Arab Remembers Honesty of Jews Fifty Years Later

 Arab Remembers Honesty of Jews Fifty Years Later

A powerful story (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ltu-PioKm0):

A Jewish fellow by the name of Steve Clar, from Arcadian Development Group, a company that develops, builds and renovates nursing homes, was traveling to Kentucky. He was exhausted and entered a gas station to get a coffee. He hears the owner speaking Arabic on the phone, so when the owner asks Steve how he’s doing, he answers: Hem-Di-Lilah, thank G-d in Arabic. The man was shocked that a Jew with a kipa knows Arabic. They strike up a conversation and the man tells him: I’m in love with the Jewish people. Why?

I grew up in Ramallah, in Israel. We were 10 brothers and sisters; we lived in one room in a refugee camp. We were a poor family, no bread, nothing at home. To help support my family I had to travel to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem there is a corner where you can stand, and if people need any labor, they pick you up from there. There was a Jewish guy, a contractor, Moshe, who hired me to paint houses; I made a nice income and brought back food for my family.

But then suddenly the Yom Kippur War broke out in 1973. The Arabs launched a surprise attack, and they closed immediately all the borders, we couldn't travel to Jerusalem to find work. The war ended but we're still afraid to go into Jerusalem to get work. We were so poor. No food stamps in our city… when you have no bread, you starve.

Ad then suddenly one day, the Israeli Army enters Ramallah and they're asking for my name, they're looking for me. Everybody's scared they are going to arrest me. They found my house, they knocked on my door, I was petrified. Sudddenly, I see, who comes out of the army jeep? My contractor, Moshe, who was also a reserve General in the Israeli army, and managed to get a few soldiers to escort him to our home in Ramallah. Moishe stuck his hand into his bulletproof vest, took out an envelope, and handed it to me, and said: Here's your last paycheck; I'm sorry I wasn't able to pay you till now, because of the Yom Kippur War. I was blown away.

50 years passed, and here you, a proud Jew comes into my gas station in Kentucky. I can’t tell you how much I love Jews.

I live in Kentucky today. I am very affluent. I own more than 24 gas stations and build parking lots and truck stops. The man is a tycoon. But I want you to know, that the pay check he game me 50 years ago, which consisted of maybe 60-70 dollars is worth more to me than the millions I make now each year. I swear, if I knew his last name, I’d go to Israel, search for him and give him a long hug and kiss! I want to tell him: you taught me the most sacred lesson in my life.

(Shortly after the YK war, my family moved to Kuwait. We built a construction company,  we were very successful. Then in 1990 Saddam Hussein attacked and invaded Kuwait. His army came in and stole everything we owned; they took everything, even my car, my bank account. Everything! I could not buy milk for my kids. And these were our Arab brothers. I thought to myself, wow, look at the difference between the Jewish guy, Moshe, who after two months of war came with the army looking for me to give me my paycheck, so I can feed my brothers; while in Kuwait they took everything from me.)

Here is an Arab who understands the gift of being a Jew and living Judaism.

HILTON Towel

Teddy came home from camp missing his beautiful, large, fluffy towel. The mother calls camp: You guys allow thievery. Someone stole my son’s towel. You guys should be ashamed of yourself and close down your camp.

The camp director responds: Relax. Nobody stole it. It was probably lost. Let me search for it. Would it have any identifying sign on it?

She says, of course. It says in big words: HILTON.

Joke: Fishing in a Garden

You know the anecdote:

A kind-hearted fellow was walking through Central Park in New York and was

astonished to see an old man, fishing rod in hand, fishing over a beautiful bed of red

roses.

"Tsk Tsk!" said the passer-by to himself. "What a sad sight. That poor old man is

fishing over a bed of flowers. I'll see if I can help." So the kind fellow walked up to

the old man and asked, "What are you doing, my friend?"

"Fishin', sir."

"Fishin', eh. Well how would you like to come have a drink with me?"

The old man stood, put his rod away and followed the kind stranger to the corner

bar. He ordered a large glass of Beer and a fine cigar.

His host, the kind fellow, felt good about helping the old man, and he asked, "Tell

me, old friend, how many did you catch today?"

The old fellow took a long drag on the cigar, blew a careful smoke ring and replied,

"You are the sixth today, sir!"

Story: repentance

With great remorse, a man entered the private room of Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch to ask for a formula for repentance. Since the man was ashamed to admit that he was the sinner, he explained that a friend had committed the sins and was too embarrassed to appear before the Rebbe personally. Therefore, his friend had asked him to come to the Rebbe on his behalf. Consequently, the visitor then gave the Rebbe a list of sins his “friend” had supposedly committed.

