כתובות פה

The ראש ישיבה of a school in Boston had wonderful talmidim who spent day and night learning גמרא.  He was very proud of them, but was looking for a way to motivate them to spend some time exercising.   One day, as he was walking near the Charles River, the rowing teams of Harvard and Yale passed by.  Seeing this, he told the talmidim that if they practiced rowing and demonstrated excellence, he would challenge Harvard and Yale in next year’s competition.  The boys took up the challenge and devoted months and months of practice.  They actually became very good.  Harvard and Yale accepted the challenge.  As the race began, the rabbeim, students and parents couldn’t have been prouder.  However, to their tremendous disappointment, the Yeshiva team came in far, far behind.  “What happened?” the ראש ישיבה asked.  “You were so good.”  The boys responded: “It wasn’t a fair race.  The other teams had six rowers and one person giving the orders.  We had one rower, and six guys giving the orders.”

06/10/2021