The rabbi’s hat
A rabbi was on his way to shul on a very windy day. Suddenly, a strong gust blew his fur hat off his head. The rabbi ran after his hat but the wind was so strong it kept blowing his hat farther away. He could not catch up with it.
Jake, a Hebrew school dropout, witnessed this and ran after the hat, caught it and handed it over to the rabbi. The rabbi was so grateful that he gave Jake $5 and put his hand on his head and blessed him.
Jake decided to go to the racetrack and bet his five unexpected bucks. After the races he returned home and recounted his exciting day at the races to his father.
“When I got there, I looked at the racing program and saw a horse by the name of Top Hat running,” said Jake. “The odds on the horse were 100 to 1, but I had the rabbi’s blessing because of a hat, so I bet on it … and he came in first!”
“You must have made a fortune!” said his father.
“Yes, $500, but wait, it gets better,” replied the son. “On the following race, a horse by the name of Stetson was running. The odds on the horse were 30 to 1. Since Stetson is a kind of hat, I decided to bet all my winnings on that horse, and I won again!”
Jake’s father got very excited. “You mean you brought home $15,000?”
“No,” said Jake, “I lost it all on the next race. There was a horse named Chateau, and since that means ‘hat’ in French I thought it would win. But the horse came in last.”
Jake’s father shouted, “You shlemazel! ‘Hat’ in French is ‘chapeau,’ not ‘chateau’! You lost all that money because of your ignorance! So tell me, who won the race?”
“A long shot that must have been a Japanese horse … named Yamaka.”