At the end of the tax year, the IRS sent an inspector to audit the books of a synagogue. While he was checking the books he turned to the Rabbi and said: "I notice you buy a lot of candles. What do you do with the candle drippings?"

"Good question", noted the Rabbi. "We save them up and send them back to the candle makers, and every now and then they send us a free box of candles."

"Oh", replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. But on he went, in his obnoxious
way: "What about all these biscuit purchases? What do you do with the crumbs?"

"Ah, yes", replied the Rabbi, realizing that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. "We collect them and
send them back to the manufacturers, and every now and then they send a free box of holy biscuits."

"I see!" replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all Rabbi. "Well, Rabbi", he went on, "What do you do
with all the leftover foreskins from the circumcisions you perform?"

"Here, too, we do not waste", answered the Rabbi. "What we do is save up all the foreskins and send them to the IRS, and about once a year they send us a complete dick."

  I haven't been a happy man since last night's football match ... atleast your joke brought a smile to my face !

just out of interest, how did the assumption that jewish people are economical come about anyway? the few jewish people i've met are not noticeably more tight-fisted than other people.

Europe in the Middle Ages - all the money-lenders were Jews, as Christians were not allowed to have that profession.
Note Shylock in the Merchant of Venice.

But why do Scots have a reputation for meanness?

Most of the textile / fashion trade in USA are in the hands of Jews ... If you ever had the chance
of dealing with these people you would know the real meaning of being a 'Jew'  

Scots are often accused of being penny-pinching. There is a book titled, "The Millionaire Next Door," in which two PhD's did extensive
demographic research on American millionaires. Part of their research included ethnicity. They found that the largest portion of American
millionaires had Russian heritage, and the second largest ethnic group among millionaires were the Scottish. However, they pointed out
that the Scottish-Americans were different from every other ethnic group in that though their net worths were quite high, their incomes were significantly lower than other ethnic groups. In other words, proof positive at least for Scottish-Americans, they are indeed
significantly more thrifty. In addition they found that unlike other ethnic groups, the Scottish-Americans were far more likely to pass on
their wealth-building talents to their children. Children of other non-Scottish millionaires are more inclined to be spendthrift. Personally, I
think thrift is a smart trait to have.

What I feel is important to remember is nationalities may have characteristics (like flavours) but an individual can be anything, even the complete opposite of their national culture!

Another theory is that after the centuries of being down-trodden by the English it made them appreciate everything they had !!

Finally, IMHO after living in Holland, the Dutch are definitely the tightest people in Europe. The make the Scottish look good when it comes to money !!

[ Last edited by  Kiltwearer at 16-4-2008 08:59 ]