehended the accused, who, after an incredible career at RCA, was never seen on its grounds again.

Just like a guy said...

Like any yerei shomayim, you did what?
Oh, and eliezer, what's your point exactly?

Nemo said...

Oh, I meant something about throwing the milk out ... I was trying to stick a good Shulchan Oruch line in there.