The Yiddishe Cop

Jacob Steinman was a newly minted police officer in New York. He may not have been the strongest in his graduating class, but he compensated for it by using his other skills, or as his mother described it, his “yiddishe cop.”

One day, Officer Steinman was called to a bar as they had received a report of a disturbance.

The "disturbance" turned out to be well over six feet tall and weighed almost 300 pounds. What's more, he boasted that he could tear Officer Steinman to shreds if he wanted.

So Officer Steinman said, I'll bet that you're also an escape artist too, probably better than Houdini."

The giant nodded.

"If I had some chains," Officer Steinman continued, "you could show us how strong you really are. But all I've got is a set of handcuffs. Why don't you see just how quickly you can break out of them?"

Once in the cuffs, the man puffed, pulled and jerked for four minutes.

"I can't get out of these," the giant growled.

"Are you sure?" Officer Steinman asked.

The fellow tried again. "Nope," he replied. "I can't do it."

"In that case," said Officer Steinman, "you're under arrest."