A certain קהילה would be מרבה בקדישים. After every דבר תורה they would immediately say קדיש דרבנן. When a visitor came and heard all these קדישים, he said to the גבאי: “What you’re doing is not right. It’s a הלכה מפורשת that it’s אסור to say so many קדישים.” Having heard the הלכה, the
When Amram moved into a new community and was asked whether he was a כהן, he said yes. For many months, the kibud of כהן was his. One שבת, when his brother came to visit, the brother was called up for the כהן aliyah. “I’m not a כהן,” he said. Surprised, the Rabbi confronted Amram
There was a custom - and in some places there still is - to differentiate between dairy and meat silverware by etching a mark, a חריצה or שריטה, on the handles of the knives, forks and spoons. Generally, the mark was made on the dairy rather than the meat silverware. סימנים לדבר are found in
The מגיד of דובנה asked a wealthy miser to contribute to a fund that was being raised for פדיון שבויים. The miser refused. "You will have a place in עולם הבא," the מגיד told him. Surprised, the miser asked for an explanation. The מגיד responded: "Many years ago, a wealthy miser like you instructed that
Two brothers, שמעון and לוי were fighting over the ירושה from their father. The day before the court hearing, שמעון said to his lawyer: "Perhaps I should send a gift to the Judge?" The lawyer responded: "No way. He's an honest Judge and will be furious if you send him something. He'll rule against you."
A collector for a ישיבה observed: “There are three kinds of בעלי בתים. There are those who give me a donation and I’m done with them. There are those who don’t give me a donation and I’m also done with them. And there are those who say come back another time. זו מכה שאינה כתובה
A man was caught stealing and was sentenced to 40 lashes. After 20, he was so bloody that the Judge determined that he couldn't take more and waived the second half of the lashes. Crying from pain and from joy, the man said to the Judge: "Just as you had mercy on me, so too
At a certain age, you're יוצא מאה ברכות with אשר יצר.
A Jew, an Englishman and a Frenchman were each sentenced to 20 lashes. Before the lashes were imposed, each of them was asked what they would like to have placed on their back to ease the pain. The Englishman said: “I’d like olive oil to be smeared on my back.” The Frenchman said: “I don’t
A prosperous contractor was getting old and realized that the time to meet his Maker was drawing closer. So he went to the local Rabbi and said that he wants to do תשובה. The dubious Rabbi, after questioning the contractor at length, asked: “Are you going to repay all your debts and forgive those who
