בבא קמא לה

In World War I, when Russia was fighting Austria, a battalion was told that any soldier who captures an Austrian flag will receive a cash prize. The following day, a Jewish soldier returned from the front with an Austrian flag. The commanding officer praised him in the presence of the platoon and presented him the prize. The same thing happened the next week. The same soldier returned with an Austrian flag and received the prize. When it happened again a third time, his fellow soldiers asked him how managed to capture the flags. “It really didn’t take any heroics,” the soldier said. “You see, the Austrians are also offering a prize to their soldiers for capturing a Russian flag. I went to the front and cried out שמע ישראל and an Austrian soldier called השם אלוקינו השם אחד. Now, once a week we trade flags.”

06/10/2021