An odd name
Walking through Chinatown, a tourist is fascinated with all the Chinese restaurants, shops, signs and banners. He turns a corner and sees a building with the sign, “Moishe Cohen’s Chinese Laundry.”
“Moishe Cohen?” he muses. “How the heck does that fit in here?” So he walks into the shop and sees an old Chinese gentleman behind the counter. The tourist asks, “How did this place get a name like ‘Moishe Cohen’s Chinese Laundry?’”
The old man answers, “It’s the name of the owner.”
The tourist asks, “Well, who and where is the owner?”
“Me,” replies the old man.
“You? How did you ever get a name like Moishe Cohen?”
“It’s simple,” says the old man. “Many years ago when I came to this country, I was standing in line to get my papers. The man in front of me was a Jewish gentleman from Poland. The lady looked at him and asked, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Moishe Cohen.’ Then she looked at me and asked, ‘What is your name?’ I said, ‘Sem Ting.’”
© david minkoff
Conversations with God
A man walked to the top of a hill to talk to God.
The man asked, “God, what’s a million years to you?”
God said, “A minute.”
The man asked, “Well, what’s a million dollars to you?”
God said, “A penny.”
So the man asked, “God, can I have a penny?”
God said, “Sure, in a minute.”
© david minkoff
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California