Two Beggars

Two beggars are sitting side by side on a street in Rome. One has a cross in front of him. The other one has the Star of David in front of him.

Many people pause to look at both beggars. Some walk on, but most decide to put money into the hat of the beggar sitting behind the cross.

A priest comes by and stops to watch.

He quickly notices the Star of David beggar never gets even the slightest nod. Instead throngs of people giving money to the beggar behind the cross, but none give to the beggar behind the Star of David. Compassion sweeps over the priest.

Finally, the priest goes over to the beggar behind the Star of David and says: "My poor fellow, don't you understand? This is a Catholic country. People aren't going to give you money if you sit there with a 'Star of David' in front of you, especially when you're sitting beside a beggar who has a cross. In fact, they would probably give to him just out of spite."

The beggar behind the 'Star of David' listened to the priest, turned to the other beggar with the cross and said: "Moishe, look who's trying to teach the Goldstein brothers about marketing."