Catholics and Jews in the 1600s at the Vatican

[Dr. Dan]

So eons of years ago when times were harsh in Vatican City, it came to be that the cardinals and priests wanted to remove all the Jews from amongst their midsts, but without harming them.  When the Jewish community heard about this they cried out that it wasn't fair.

So the head cardinal called out, "Let's have a debate. If the Jews win, they can stay and if we win, they have to leave."

So the Jews of the community were frantic since no one seemed to know much. No rebbe want to debate the cardinal..but one simple man who owned a furniture store, named Moishe, came along and said, "I will debate the cardinal!"

And so he went to the cardinal and said, "Let's make this intersting, in our debate, we are not allowed to speak a word." And the cardinal agreed.

So came the big day: The priests and cardinals on one side and the Jews on the other side.  It was quiet at first, but then the cardinal thought of something and showed Moishe three fingers.  Moishe held out one finger.  Then the cardinal took his fingers and made a motion of a circle.  Moishe pointed to the ground.  Finally, the cardinal took out a cup of win and wafers and showed it Moishe.  Moishe picked up an apple and showed it to the cardinal.

After this, the Cardinal spoke up, "I give up. You guys apparantly know what you are talking about, you Jews can stay!"  The Priests were astounded.  A few hours later, the priests went to the cardinal and asked, "what happened?" The cardinal replied:

"I showed the three fingers signifying the trinity in Gd as the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  He held out one finger indicating that Gd was still One."
"Then I circled my fingers saying that Gd was everywhere.  He pointed to the ground saying that Gd was here with us in the room."
"Then I showed him the wine and wafers signifying Jesus's blood and is body that he died for our sins.  He showed me an apple signifying that we all had original sin."
When I saw this, I realized that they could stay.


On the other side of town the Jews went up to Moishe and said, "what happened?"

Moishe replied:

"Well, he held out three fingers telling us we had three days to leave.  But I held out one finger that not ONE OF US was going to leave."

"Then he motioned his fingers to tell us that they were going to take all the Jews out everywhere, and I pointed to the ground saying that we are all staying right here."

Then Yosef, the shoemaker asked, "And then what happened next?"

And Moishe replied, "I guess he wanted to show me his lunch, so I showed him mine!"


 

[OdKahaneChai]

Yeah I've heard that one before.  But it's a good one.