Chicken Soup

A little old jewish lady was doddering up 5th Avenue in New York and saw a man run over by a taxicab.

As a crowd of rubberneckers gathered around him while they waited for the EMS to arrive, she called out in her yiddish accent, “Give ‘im chicken soup.”

Soon the EMS arrived and began to attend the man, and from the back of the crowd, she called out, “Give ‘im chicken soup.” But they ignored her.

The EMS technicians started an IV in his arm and began to try to stabilize him, but things did not go well.

“Give ‘im chicken soup.” the little lady cried, but people in the crowd scowled at her in consternation, and the EMS techs ignored her and kept on working.

Then the poor man went into cardiac arrest and the EMS guys took out he electric shock paddles and gave him a big jolt to try to restart his heart. It didn’t work and as they repeated it, the little old lady cried “Give ‘im chicken soup.”

Finally, the man died and the EMS guys loaded the body on a stretcher and put him in the back of the truck and climbed inside.

As they were about to close the door, the little lady shrieked, “Give ‘im chicken soup.”

“Lady,” the EMS tech screamed back at her in frustration, “This man is dead, chicken soup can’t help him!”

“Well,” she replied in her yiddish accent, “It couldn’t hurt him, either.”

WHAT THIS MEANS TO ME:

Some things in Life are called “useless” by others.

But they can’t hurt, either.

 

Robert Jorrie,
1991

At the time just before the destruction of the Second Temple, the Romans under the leadership of Vespasian,

had surrounded Jerusalem and were laying seige to it.

Rabbi Yochanen ben Zakkai,

seeing that the End was in sight and that all within the city would be exterminated when the Romans finally breached the gates,

and knowing that the Romans and Jewish Zealots, during the seige,

would only allow the dead and defectors to pass out through the city gates without being put to death,

pretended to be dead and had himself smuggled out through the lines in a coffin using his students as pallbearers.

The guards often pierced the coffins with spears to dissuade people from being smuggled out in coffins alive

and when one of them began to do so with the coffin containing the rabbi, one of the students talked the guard out of it.

Once outside the walls safely, the rabbi went to Vepasian, the Commander of the Legions and greeted him:

“Good day, your Majesty.”

to which Vespasian replied:

“I shall kill you for 2 reasons:

I am not Caeser and calling me Caeser is Treason,

and if I am Caeser, you should still die because you didn’t come to me before now.”

At that exact minute, a runner from Rome arrived with the news that the Roman Senate had just appointed Vespasian, Caeser.

Vespasian was so impressed that he told the rabbi:

“Ask me one thing and it shall be yours.”

The rabbi said:

“Give me the College of Yavneh and it’s wise people,

the teachers and educators of the land,

for they will guarantee continuity of the education of the Jewish People amidst the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.”

Vespasian granted his request and permitted Rabbi Yochanen ben Zakkai and those he had asked to be permitted to go with him to leave safely,

and shortly thereafter, Jerusalem was sacked, the Temple destroyed and the Jews enslaved.

The result was that those Jews who survived were “education oriented” and as time went by and they proliferated

a kind of “Evolutionary Influence by War” made by Vespasian,

the very Destroyer of the Jews,

actually caused Education to become so very important to the Jews,

and Education is one of the Tools that has helped us

and permits us to survive.

taught to me by Rabbi Chaim Bloch, 1991

If the statistics are right,

the Jews constitute but one quarter of one per cent of the Human Race.

It suggests a dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way.

Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of;

but he is heard of,

has always been heard of.

He is prominent on the planet as any other people,

and his importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the
smallness of his bulk.

His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science,
art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning

are very out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers.

He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all ages;

and has done it with his hands tied behind him.

He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it.

The Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Persians rose, filled the planet
with sound and splendor,

then faded to dream stuff and passed away;

the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise,

and they are gone;

other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time,

and they sit in the twilight now, or have vanished.

The Jew saw them all, survived them all,

and is now what he always was,

exhibiting no decadence,

no infirmities of age,

no weakening of his parts,

no slowing of his energies,

no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind.

