A Talmudic Mind

It was several days before Passover, and the Rabbi's waiting room was full of people with questions about the observances of the upcoming festival.

Hesitantly, a young girl entered the Rabbi's study. “My mother sent to ask,” she said, “whether it is permitted to use milk instead of wine for the Four Cups at the seder.”

“Just a moment,” said the Rabbi, and slipped out of the room. In the kitchen, he filled a basket with a large bottle of wine, two chickens and a generous cut of meat. He covered the basket with a cloth, returned to the waiting child, and said to her: “Tell your mother that her's is a most difficult question, and I do not know if I will succeed in resolving it before the seder night. So in the meantime, I am sending her some wine to use instead of the milk.”

Later, when the Rabbi's wife wondered about the depleted seder supplies, the Rabbi explained: “A poor woman sent to ask if she could use milk for the Four Cups; obviously, then, she could afford neither wine nor meat for her seder table.”