This joke was told to me by a painter called Robert Lenkiewicz when I was fourteen, and he explained how the Hassidic Movement tried to impart knowledge and wisdom through the use of humour.
“The couple were arguing in street and their Rabbi who was passing with one of his students, came over and asked them what the argument was about. As they both started to tell him at once he stopped them and took the man to one side and asked him to tell him what the argument was about. The man told the Rabbi and the student how he felt and the Rabbi listened and then said,
“You know something, you’re right.”
The man was delighted and walked off down the road with a light step, and the Rabbi and his student walked over to the wife and the Rabbi asked her to tell him what she was arguing about. So the wife put her point of view forcefully to them and the Rabbi listened and then smiled and said,
“You know something, you’re right.”
The woman was pleased and she walked off feeling vindicated and the student looked at his Rabbi and said,
“Rev, I heard both arguments and one was definitely right and the other wrong but you said both were right!” The Rabbi looked at his student and nodded and said,
“You know something . . .”
Have A Good Day And Be Wise And Laugh.
Nice one, Yes, that was Robert alright, he loved a laugh and it’s a great tragedy at what has occurred since his death. There is nothing much left of the man I knew within his adopted home City of Plymouth and his wonderful book collection along with most of his artwork have now been scattered.
The Lenkiewicz Foundation has failed once more to establish a Center for his life’s work and little is expected to be achieved by the group. Sensational newspaper stories seem to be his lasting legacy and the truth about his actual debts and finances will now never be exposed.
Robert I can tell you was well on course to settle ALL of his debts by the end of 2002 and he had even stopped buying those bloody books. However, the book dealers and gallery owners continued to demand their six penny worth from him, even when he was ill and many people retained the paintings and books previously loaned to them when he died, some even put in false claims against his estate.
It’s criminal what has happened, but as Robert himself understood more than most the society of greed that we live in today.
Robert deserved so much better from those around him.
Thanks for the comment Mike. He was generous he turned up with a £500 donation to a charity do we held in St Germans a little while before he died. I don’t know about his finances and since artists of all kinds have problems with money I make no comment.
Nice one, Yes, that was Robert alright, he loved a laugh and it’s a great tragedy at what has occurred since his death. There is nothing much left of the man I knew within his adopted home City of Plymouth and his wonderful book collection along with most of his artwork have now been scattered.
The Lenkiewicz Foundation has failed once more to establish a Center for his life’s work and little is expected to be achieved by the group. Sensational newspaper stories seem to be his lasting legacy and the truth about his actual debts and finances will now never be exposed.
Robert I can tell you was well on course to settle ALL of his debts by the end of 2002 and he had even stopped buying those bloody books. However, the book dealers and gallery owners continued to demand their six penny worth from him, even when he was ill and many people retained the paintings and books previously loaned to them when he died, some even put in false claims against his estate.
It’s criminal what has happened, but as Robert himself understood more than most the society of greed that we live in today.
Robert deserved so much better from those around him.
Thanks for the comment Mike. He was generous he turned up with a £500 donation to a charity do we held in St Germans a little while before he died. I don’t know about his finances and since artists of all kinds have problems with money I make no comment.
Hi Daniel,
Most people had a preconception of Robert, many never met the man but decided to label him from the colourful stories presented by the media and in the array of news articles they read. He was different things to many people, but for me he was a friend who simply enriched my life.
Robert was indeed very generous and kind, but he was no fool and saw people for who they were, and not what they had or indeed wanted from him. He was willing to give of himself to others and acted out many kindnesses freely, this was part of his character. He always enjoyed watching the reactions of those he had surprised or helped in some way, he really loved that connection and saw the act as a good thing. He paid for several people to study at University, he bought houses and flats for others and gave money and paintings to countless charities and good causes, but most of all he gave his time, a commodity that he had little of.
Once, when he was not well, I remember that he had been persuaded to give a gallery owner a quantity of paintings to sell, but was never paid for this work. Robert was saddened not by the fact that he had been seen off, but because of the many hours it had taken to complete the canvasses, it was time that he didn’t have. One of his last series of paintings were called ‘Man swallowing time’ and ‘Painter swallowing hour glass’, these are very poignant images.
I continue to miss Robert, as he has left a void in my life, but I smile when I see all of the ‘new old friends’ who line up to pay tribute and of those people who can no longer use him in the way that they did.
I now strive in my own way to live up to his genuine generosity, in acting out a little kindness each day – Good on you Robert and Thank you!
Hi Daniel,
Most people had a preconception of Robert, many never met the man but decided to label him from the colourful stories presented by the media and in the array of news articles they read. He was different things to many people, but for me he was a friend who simply enriched my life.
Robert was indeed very generous and kind, but he was no fool and saw people for who they were, and not what they had or indeed wanted from him. He was willing to give of himself to others and acted out many kindnesses freely, this was part of his character. He always enjoyed watching the reactions of those he had surprised or helped in some way, he really loved that connection and saw the act as a good thing. He paid for several people to study at University, he bought houses and flats for others and gave money and paintings to countless charities and good causes, but most of all he gave his time, a commodity that he had little of.
Once, when he was not well, I remember that he had been persuaded to give a gallery owner a quantity of paintings to sell, but was never paid for this work. Robert was saddened not by the fact that he had been seen off, but because of the many hours it had taken to complete the canvasses, it was time that he didn’t have. One of his last series of paintings were called ‘Man swallowing time’ and ‘Painter swallowing hour glass’, these are very poignant images.
I continue to miss Robert, as he has left a void in my life, but I smile when I see all of the ‘new old friends’ who line up to pay tribute and of those people who can no longer use him in the way that they did.
I now strive in my own way to live up to his genuine generosity, in acting out a little kindness each day – Good on you Robert and Thank you!