Fun_People Archive
22 Nov
The Religious Life

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 97 13:46:04 -0800
To: Fun_People
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Subject: The Religious Life

Forwarded-by: <joev@archtop.com>
Forwarded-by: halglatzer@pop.a001.sprintmail.com

    A Jewish man has been stranded alone on a desert island for years.  But
one day, a ship arrives and offers to take him home.
    "I'm ready to go," he tells the captain.  "But first I really have to
show you around my little island.  I'm very proud of the civilized world
I've built here.  First, this is my home."  It's an elaborate bungalow made
of bamboo and thatch, with big trees for pillars and a rooftop cupola made
of driftwood.
    "Very impressive," says the captain.
    "Come down here to the beach.  I've built a synagogue."  He leads the
way, and it, too, is an intricate bamboo and thatch structure.  They go
inside where he shows the captain a driftwood ark and a bark-cloth scroll.
"Every Saturday I come say prayers here, and I've written down what I can
remember from the Torah."
    "That's very commendable," says the captain.
    "Now follow me around the cape of the island.  See that--?" he points
to a beautiful construction on a far bluff, very much like the last building.
    The captain scratches his head.  "It looks just like your synagogue!"
    "It is a synagogue," the islander declares.  Then he lowers his voice:
"But that's the one I *don't* go to."

© 1997 Peter Langston