A young man comes to a Rabbi who is well known as a scholar of the Talmud and asks: ‘What is the Talmud?’
The Rabbi considers for a moment and replies: ‘Let me ask you a question: Two chimney sweeps go down a chimney. One’s face is clean, the other’s face is dirty. Which one washes his face?’
‘The one whose face is dirty, obviously’, answers the young man.
The Rabbi shakes his head and says: ‘The one whose face is dirty sees the one whose face is clean and thinks his own face must be clean. But the one with the clean face sees the one whose face is dirty and assumes his own face must be dirty. So who washes his face?’
The young man says: ‘You just said. It’s the one whose face is clean.’
The Rabbi shakes his head again and explains: ‘But the one with the dirty face sees the one with the clean face washing his face and realizes his own face must be dirty. So who washes his face?’
The young man thinks about it a bit longer this time and says: ‘The one with the clean face and the one with the dirty face both wash their faces.’
The Rabbi shakes his head again and says: ‘They just came down a chimney. How could one of them have a clean face?’
The young man, now becoming frustrated, says to the Rabbi: ‘I came to you with a simple question and now you’ve led me through a lot of convoluted reasoning to a bunch of mutually contradictory answers to a question that isn’t even the one I wanted you to answer in the first place.’
The Rabbi shrugs and says: ‘That is the Talmud’.
The Rabbi considers for a moment and replies: ‘Let me ask you a question: Two chimney sweeps go down a chimney. One’s face is clean, the other’s face is dirty. Which one washes his face?’
‘The one whose face is dirty, obviously’, answers the young man.
The Rabbi shakes his head and says: ‘The one whose face is dirty sees the one whose face is clean and thinks his own face must be clean. But the one with the clean face sees the one whose face is dirty and assumes his own face must be dirty. So who washes his face?’
The young man says: ‘You just said. It’s the one whose face is clean.’
The Rabbi shakes his head again and explains: ‘But the one with the dirty face sees the one with the clean face washing his face and realizes his own face must be dirty. So who washes his face?’
The young man thinks about it a bit longer this time and says: ‘The one with the clean face and the one with the dirty face both wash their faces.’
The Rabbi shakes his head again and says: ‘They just came down a chimney. How could one of them have a clean face?’
The young man, now becoming frustrated, says to the Rabbi: ‘I came to you with a simple question and now you’ve led me through a lot of convoluted reasoning to a bunch of mutually contradictory answers to a question that isn’t even the one I wanted you to answer in the first place.’
The Rabbi shrugs and says: ‘That is the Talmud’.