I was listening to the Leadership Conference of the Anti-Defamation League this afternoon on my car radio. Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, the man who held off the attacker last year in Colleyville TX last year speak. He told an interesting Talmudic story. Here is what I heard:

There was a man born with two heads. The question was whether he/they was/were entitled to one inheritance, or two. A group of rabbis was consulted and the opinion was that a test should be conducted. A pot of boiling water should be poured over one of the heads. If the second head screamed, then they were one person and entitled to one inheritance. If the second head did not scream, they were two persons and entitled to two inheritances.

He then talked about Rabbi Soloveitchik’s interpretation of this Talmudic discussion. Rabbi Soloveitchik said that the purpose of this story was to demonstrate that we are all, all of us, connected. If you pour boiling water on one of us, the other will feel the pain.

I liked this .

But to digress a minute. After Cytron-Walker finished, ADL executive director Jonathan Greenblatt came out to praise him, and praise him he did. He talked about what Cytron-Walker accomplished in Colleyville, and how he is now assisting with the ADL. And then he said “So hats off to the Rabbi!”

Well, my gosh, Jonathan Greenblatt. There is one thing you ought to know. You do not tell people in front of a rabbi that they should take their hats off.

It was a gaffe. And it happens. Just like when I heard Don Rickles on a clip today try to insult a Swede by telling him they put too many holes in their cheese. It’s a gaffe.

But, then again, three gaffes and you are out.

Sometimes I do hear a funny joke. Should I repeat it? Like the one about the man whose neighbor is in his upper 90s and somewhat senile. And every morning, he comes to the man’s door and asks him if he has seen his wife; she isn’t at home this morning. And every morning the man must tell his 90+ year old senile neighbor that his wife died several years ago.

He told this story to his friend, who said: “Why do you talk to him every morning? Why not just not answer your door?”

The man responded. “I thought about that. It’s hard telling him every morning that his wife died. I should stop……..But I’d really miss that smile on his face.”

Now, is that a funny joke? I’m not sure. I thought so. I read something else yesterday, talking about writing, not about comedy. It was the advice that someone gave someone else. He said something like “No matter how well you write, there are going to be people who don’t like it. And no matter how poorly you write, there are some people who are going to love it.”

Same with humor.

Speaking of humor, I missed the White House Correspondent’s Dinner this year (on TV). I would be very surprised if Joe Biden told a joke that I would laugh at. Very surprised.

On the other hand, I am not sure that I could say anything that Joe Biden would laugh at. Unless he needed my vote.

Which he doesn’t.