The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-06-06
JEWISH LAUGHS
By Jacob Richn- m
Victory Ont Of Defeat

The two itinerant preachers ar
rived in the small Lithuanian COM
munity Friday afternoon. Each had
come to preach in the synagogue
the following day. But neither
was aware of the arrival Of the
other.
two preachers lodged in the same
hotel and were assigned to ad-
joining rooms.
Three o'clock In the morning
the senior orator was awakened
from his slumbers by gruff.
rasping voice, which penetrated
the flimsy partition. In the dark
of the night his neighbor was
striding across his room and in
fiery language delivering a
mighty Grafton. MORAL v'rabosai,"
the peripatetic individual would
often exclaim. 1t was the equiv
alent Of Ladies and Gentlemen"
Why any man should rise In the
middle OF the night and preach a
sermon in dark. empty room was
uncomfortable to the harassed and
puzzled Domosthenes. Was he a
somniloQuist? But q sermon it
surely was-and a mighty good
one at that. In fact, much bet
ter one than his own. Soon it
dawned upon him that the SOM
nambulist" must be a fellow
"maggid" who came with the in
tention of preaching at the syna-
gogue on the Sabbath, and that he
was now rehearsing his "drosho."
The bewildered man was now
wide awake bordering over the
complex and perplexinY situation.
Two preachers in one school" are
like two cats in one bag" Who
would get the preference to
speak?
Meanwhile the nocturnal preach
er was striding vigorously in the
dusky chamber repeating his mas
The senior brother Of the profess
sion was all attention. He lay ST.
lently on his bed listening eagerly
to every word, and soon he sue
ceeded In mastering his room
mates entire "drosho" by heart.
When the two Ciceros arrived
in the synagogue the following
afternoon, u heated discussion
arose among the trustees as to
who should get the preference to
speak. Finally 1t was decided to
dropped, by virtue of his senior
ity, was granted the privilege of
delivering his sermon first.
He had spoken . few minutes
when his competitor was dunn
founded. How did that man get
his sermon? Could he read his
mind? And what was he to
preach? To deliver an extempo-
raneous speech after such an elo-
quent and well-prepared Grafton
was out Of the question.
At the conclusion Of the "dro-
she." the congregants congratu-
lated the orator upon his master
piece. 1t was the greatest grafton
ever delivered within the walls
OF that synagogue. was the con-
sensus Of opinion. to the chaErin
and vexation Of the hoodwinks ed
preacher.
The outwitted man, however.
was equal to his willy opponent,
and ascending the pulpit COM
menced: my friends: The SER
mon Of my worthy colleague was
so sublime ana inspiring that it
left upon me an indelible impress
sion. truly believe that you
ought to hear it again. So in
stead of preaching my own SER
mon, I'll just repeat what our es-
teemed orator has just spoken"
Whereupon he commenced the
erstwhile preached homily. and
delivered 1t even more fluently
and inspiringly than his predeces-
sor. The public gasped with
Amusement. THAT man Is a
genius" That man is a marvel!
THE most phenomenal memory In
the world" Just imagine. to
hear such a long 'drosho' only
once and then repeat it word for
word" The audience marveled.
He was elected rabbi OF the con-
gregation with a large salary.
Speed of No Value To Him
The conductor on the Wilma
Warsaw railroad approached an
ancient looking Israelite to punch
his ticket.
You are on the wrong train"
informed the Russian official
Your ticket entities you to pas
sage on a slow train. But this is
fast train. an express. You will
please pay TWO roubles extra"
For my part you may slow
down." argued the member OF the
chosen race II am not in a
hurry. l have plenty of time"