I don't know

A priest once came into a Jewish village and, with permission from the local government, announced

that someone should come forward to debate with him. This time, the loser of the debate would be

thrown into a river and face their death. The court said, "There will be no second chances and no 

appeals. Whoever loses the debate will be drowned immediately."

The Yidden were very afraid and davened to Hashem for salvation.

The date of the debate was quickly approaching. No one wanted to be chosen to challenge the priest

because everyone was scared that the Yid would lose the debate and be thrown into the river.

A simple tailor volunteered to take on the contest. This tailor was unlearned – which made his chance of

success against the scholarly priest slim, but since no one wanted to take on the  challenge, the 

community had no choice other than to accept his offer and pray for his success.

When the priest saw the tailor standing before him, he was confident that he would easily win this

debate, and so he said to the tailor, "You can ask the first question." The tailor fearlessly said, "What

does איני יודע mean?"  The priest replied, "I don't know."

The tailor raised his hands in triumph and shouted, "I won! I won the debate! The priest doesn't

know." All the Yidden that were there cheered loudly.

The jury promptly lifted the priest and drowned him in the nearby river. They didn't listen to the

priest's shouts and excuses because the instructions were that there be no appeals. The loser was to

be drowned immediately.

The Yidden rejoiced. Their tefillos were answered. They asked the simple tailor how he

thought of this clever question. The tailor replied, "I studied a Yiddish translation on Rashi. Rashi

writes איני יודע, and the translator writes "ich veis nisht" (I don't know). So I figured that if the learned

author of this sefer didn't know the meaning of איני יודע, then this goy won't לnow the answer, either."

(Torah Wellsprings, Shemini, 5782, Rabbi Elimelech Biderman, shlita)

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