A madman once came to R. David Tolner. When the assistant asked him what name to write in the petition (kvitel) he refused to tell him.

When he came into the Tolner he asked the madman: “What is your name and where are you from?” He replied: “I have a name taken from the Haggadah.” He asked: “But in the Hagadah there are four.”

The madman answered: “I am all four.”

1) The [people of the] city[?] says I am wise – for the verse “Bread is not to the wise” (Eccle. 9:11) has already been fulfilled.

2) A wicked man as well – “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not” (Ps. 37:21) – what I borrow I cannot pay back.

3) I am a simpleton (tam) because I am never allowed to become a serial offender (mu’ad) [this is a pun on the Talmudic categories of an ox who has gored once or twice (tam) and an ox who has gored three or more times (mu’ad)] – I am not loaned to more than twice.

4) And one who does not know how to ask – I no longer know how to borrow.

I.F.

Hirsh Lederman