“What a fool the other man is,” the Rebbe answered with a knowing smile, “instead of sending you to ask for him, he could have come himself and said that you sent him!” (Told by the Rebbe, 12 Tammuz 5714.)

Story - milkman and baker

One early morning, the milkman is bewildered to find a court summons hanging on his door. He was an honest man who always behaved as such. He never cheated, lied or stole anything. He had no idea why he was summoned to court. But the baker knew.

The baker used to buy butter and cheese from the milkman for his business. One day he suspected that the lumps of butter that the milkman sold him were under five pounds - even though the milkman insisted that each was exactly five pounds. The baker decided to check out the matter and for a period he consistently weighed every lump of butter that he bought from the milkman. He discovered that they were in fact less than five pounds. Sometimes they were four pounds, sometimes they were four-and-a-half pounds, and once one was even three pounds.

 The baker was angry. "Cheating me!" he told his wife angrily, "I am not going to be quiet about it." He went to the local court and complained about the milkman. "We have to prosecute him," said the baker, "we can't let him cheat all the villagers; people trust this crook!"

Later that day, the court messenger hung a notice on the milkman's house inviting him to court. The milkman arrived at the court shaking with fear. He had never been to a courthouse and had never spoken to a Judge. The Judge evoked a sense of fear amongst the villagers.

 "I assume you have a very accurate scale in your dairy," said the Judge to the milkman.

"No your honor, I do not have a scale," said the milkman.

"So how do you weigh the butter? Do you just guess that it is ten pounds?"

"No G-d forbid, your honor; I am an honest man; it never occurred to me to do something like that. Very simply I built myself a scale—the kind that needs a weight on one side to balance the butter on the other."

The Judge nodded his head, and the milkman continued. "Every morning when I come to weigh the butter for the baker, I place five pounds of bread on one side of the scale. This way I know that the butter that I will give to the baker will be exactly five pounds."

"So," says the Judge, "you're telling us that the amount of butter that you give the baker is exactly the weight of the loaf of bread he supplies to you?"

"That is exactly it!" exclaimed the milkman. 

The baker's face fell. You see, the baker’s scale was dishonest; the five pounds of bread he was weighing each morning to give to the milkman were not truly five pounds. And that is exactly what came back to him.

How true this is with many of us. We judge people based on who we are. And what we put out to people is what comes back to us. In life, we end up eating the cake which we have baked.

Joke: RABBI OF FEW WORDS

Rabbi Schwartz answers his phone.
"Hello. is this Rabbi Schwartz?" "It is"
"This is the IRS. Can you help us?" "I can"
"Do you know a Sam Cohen?", "I do".
"Is he a member of your congregation?", "He is"
"Did he donate $10,000?", "He will"

Story: Reb Mendel & the Pickpocket

Reb Mendel, a chassid with a long white beard, was arrested for helping to smuggle Jews out of
the former Soviet Union. He sat in a Gulag in Siberia and was housed in a barrack full of
gangsters. The gangsters played cards, a pastime forbidden in the Gulag. So they posted a
watchman at the door and whenever the guards arrived, the alarm was raised and the cards
were hidden.
The prison guards knew about the card games, but try as they might, they could never find the
evidence. The guard would break into the room, search every nook and cranny and somehow
the cards always eluded him. Reb Mendel did his best to watch the gangsters and discover
where the cards were hidden, but he never managed to detect the hiding place.
One day Reb Mendel asked a fellow gangster where the cards were hidden and the gangster
explained the secret. Among us, he said, there is a master pickpocket. We pass the cards to him
and as soon as the guard enters the pickpocket slips them into the guard’s back pocket. The
guard looks everywhere for the cards, but he can’t find them because he already has them.
And, pray tell, asked Reb Mendel, how do you get them back? That’s simple, replied the
gangster. Just before the guard leaves, the pickpocket takes them back.
Whenever Reb Mendel retold this story he would have a good laugh, but then he would sober and
explain the moral. Reb Mendel’s stories always came with a moral. The moral of the story is that when
you criticize others, make sure to check yourself first. You may indeed be the guilty party.

