Arinna's Question
Gellman, Marc
Arinna's question Does God have a big toe? Marc Gellman Long ago all the people lived in one place called Babel. Not only did everyone live in the same place, but they also spoke the same...
...One day a little girl named Arinna asked her mother, "Mommy, I have a big toe, and you have a big toe, and daddy has a big toe...
...They also got angry at her, "How should we know...
...Even so, the people of Babel did a very silly thing...
...But the king did not laugh...
...How should I know...
...and so did God...
...It all began with Arinna's question...
...Then Arinna's mother laughed and laughed...
...Marc Gellman, whose midrashim appear frequently in moment, is the Hillel Director at Northwestern University...
...Go ask God...
...And God knew about all this...
...Then God remembered Arinna...
...A BIG TOE CAME DOWN FROM THE SKY AND SQUISHED THE TOWER FLAT...
...The king ordered everybody in Babel to work on the tower, and to use only the best bricks and tar...
...Then I, your king, will know if God has a big toe...
...Arinna's mother got angry at her for asking a question which she could not answer...
...Go ask God...
...then nobody would be working in the fields growing food or in the shops making things people needed...
...She laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed...
...The Tower of Babel grew higher and higher every day...
...When Arinna saw this strange and silly sight she began to laugh...
...The very next day the king issued a proclamation: "You, the people of Babel, will build a tower up to the sky so that I, your king, can stand on the very top of this tower and look at God's foot...
...Even the king of Babel heard of Arinna's question because Babel was a very small place...
...God also knew that very soon all the bricks and tar in Babel would be used up on the tower...
...God knew that nobody needed that tower...
...God knew that if everybody were working on the tower...
...He only got angry, because a king is supposed to know the answer to every question...
...One day when Arinna was sitting on a hillside looking at the tower...
...Arinna then asked her friends, "Does God have a big toe...
...they said, and then they laughed and laughed...
...All of which made life very easy...
...Not only did everyone live in the same place, but they also spoke the same language...
Vol. 3 • November 1977 • No. 1
