Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Two brothers who loves each other so much, II.

A few years ago I posted about a famous pseudo-midrash-that-is-really-an-Arab-folk-tale.

I see that the January 30, 1846 issue of the Voice of Jacob printed it:

2 comments:

  1. DF

    Recently I happened to hear some rebbi/rabbi/rosh mesivta/rosh yeshivah/ rosh HA-yeshivah speaking, and he read out some story about friendship that he attributed to a midrash. I had to laugh. It was the story of Damon and Pythias that we had read in my third grade story book. [Of course, not to say that it couldnt have been copted by a midrash like the Sedom beds or others. But I thought the Damon and Pythias story was pretty well known.]

    DF

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  2. There's a famous joke that plays on this story. Same 2 brothers. One with a large family (A) and one who was single (B). A proceeds to steal from B becuase A has so many mouths to feed. B steals from A becuase B has no one to care for him in his old age.

    One night they come upon each other and proceed to beat each other senseless. God looks down from heaven and realizes that this is no ordiary place - this place is truly special. And that's where they built the Knesset.

    JZK

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