Rabbi, a Minister and a Priest were gambling

A Rabbi, a Minister and a Priest were gambling one night when the police raided the club. The
officer approaches the table in surprise and said, Father O’Reilly, were you gambling? The priest
closes his eyes and offers a quick prayer. “Dear G-d, I know lying is a mortal sin, but please
tolerate it this one time.” He opens his eyes and clearly replies, No Office, I was not gambling.
The officer turns to the minister and says, Minister O’Neal, were you gambling? The minister
murmurs a quiet prayer for forgiveness and replies firmly, “No Office, I was not.”
The officer now turns to the Rabbi and demands, well then Rabbi, was it you that was gambling?
The rabbi smiles sweetly and replies, “But Office, with whom?”

Joke: A Jew and an Arab go into a bakery.

A Jew and an Arab go into a bakery. The Arab steals 3 pastries and puts them in his pocket. He says to the Jew, "See how good I am? The owner didn't see anything!"

 

The Jew says to the Arab, "I am going to show you there is nobody better than a Jew." He goes to the owner and says, "Give me a pastry and I will show you a magic trick.''

 

Intrigued, the owner accepts and give him a pastry. The Jew swallows it and ask for another one. The owner gives him another one. Then the Jew asks for another one and swallows it just the same.

 

The owner is starting to wonder where the magic trick is and says, "What did you do with the pastry? Are you trying to fool me?"

 

The Jew answers, "Look in the Arab's pocket."

Joke: Lower His Losses

Mark Ginsberg never pays his bills, especially not during this time of recession. Recently his friend saw him bargaining with a supplier.

"Hey, Ginsberg," Goldberg asks him, why are you knocking that man's prices down ? You're never going to pay him anyway.

Listen, answers Ginsberg, he is a nice chap. I just want to keep down his losses!

Story: Rabbi Shimon ben Shatach& the valuable precious stone

The Midrash tells a story...The sage Rabbi Shimon ben Shatach found a precious stone of great value hanging around the neck of a donkey he had bought from a non-Jew. Refusing to yield to the requests of his disciples who urged him to keep the treasure Providence had sent him, he returned the stone, saying, 'I bought a donkey, not a precious stone.' The Arab witness to the Sage's integrity thereupon exclaimed: 'Blessed is the G-d of Simeon ben Shatach.’

G-d's name becomes sanctified when those who claim to have a relationship with Him act in such a manner that makes it evident how faith transforms a life. Simeon ben Shatach would not have endangered his reputation nor violated the national law if he had decided to keep the stone. In returning the stone Rabbi Simeon moved a man to say: 'If this behavior is the child of faith, then faith is worth having. '

JOKE - 10 dollars for the cheesecake, and 60 dollars for Israel

*A Jew walks into the bakery and orders a bagel. The man behind the counter
says: "A bagel? That's 20 dollars." "20 dollars?! Are you mad!?" "Well, its
1 dollar for the bagel, and 19 dollars for Israel." "Fine. Money for Israel?
How can I say no?"*

*  *

*The next day the same guy comes in to the bakery, and orders a challah. The
man behind the counter says: "Challah? That's 40 dollars." "Are you
insane?!" "Sir, its 5 dollars for the challah and 35 dollars for Israel."
The man shrugs his shoulders but he pays the money.*

*  *

*The third day, he comes in and orders a cheesecake. "Cheesecake? 70
dollars." "What?! This is absolutely crazy." "Sir, 10 dollars for the
cheesecake, and 60 dollars for Israel." At this point he had had enough.
"You are completely mad! This is absolutely absurd and unethical."*

*  *

*"Sorry sir, I am just following the rules." "I demand to speak to the owner
of the store!"*

*  *

*So the clerk goes to the door and calls out: "Hey Israel! Someone wants to
talk to you!"*

“And G-d heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of G-d called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her "What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for G-d has heard the voice of the lad where he is," “baasher hoo sham.” (Genesis 21:17).

What is the meaning of those last three words “where he is?” 

There is a deep message conveyed here. G-d listens to people “where they are.” Often, when a person finds himself in a situation with many distractions and difficulties, he is likely to say: "When my situation improves, then I will be able to do what I really aspire to do, to seek holiness, to study Torah and do mitzvoth, to connect to G-d, but not right now. Now all I can think about are these problems, holiness will have to wait until other things calm down."

But that is not the Jewish approach. Let us recall the words of G-d to Moses at the burning bush, when he tried to approach the burning bush: “Ki hamakom asher atah omed alav admas kodesh hu.” The place upon which you are standing, that is the exact situation in which you find yourself, is a holy place. In whatever distracting and difficult situation you find yourself, there are opportunities for holiness. A relationship with G-d does not depend on you being completely pure and refined. Wherever we are in our life, we can touch the Divine. Wherever you are in life, you can reach out to G-d. You don’t need to move away from your space and be something which you are not. G-d does not want masks; he wants the real you. He wants your truth, your passion, your heart, your struggles, your reality. “Baasher Hoo Sham.” He wants to see what you really look like. Wherever you are and whoever you are, G-d will listen to you.

