A Jew, Moshe, living in Renaissance England has made himself very successful and has earned the respect of the nobility and the Crown. The Queen decides to honor Moshe by knighting him to acknowledge his contributions to the country.
The Queen sends an advisor to help Moshe prepare. Moshe doesn't know any Latin and doesn't know the etiquette for the knighting ceremony, so the advisor has his work cut out for him. But Moshe applies himself and after several weeks of hard work and memorization, he's finally ready to go before the Queen.
He dresses in his finest clothes and spends the mandatory night of conteplation with his advisor, going over everything one last time.
The next morning, he appears before the Queen. In his awe and nervousness, combined with his sleepless night, he forgets everything he's supposed to say. He kneels before the Queen, racking his brain for the Latin phrases he worked so hard to memorize, but it's no use. He can't seem to concentrate.
At last, to break the silence, he says the only phrase in a foreign language that he can think of:
"Ma nishtanah halilah hazeh mikol haleylot?" he says, though he knows it's not even Latin.
Confused, the Queen looks to the advisor and says, "Why is this knight different from all other knights?"
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-07-15 09:45 am (UTC)The Queen sends an advisor to help Moshe prepare. Moshe doesn't know any Latin and doesn't know the etiquette for the knighting ceremony, so the advisor has his work cut out for him. But Moshe applies himself and after several weeks of hard work and memorization, he's finally ready to go before the Queen.
He dresses in his finest clothes and spends the mandatory night of conteplation with his advisor, going over everything one last time.
The next morning, he appears before the Queen. In his awe and nervousness, combined with his sleepless night, he forgets everything he's supposed to say. He kneels before the Queen, racking his brain for the Latin phrases he worked so hard to memorize, but it's no use. He can't seem to concentrate.
At last, to break the silence, he says the only phrase in a foreign language that he can think of:
"Ma nishtanah halilah hazeh mikol haleylot?" he says, though he knows it's not even Latin.
Confused, the Queen looks to the advisor and says, "Why is this knight different from all other knights?"
-------------------
Doncha love bilingual jokes?