Humiliating Humility

One Yom Kippur, in a little shul in Gunnysack, New York, the rabbi stops in the middle of the Musaf service, prostrates himself beside the bima, and cries out, "O God. Before You, I am nothing!"

The chazan is so moved by this demonstration of piety that he immediately follows suit, throwing himself to the floor beside the rabbi and crying, "O God! Before you, I am nothing!"

In the ensuing silence, a shuffling is heard in the back row. Saul Blumenthal jumps from his seat, prostrates himself in the isle and cries, "O God! Before You, I am nothing!"

Seeing this, the chazan nudges the rabbi and whispers, "So look who thinks he's nothing?"