Q&A: Looking for the Moral
Looking for the Moral
Question
Many years ago I heard from wise old men a well-known parable about someone who wanted to smuggle an elephant through customs, because the tax on animals was high and he didn’t have the money 💸 to pay the customs duty. So what did he do?
He stuck a slice of bread onto the elephant’s face and another one on the back, and claimed to the customs officer that it was just a sandwich…
At that point everyone would laugh and understand the moral.
The problem is that I understood the parable, but not the moral.
What is the source of this—some midrash? A well-known saying in the study hall? Just some familiar and well-known piece of Jewish wisdom over the generations? And mainly, what is it hinting at?
Maybe this is a bit of a strange question, but I’m a simple person and the Rabbi is learned in many kinds of wisdom, so perhaps the Rabbi knows?
Answer
I don’t know the source, but it’s a parable for formalistic thinking. I brought a few examples of this in column 48.
This is a famous moral about a famous stupid Mizrahi scholar from Bar-Ilan,
that someone stuck the title “Dr.” onto him in front and apparently also behind,
and he explains that Yigal Amir did not murder Rabin and that disengagement and Oslo are to blame for all the troubles of the universe…
In short, it’s a parable about a fool who stays a fool even if they stick the title “Dr.” onto him in front and behind.