twersky@aecom.UUCP (Yitz Twersky) (01/06/85)
The early telephones were primitive devices compared to the sophisticated electronic devices of today. Especially crude were the phones in a little town in Belgrade at the turn of the century. It is told that Rabbi Gronsky was called to the house of a critically sick man who died within minutes of the good rabbi's arrival. It befell him to inform the deceased's relatives, but he was at a loss as to how to use the telephone. He asked one of those present how to operate it. "First you crank the handle with one hand," he was told. "Then you hold the phone close to your ear with the other hand." "What!" cried Rabbi Gronsky. "Then what will I talk with?"