Community Magazine October 2009

98 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Riddle: Sahih or Gazab SUBMITTED BY: J. Dayan While vacationing in Iraq, a traveler came upon beautiful toleh set that he wished to purchase. The price was $35. When he asked the storekeeper if he would sell it for $15, the man said no. But the traveler knew that living in that village were both people from the Gazab tribe whose people were known to always lie and also members of the Sahih tribe who were always known to speak the truth. So the traveler asked the storekeeper which tribe he was from, to which the reply was, “If my wife is a Sahih, then I am a Gazab.” Was the traveler able to buy the set for $15? Last month’s Riddle: Broken Typewriters Alfred needs to pay his gardener, Phillipe, for a year of lawn service. The charge for each month is $900 (he’s got a big lawn). The problem is that Alfred insists on typing out the check and his typewriter is missing the letter “a” both capital and lowercase. How can Alfred pay his bill in full by check without misspelling the amount? Solution: Write two checks totaling $10,800 by using notation that spells the numbers as tens of hundreds instead of thousands. For example: one check for ninety five hundred and another for thirteen hundred. Solved by: I. Dweck, Pace Chesir Junior Riddle: Prayer Recall SUBMITTED BY: A.Y.B How many Avinu Malkenus are there on Yom Kippur? Last Month’s Junior Riddle: Strange Coins Joe has two US coins totaling 55 cents. One is not a nickel. What are the coins? Solution: One half dollar and one nickel. The riddle did not specify that neither coin is a nickel. Since they are two different coins it is true that one of them is not a nickel (but the other one is). Solved by: Ralph Cohen, Isaac Esses, Phillip and Ruby Antebi, Morris Djouejati, Ezra Sitt, Pace Chesir, Barry Katz, Mayer & Michal Chemtob, Jack M. Beyda, Jennifer Massre, Rabbi Eliezer Zeytouneh Trivia: Time Off The average number of paid vacation days companies in the United States generally offer to prospective employees. (Society for Human Resource Management) The number of paid vacation days one would be left with in 2010 after taking off for those Jewish Holidays when work is forbidden or discouraged. (Holidays in 2010 which fall out on workdays: Purim 0 of 1 day, Pesah – 6 of 8 days, Shavuot 2 days, Tisha B’av 1 day, Rosh Hashana 2 days, Succot 5 of 7 days, Shmini Asseret 2 days) ! SEND YOUR SOLUTIONS! email: riddles@community m .com • fax: 718-504-4246 mail: 1616 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11223 Correct solutions received by the 20 th of each month will be featured in the next issue along with your name. 14: -4: Six Silliest Traveler Requests 1: A New Jersey man called to make reservations. “I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York.” The agent was at a loss for words. Finally, he said, “Are you sure that’s the name of the town?” “Yes, what flights do you have?” replied the man. After some searching, the agent came back with, “I’m sorry, sir, I’ve looked up every airport code in the country and can’t find a Rhino anywhere.” The man retorted, “Oh, don’t be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!” So he scoured a map of New York and finally offered, “You don’t mean Buffalo, do you?” “Whatever,” he replied. “I knew it was a big animal.” 2: A New Hampshire woman asked for an aisle seat on the airplane… so that her hair wouldn’t get messed up from being near the window! 3: A senior from Vermont called, furious about a Florida package that was arranged for him. When asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando, he said he was expecting an ocean- view room. When it was explain that it was not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state, the man protested. “Don’t lie to me,” he bellowed. “I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state!” 4: An Illinois woman called to ask how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30am and got to Chicago at 8:33am. The agent explained that Michigan was one hour ahead of Illinois, but she couldn’t understand the concept of time zones. Finally, he told her the plane went fast… and she was satisfied! 5: A New York lawyer called and asked, “Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?” “No,” the agent said. “Why do you ask?” “Well,” he replied, “when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said ‘FAT,’ and I’m overweight. I think that’s very rude!” Trying to contain her laughter, the agent put him on hold for a minute. When she came back, she explained the city code for Fresno, California is FAT (Fresno Air Terminal), and the airline was just putting a destination tag on his luggage. 6: A woman from New York called and said, “I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola, Florida. Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?” The agent asked if she meant Pensacola, FL on a commuter plane . She said, “Yeah, whatever, smarty!” A. N. ELUL 5769 SEPTEMBER 2009 98