Zelig Koppel, who lived in a small Russian city, woke up
very early one wintery Sabbath morning and decided to appear into his Bible. It
was very dark so he went to wake his neighbor, a Gentile, to join him in a
drink. Surely his neighbor would not
refuse once Zelig had him in the house and the neighbor would naturally light the light
without being told.
When the non-Jew entered, Zelig pretended he could not find
a flask in the dark. The neighbor
kindled the light. Overjoyed, Zelig
placed liquor on the table as if to say,
“Here my friend, drink to your heart’s delight.” The neighbor gulped down one drink after the
other. After he had his fill, he smacked
his lips, wiped his mustache on the back of his sleeve, tottered over to the
lamp and extinguished it. And Zelig
remained alone in the dark.
Moral: Sometimes we Jews lived through a war in which the
world has drunk freely of the blood and sweat of our youths. As long as they drew from the flask on the
table they kept the lamp of democracy a light. We thought that at last there
would be permanent light in our little corner. But as soon as he finished the
flask, he snapped off the light and we Jews are back in the dark again.
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