The story is told of the poor Jewish workman who took out his lunch at lunchtime and discovered that his wife had packed him a sandwich. Not wanting to eat anything he wasn't familiar with, he took it apart to look inside. Unfortunately it had been a hard day, he was already tired and his co-ordination not what it could have been; he dropped the top slice of bread, phluph, on the ground.
Now you should all realize that this wasn't something unexpected. Oh no, the lot of the poor Jewish workman isn't an easy one. No, it wasn't surprising at all. But what was surprising was that the bread fell buttered side up! I mean, everybody knows that the bread of a poor Jewish workman ALWAYS falls buttered side down, but this piece fell buttered side up. Was he confused.
He called over his best friend and said, "Best friend, look at this. I dropped a piece of bread on the ground and it fell but- tered side up. Everyone knows that the bread of a poor Jewish workman ALWAYS falls buttered side down, yet this one fell but- tered side up. Surely this is an omen of incredible import. What do you think it means?" Well, the friend came over to look and sure enough, there it was, buttered side up when it should have been buttered side down as everyone knows.
The two of them pondered this and pondered and pondered with no discernable results. They just couldn't decide what it meant. "I've got it," said the friend. "Let's go see the rabbi, he'll be able to help us." So of to the rabbi then went, after carefully digging the piece of bread up along with a sizable junk of ground. This they carried to show the rabbi, lest he not believe them; after all the bread of a poor Jewish workmen ALWAYS falls buttered side down.
They found the rabbi at home pouring his eyes over a copy of the Talmud. "Rabbi," the said is unison, "we have a problem."
"What is it?" the rabbi asked.
"Well," said the poor Jewish workman, "I was on my lunch break and took my sandwich out to see what it was and dropped one of the pieces of bread on the ground."
"Yes," said the rabbi, "and it fell buttered side down. Don't you know that the bread of a poor Jewish workman ALWAYS falls but- tered side down? I thought that everyone knew this."
"Well, not quite," replied the poor Jewish workman. "It fell but- tered side up. See, here it is." They showed their chunk of ground to the rabbi who slowly assumed a look of complete amaze- ment.
"But this is impossible," he blurted out. "The bread of a poor Jewish workman ALWAYS falls buttered side down. I don't under- stand." He slowly melted down into his chair.
"That is why we came to see you," replied the friend. "We don't understand it either and feel we must. We had hoped that you could help us understand."
The rabbi considered the problem before him. Was it covered in the Talmud? No, now what was he to do. If the bread of a poor Jewish workman, which was ALWAYS to fall buttered side down, fell instead buttered side up then some omen of great import was sure- ly involved. But what? He thought and thought but to no avail. "Friends," he said, "I don't have an answer. I will have to take it before the Rabbinical Council the next time it meets."
Several days later the Council met and the rabbi and the two friends, along with the dirt and the bread, were present. After the most pressing business had been taken care of, the Council called the rabbi forward and asked him to state his problem. "It is as follows," he started. "You see before you an example of the typical poor Jewish workman. Several days ago, while examining his lunch, he dropped a piece of bread on the ground and ..."
The president of the council interrupted him. "Yes, yes, yes, and it fell buttered side down. The bread of a poor Jewish workman ALWAYS falls buttered side down. I am amazed that you didn't realize this and that you had the audacity to bring this man be- fore us. You should just have assured him that this is THE WAY IT IS; the bread of the poor Jewish workman ALWAYS falls buttered side down, there is nothing that can be done about it, it is a law of nature."
"No, no. You don't understand," the rabbi blurted out. "I know that the bread of a poor Jewish workman ALWAYS falls buttered side down, but this time it didn't! The bread of this poor Jewish workman fell buttered side up. Here it is!" And he waved the lump of earth, with its mouldy bread on top, before the Council.
The Council was stupified. They were aghast, although no more so than you would be if something happened to fall up. It made no sense. The bread of the poor Jewish workman ALWAYS falls buttered side down, there was just no getting around this. But here was a case where the bread of a poor Jewish workman hadn't fallen but- tered side down, rather it had fallen buttered side up. What could it mean? The puzzled over it for hours, dismissing the rab- bi and the friends while they deliberated.
At last, they called the rabbi in and guess what they told him?
The bread was buttered on the wrong side.
Author unknown.