Take ONLY ONE

It was lunchtime at the Jewish nursery school and all the children were
lined up by the teachers. Then, as usual, they were led into the canteen.
Little Moshe quickly noticed that at one end of the dining table was a large
pile of apples with the message, "Take ONLY ONE apple each, God is
watching."  At the other end he noticed was a large pile of kosher chocolate
chip cookies.
Moshe then whispered to his friend Sarah, "We can take all the cookies we
want. God is watching the apples."

Business versus pleasure

Issy owned a small deli in Hendon. One day, a tax inspector knocked on his
door and questioned him about his recent tax return. Issy had reported a net
profit of £50,000 for the year and he wanted to know all about it.
"It’s like this," said Issy. "I work like a maniac all year round and all of
my family help me out whenever they can. My deli is closed only five times a
year. That’s how I made £50,000."
"It's not your income that bothers us," said the taxman. "It's the business
travel deductions of £80,000 that worries us. You entered on the tax return
that you and your wife made fifteen business trips to Israel."
"Oh," said Issy, smiling. "I forgot to tell you that we also deliver."

Madame Freda

For months, Leah had been nagging her husband to go with her to the seance
parlour of Madame Sadie.
"Cyril, Madame Sadie is a real gypsy and she brings the voices of the dead
from the other world. We all talk to them. Last week, I talked with my
mother, may she rest in peace. Cyril, for only £30 you can talk to your
zaida who you miss so much."
Cyril could not resist and at the next seance, there was Cyril sitting under
the coloured light at the green table, holding hands with the person on each
side of him. All were humming.
Madame Sadie, her eyes lost in trance, was making passes over a crystal
ball. "My medium Vashtri, who is that with you? Mr Himmelfarb? Cyril's
zaida?"
Cyril swallowed the lump in his throat and called, "Grandpa? zaida?"
"Ah, Cyril?" a thin voice quavered.
"Yes, yes," cried Cyril, "this is your Cyril, zaida, are you happy in the
other world?"
"Cyril, I am in bliss. I'm with your bubba. We laugh, we sing, we gaze upon
the shining face of the Lord."
Cyril asks his zaida many questions and his zaida answers each, until -
"So now, Cyril, I have to go. The angels are calling. Just one more question
I can answer. Ask. Ask."
"Zaida," sighed Cyril, "when did you learn to speak English?"

The waiter

Benjamin and Morris are sitting in a wonderful Kosher restaurant in Hendon.
They are talking among themselves in Yiddish. A Chinese waiter comes up and
in fluent and impeccable Yiddish asks them if everything is okay, can he get
them anything, and so forth. Benjamin and Morris are dumbfounded.
"My God, where did he learn such perfect Yiddish?" they both think. After
they pay the bill they ask the manager, an old friend of theirs, also fluent
in Yiddish, "Where did your waiter learn such fabulous Yiddish?"
The owner looks around and leans over to them so no one will hear and says,
"Shhhh. He thinks we're teaching him English."

The sermon

One shabbes, Rabbi Bloom told his congregation, "Next week, my sermon will
be all about the sin of lying and to help you understand it better I would
like you all to read Leviticus chapter 28 before next week."
The following shabbes, at the start of his sermon, Rabbi Bloom asked his
congregation, "How many of you have read Leviticus 28?"
Every hand went up.
Rabbi Bloom smiled and said, "Leviticus has only 27 chapters. I will now
proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying."

the rabbi's gold watch.

Sammy has stolen the rabbi's gold watch.
Rosh Hashanah was coming, and he didn't feel too good about it, so he decided, after a sleepless night, to go to the rabbi.
'Rabbi, I stole a gold watch.'
'But Sammy! That's forbidden! You should return it immediately!'
'What shall I do?'
'Give it back to the owner.'
'Do you want it, Rabbi?'
'No, I said return it to its owner.'
'But he doesn't want it.'
'In that case, you can keep it.'

Post Dated Check - Joke

A Man lost control of his vehicle and plowed into a pasture killing a two
month old calf. Mortified the man jumped out of his car and offered to pay
the farmer for his cow. Well, said the farmer, today the calf is worth
five-hundred dollars but in two years time it will be worth nine-hundred
dollars. You owe me nine hundred, concluded the farmer. The driver obliged
him and wrote out a check for nine hundred dollars. With a flourish he post
dated it for two years.