The essence of chutzpah
Chutzpah is a Yiddish word meaning gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, sheer guts plus arrogance. As Leo Rosen wrote, “no other word, and no other language” can do it justice. This example is better than a thousand words:
A little old lady sold pretzels on a street corner for 25 cents each. Every day a young man would leave his office building at lunchtime, and as he passed the pretzel stand, he would leave her a quarter, but never take a pretzel.
This went on for more than three years. The two of them never spoke. One day, as the young man passed the old lady’s stand and left his quarter as usual, the pretzel lady spoke to him.
“Sir, thank you for your business. You are a good customer, but I have to tell you that the pretzel price has gone up to 35 cents.”
Business is business
One day at kindergarten, a teacher said to the class of 5-year-olds, “I’ll give $5 to the child who can tell me who was the most famous man who ever lived.”
A little Irish boy put his hand up and said, “It was St. Patrick.” The teacher said, “Sorry, Sean, that’s not correct.”
Then a little Scottish boy put his hand up and said, “It was St. Andrew.” The teacher replied, “I’m sorry, Hamish, that’s not right either.”
Finally, a little Jewish boy raised his hand and said, “It was Jesus Christ.” The teacher said, “That’s absolutely right, Marvin. Come up here and I’ll give you the $5.”
As the teacher was giving Marvin his money, she said, “You know, Marvin, since you’re Jewish, I was very surprised you said Jesus Christ.”
Marvin replied, “Well, in my heart, I knew it was Moses, but business is business.”