The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-06-27
JEWISH LAUGHS By Jacob Richm-n
By Jacob Rfchman
Does It Pay to Be Good

Does It Pay to Be Good
 Many years ago, in a small and distant town there lived two Jews. One was exceedingly good and tho other was exceedingly bad. The good man devoted all of his time to tho study of the Torah and tho practice of It's com mandments. He helped the poor and befriended the lowly. Only one sin did he commit in his life time-and this unintehtionally.
 One Saturday afternoon, while studying tho Talmud, big black spider descended from the ceiling upon the holy book. Nervously he shook off the obnoxious insect and crushed 1t with his foot. for getting in his excitement that no life was to be destroyed on the Sabbath.
 The wicked man was guilty of every sin that has 6 name; eating oysters, smoking on the Sabbath and associating with vile women were only some of the minor of lenses he committed. He had only one "mitzvoh," and noble act. to his credit-he saved a life:
 Once, while passing by creek, he heard somebody crying "help" Instantly he jumped into the wa ter and hauled the floundering person ashore. It happened to be the young and charming daughter of a Christian minister.
 In the course of time the two men died; the one after life of sin and wickedness and the other after a life of devotion and right eousness.
 When tho God-fearing man ar rived in the celestial sphere there was great commotion. Thousands of angels, created through his pious deeds. rushed to welcome him. Hail the 'zadick. hail the saint" they shouted. As a mat ter of merest formality he was es- corted by guard of honor to the heavenly tribunal so that they may assign an abode for the saint ly man. Naturally enough the tribunal forthwith assigned to him a place in Paradise. But no sooner had the assignment been made than ferocious-looking devil, black and ugly. in the form of a huge spider, made it's appearance.
 Are you going to send this vio- lator of the Torah to Paradise?'' Iscreeched the ugly creature. Why. l am the creature whose life he crushed on the holy Sabbath" It was a hard problem for the celestial court to decide outright, and. following the precedent in such cases, they decided to lock the saint and tho spider in one room till the advent of Messiah, when all difficult problems would be satisfactorily solved.
 When the sinner cams into the supernal region there vas an out burst of fury. Thousands of devils. created by the wicked deeds of the newly arrived, made a fran tic rush to annihilate him. With great difficulty the heavenly guards succeeded in bringing the inveterate sinner intact to the ce- lestial tribunal. where judgment was to be passed as to the proper abode for him. There was no diff ficulty in reaching decision Unanimously the court assigned him to hell.
 But no sooner had the verdict been announced than pure. spot less angel. in the form of the charming damsel that the con demned man saved, appeared or the scene. In sweet and moving accents the wkite- winged seraph spoke:
 70. yet worthies of the Heavenly court. are ye going to condemn this good and noble man? Once | in the other world I was drowning in a creek, and if not for this gal. lant and self-sacrificing hero my life would have been snuffed out Is that the reward Of noble deeds
 It was a very serious probleE for the tribunal and, again follow. | ing precedent, they decided to con fine the sinner and his guardian angel in one room and keep then there till Messiah would come when all hard problems would bt solved.
 Now, the righteous man enjoyed neither this world nor the othel world. Here he deprived himseli of all pleasures in life. and there he was condemned to spend nj. time with an ugly and noXinu! spider. While the sinner had { glorious time right here. and there again, he was privileged to spent his time with a beautiful l "shikshe." Now, does it pay to b. good?