A good day to think

It was a beautiful fall day in Chicago. The kind of day of which, at this point in late October, Chicagoans might feel undeserving, but we don't complain.


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Not too far from where I live, there is a block on which is situated a row of two-flats.


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A story (I hope I get it right)... On this block, many years ago -- long before I was born -- there lived a certain insurance salesman. On one occasion, he had a client who was unable to pay his premium, and so this client offered the salesman a parcel of Florida swampland as payment. The salesman decided to drive down to Florida to look at this property, and on the way, he stopped in a place called Orlando, which no one had ever heard of in those days. It was a Friday night -- Shabbat -- and there happened to be a small synagogue in town. The congregation welcomed this newcomer with open arms. What friendly people, he thought -- and some of them might even need to buy insurance! So the salesman called his family in Chicago and told them to pack their belongings and join him in Florida. As for the parcel of land, it was not worth much.

This salesman had a daughter, whom I had the good fortune of meeting. She enjoyed telling this story. May her memory be a blessing.