In the early 1900s a Rabbi who lived in the tenements on the Manhattan’s Lower East Side had to attend a City function at which a notoriously anti-Semitic Episcopalian Minister was also present.
The Minister turned to the Rabbi and with a sinister smile remarked, “What a coincidence that I see you here! It was just last night that I dreamt I was in Jewish heaven.”
“Jewish heaven?” inquired the Rabbi. “What is it like in Jewish heaven?”
“Oh!” replied the priest. “In Jewish heaven the streets were filled with Jews. Children, their faces dirty, shirts untucked, and clothes unpressed were playing in the dirt. Women were haggling with fish-vendors as Jewish beggars tried to interrupt, asking for handouts. The clotheslines stretched across the roads with the dripping wash mixing with the dust below to add more mud to the existing mess on the ground. And of course,” he added with a sinister laugh, “rabbis were running back and forth with large Talmudic volumes tucked under their arms!”
The Rabbi pursed his lips and then replied, “that is truly amazing. You see I dreamt last night that I was in Episcopalian heaven.”
“Really?” the Minister asked “And pray tell me what is it like in Episcopalian heaven?”
“It is magnificent. The streets shine as if they have recently been washed. The homes are exquisitely lined up in perfect symmetry, each with a small garden that has beautiful flowers and a perfectly manicured lawn. The homes were freshly painted and they sparkled in the sunlight!”
The Minister beamed. “And what about the people? Tell me about the people!”
The Rabbi smiled, looked the Minister right in the eye, and tersely stated, “There were no people.”
