Public Lavatory Shenanigans!
"This is the joke about a Mr. Nussbaum, who goes to his rabbi to announce that his beloved dog Buster has just died and that he would be grateful if the rabbi would say a memorial service for the dog. The rabbi, after expressing his condolences, tells Mr. Nussbaum that Jews are not permitted to say memorial services for animals.
Mr. Nussbaum informs the rabbi that he has no other family, that Buster meant everything to him, that he would be willing to make a serious contribution to the rabbi’s special fund for working with inner-city children if he would accommodate him here.
The rabbi, not an inflexible man, tells Mr. Nussbaum that, all right, he will do the service for Buster the next day in the small synagogue at 2:30. And so the following day, the rabbi goes through the service and speaks about the dog for roughly fifteen minutes. Mr. Nussbaum, alone in the audience, listens, tears in his eyes.
When it is over, he approaches the rabbi, hands him a check for $5,000, and says: “Rabbi, I shall always be grateful to you for what you did for me and for Buster. It meant the world to me. And what you said about my beloved dog has moved me greatly. Do you know, Rabbi, till this afternoon I had no idea how much Buster had done for Israel.”-From Joseph Epstein
I was reminded of this joke when using the restroom at the student union. I always love reading bathroom stall graffiti: Who writes this stuff? Who thinks while taking a dump that, now, NOW is the time to express myself? It is a great mystery to me and I can’t resist speculating on the psychology of bathroom stall writers.
Anyway I was reminded of this joke because in this toilet stall there was written, “Israel sucks balls” “Israel=Jewish Nazis” and the spiritually uplifting, “Free Palestine.” Someone out there is so awesome in their goodness that even their act of defecation was in promotion of a nation’s cause. Even with a turd floating beneath them they recognized the opportunity to be a voice of liberation and a voice of hope. I also can’t help but smile at the probability that this was done by some kid who hates the dehumanization of peoples that is implicit in colonialist rhetoric.
Mr. Nussbaum informs the rabbi that he has no other family, that Buster meant everything to him, that he would be willing to make a serious contribution to the rabbi’s special fund for working with inner-city children if he would accommodate him here.
The rabbi, not an inflexible man, tells Mr. Nussbaum that, all right, he will do the service for Buster the next day in the small synagogue at 2:30. And so the following day, the rabbi goes through the service and speaks about the dog for roughly fifteen minutes. Mr. Nussbaum, alone in the audience, listens, tears in his eyes.
When it is over, he approaches the rabbi, hands him a check for $5,000, and says: “Rabbi, I shall always be grateful to you for what you did for me and for Buster. It meant the world to me. And what you said about my beloved dog has moved me greatly. Do you know, Rabbi, till this afternoon I had no idea how much Buster had done for Israel.”-From Joseph Epstein
I was reminded of this joke when using the restroom at the student union. I always love reading bathroom stall graffiti: Who writes this stuff? Who thinks while taking a dump that, now, NOW is the time to express myself? It is a great mystery to me and I can’t resist speculating on the psychology of bathroom stall writers.
Anyway I was reminded of this joke because in this toilet stall there was written, “Israel sucks balls” “Israel=Jewish Nazis” and the spiritually uplifting, “Free Palestine.” Someone out there is so awesome in their goodness that even their act of defecation was in promotion of a nation’s cause. Even with a turd floating beneath them they recognized the opportunity to be a voice of liberation and a voice of hope. I also can’t help but smile at the probability that this was done by some kid who hates the dehumanization of peoples that is implicit in colonialist rhetoric.
posted by Old Stallion at 10:18 PM
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