[My thanks to Frank R for the following]
Joshua operates a successful mobile phone business in Tel Aviv and has recently opened an office in Shanghai. When he rings Jian, his Chinese partner, to see how sales are doing in Shanghai, Jian says, “Mr Joshua, things are not going so well. Our shop is suffering from a number of robberies and I don’t know what to do. Do you have a similar problem in Tel Aviv?”
“No Jian, not really,” replies Joshua. “We have this little box that we put on our doorframes, it’s called a mezuzah, and this protects our homes and offices from any harm.”
“Oh then please send me one, Mr Joshua, as I don’t know what else to do.”
Joshua puts one in the post that day with instructions on how to put it up. But three weeks later the mezuzah is returned to him, so Joshua rings Jian. “I’ve just got back the mezuzah I sent you. So nu, didn’t it work?”
“It worked fine, Mr Joshua,” replies Jian, “I’ve had no more robberies.”
“So why did you return it to me?” asks Joshua.
“Because it drove me and my customers mad, Mr Joshua, that’s w
Credit: David Minkoff, A Word In Your Eye