A Joke to Start Your Day: A Parking Dilemma

Shmuel, a life-long resident of Jerusalem, is on his way to court for an important trial and sadly gets a late start to his morning. By the time he gets to the court house, all the parking spots are taken. 

He drives around five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, and no luck. Twenty minutes pass and he’s beginning to get desperate. After 30 minutes of circling the parking lot and the adjacent neighborhoods in utter futility, the time for his court appearance fast approaching, he turns his head heavenward and shouts,

"Ribbono shel Olam,Master of the universe. I swear I will give 10% tzedakah each year, daven three times a day, make my home a meeting place for Torah scholars, go to the mikveh before Shabbos each week, I’ll wait eight hours between meat and dairy foods, only just this: I need a place to park right now.”

And just as he finishes this heart-wrenching plea, a guy pulls out of a parking spot right there and then, and Shmuel turns to God and says, “Never mind, I found a spot!” 

(Thanks to Dan Englander for forwarding this gem to JHC.)