All things are mortal but the Jew;

all other forces pass,

but he Remains.

What is the Secret of his Immortality ?

 Mark Twain,
Harper’s Magazine,
1897

Proverbs 19:17

When we help those in need, we are actually helping God do His work, for we are caring for His people. This is how important the Mitzvah of Tzedakah is. Maimonides thought a great deal about this Mitzvah and how it could be best carried out. He was very concerned that we help others in a way that would not embarrass them or give us a chance to show off. The Rambam outlined the Eight Degrees of Charity. These are eight ways to give Tzedakah, like eight rungs on a ladder, from top to bottom, from the best way to the least generous way. When we give charity, we should do our best to give in the best way.
But, however we give, we must be sure to support all the causes that deserve our attention. Jewish Education in our own country and throughout the world needs your support. Here in the United States there are many Jewish poor people; we should consider it our personal responsibility to care for them. How can we enjoy all that we have when we know that another is in need? We should climb the ladder of Maimonides and “lend to the Lord.”

THE EIGHT DEGREES

First Degree: “Help a person Help Himself”

Prevent poverty by giving someone a gift or a loan or finding work for him so that he will not need to appeal for help. This is the top rung of Tzedakah’s golden ladder.

Second Degree: “The Giver and Receiver Unknown to Each Other”

One who gives charity to the poor without knowing to whom he gives and without the poor knowing from whom they take. This is how it was done in the Lishkat Hashaim (Chamber of Charity) in the Temple of Jerusalem.

Third Degree: “Receiver Known, Given Unknown”

One who knows to whom he gives, without the poor knowing from whom they receive. For example, in olden days, our ancestors brought gifts into poor people’s homes and left without being seen.

Fourth Degree: “Giver Does Not Know Receiver”

The poor man knows from whom he takes but the giver does not know the receiver. For example, there were men who tied money in the corners of the cloaks they wore, so that the poor might take it without being seen.

Fifth Degree: “Gives Before He is Asked”

The man who gives before he has been asked, but who puts it into the poor man’s hand, embarrassing him.

Sixth Degree: “Gives After He is Asked”

The man who gives cheerfully, and as much as he can, but only after being asked.

Seventh Degree: “Gives Less Than He Should, But Cheerfully”

The man who gives less than he ought to, but with a smile.

Eighth Degree: “Gives Unwillingly”

Robert Jorrie

“If I have seen Farther than Others,

it is because I Stood on the Shoulders of Giants.”.

Sir Isaac Newton

arl Ernst von Baer once remarked with bitter irony that:

 

 

“Every Triumphant Theory passes through Three Stages:

First, it is Dismissed as “Untrue;”

Then it is Rejected as “Contrary to Religion”;

Finally, it is Accepted as Dogma,

 

and each Scientist claims that he had Long Appreciated its Truth.”

 

Karl Ernst von Baer

Great discoveries and improvements

invariably involve the cooperation of many minds.

 

Alexander Graham Bell

“Every Statement I make should not be

viewed as an Assertion

but Rather as a Question.”

 Neils Bohr
Atomic Physicist

When I completed my Masters Degree in Tax Law, my parents each began to ask me tax questions about their separate tax positions.

My knowledge was fresh and current … and I proudly formulated my answers with great precision and clarity …

Not only answering the questions they asked

But, demonstrating exactly what those answers Meant,

and Precisely how their tax was affected.

But, they never believed anything I told them …

and continued to mail me sales brochures, simplistically inaccurate magazine articles, “tip of the iceberg” newsletters and brokerage house sales letters on
these topics

AS IF TO TEACH ME

What I’d just taken a Masters Degree in!

This went on until External situations seemed to prove my expertise to them …

until I began to earn money, publish articles in Bar Journals, teach Seminars for money, etc.

It seemed to have to do with their remembering I had once been their little boy …

and that they never could believe that he,

who used to mess in his diapers,

had learned more on some subjects than they.

Robert Jorrie,
1987

he might as well be blind.”

Charles Ponzi of Ponzi Scheme fame
in the early part of the 20th Century