LOGIC TEST

Rabbi Shwartz holds up two fingers. “Two men come down a chimney. One with a dirty face and the other with a clean face. Which one washes his face.?” “The one with the dirty face,” he answers wearily. “Wrong. The one with the clean face washes his face. Simple logic. The one with the dirty face looks at the one with the clean face and thinks his face is clean. The one with the clean face looks at the one with the clean face sees his friend’s face is dirty so presumes his must be dirty too. So the one with the clean face washes.” “Very clever. Give me another test.”

“The Rabbi again holds up two fingers. Two men come down a chimney. One with a clean face and one with a dirty face. Which one washes his face?” “We’ve already established that. It is the one with the clean face.” “Wrong. Each one washes his face. Examine the logic. The one with the clean face washes his face because he sees his friend’s face is dirty. Then the one with the dirty face also washes his face because he sees even the clean faced man needs to wash his face.” “I never thought of that, please test me again.”

So the Rabbi once more holds up two fingers. “Two men come down a chimney. One with a clean face and one with a dirty face. Which one washes his face.” “Both.” “Wrong. The man with the dirty face looks at the man with the clean face and thinks his face is clean so he doesn’t wash. When the man with the clean face sees that the man with the dirty face doesn’t wash, he doesn’t wash either.” The young man is now desperate. “Give me one more try,” he pleads.

“No, not yet.” said the Rabbi. “Perhaps you now see why logic and philosophy are an insufficient basis for studying the Talmud. Tell me how can two men come down the same chimney and one to have a dirty face and the other to have a clean face. The whole question is foolish. If you spend your life trying to answer foolish questions, all your answers will be foolish too.”