The only cow in a small town in Poland stopped giving milk.
The people did some research and found that they could buy a cow from Moscow
for 2,000 rubles, or one from Minsk for 500 rubles. Being frugal, they
bought the cow from Minsk.
The cow was wonderful. It produced lots of milk all the time, and the people
were amazed and very happy.
They decided to acquire a bull to mate with the cow and produce more cows
like it. Then they would never have to worry about the milk supply again.
They bought a bull and put it in the pasture with their beloved cow.
However, whenever the bull came close to the cow, the cow would move away.
No matter what approach the bull tried, the cow would move away from the
bull and he could not succeed in his quest.
The people were very upset and decided to ask their wise Rabbi what to do.
They told the Rabbi what was happening.
They explained: "Whenever the bull approaches our cow, she moves away. If he
approaches from the back, she moves forward. When he approaches her from the
front, she backs off. An approach from the side and she just walks away to
the other side."
The Rabbi pondered this for a while and asked, "Did you buy this cow from
Minsk?"
The people were amazed & dumbfounded, since they had never mentioned where
they had gotten the cow.
"You are truly a wise Rabbi," they said. "How did you know we got the cow
from Minsk?"
The Rabbi answered sadly, "My wife is from Minsk."
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