in Washington try to reassure us that they are no better than we are all
the while passing laws that exempt them from having to do much of what
the rest of us are legally obligated to do, I think of a delicious story
that I heard years ago.
Once upon a time, a Rabbi introduced the notion during a sermon that
he was unworthy — unworthy to be a Rabbi, unworthy to know God's love,
and unworthy to have a place set aside for him in Heaven. He then threw
himself down on the floor with the tearful cry, "I am nothing."
The president of the synagogue, sitting in the front row — where the
most important people always sat; the least important being in the back
— was astonished at what he had just witnessed. But being somewhat
politically oriented, he decided that he had better follow the Rabbi's
lead. So he stood up, began to beat his breast in self-mortification,
decried his own worthiness, topping off the act by also throwing himself
on the floor while admitting in anguished tones that he, too, was nothing.
At this, the richest man in town, also sitting in the front row, got
to his feet and went through the same routine.
Now in the back of the synagogue, in the last row (so you know how unimportant
he was) sat the town tailor who had watched the goings-on with fascination.
Somewhat emboldened and heartened by what he had just witnessed, he rose
to his feet and emulated the three performances.
As he threw himself to the floor also claiming to be nothing, the president
of the temple, still prostrate on the floor between the Rabbi and the richest
man in town, poked the latter in the ribs and acidly remarked, "So look
who thinks he's nothing."
Cogitate upon it. |
