Pinchas Gros lived in a small Shtetl. He was not from the great לומדים, but neither was he an עם הארץ. To look distinguished, he grew a small goatee. However, one day, after winning the lottery and becoming very wealthy, Gros bought himself fancy clothing and shaved his beard. When לזר the מלמד saw him,
The זוהר states that every נשמה in גהינום comes out on שבת, except those נשמות who were מחלל שבת. What is the source for this statement? We know that נר זה נשמת אדם and the משנה says in מסכת שבת דף מד that כל הנרות מטלטלין חוץ מן הנר הדולק בשבת.
A well known מגיד came to a shtetl and gave a two hour long דרשה on שבת afternoon. The entire town came to hear him, including an אפיקורס, who figured if everyone else is going, he’ll go as well. The following day, the מגיד and the אפיקורס happened to meet. “I hope you enjoyed my
Joseph Schildkraut, who had been a star of the Yiddish theatre, once remarked: “My wife and I have a perfect arrangement when we travel by car. I sit at the wheel and she drives in an advisory capacity.”
While ר׳ יוסף משקלוב a very wealthy חסיד of the אדמו״ר האמצעי, the son of the בעל התניא, was waiting to see the רבי, he was approached by ר׳ שמואל מונקיס, who sensed that something was troubling the גביר. When he inquired what it was, the wealthy חסיד responded that he lost big money in
Yankel complained to his neighbor that his oldest son was going to kollel, rather than joining him in the business. One day the following year, the neighbor saw that Yankel looked upset. When he asked him what's wrong, Yankel complained that his second son was now also learning in kollel, rather than going to college.
Never marry a very beautiful woman. She may leave you. Of course, that’s also true if you marry an ugly woman. But then, who cares?
When the חוזה מלובלין heard that there was a Jew who every Friday afternoon was distributing combs to the poor men at the מקוה, he said יהי חלקי עמו. מצוה גדולה בידו. This was told to רב עזריאל ברזל׳, who immediately stated יש ראיה מהגמרא שאין זו מצוה. He cited today’s דף, which states that
Two men shared a room in the hospital. Both of them suffered from leg problems. In the morning, the doctor entered their room and approached the man in the bed on the right, probing and squeezing his leg muscles. The pain was so great that the man shrieked with all his might. The doctor then
Sam invited Peter, his non-Jewish friend, to play golf with him at his country club. Afterwards, Peter said to him “You know, this is a beautiful club. I’d like to join.” “I’m sorry Peter,” Sam said. “You have to be Jewish to join this club. You see, the non-Jewish clubs don’t let our people in,
