As retold by
Bruce Lowitt
There's a bar in New York with a sign proclaiming the owner is the
strongest man in the city. Under that, it says he will give one thousand dollars
to any man who can prove he's stronger. Dozens of well-muscled men have tried
and failed.
Here's how it goes: The owner squeezes a lemon. The juice flows into a glass.
When he finishes, he gives it to the challenger. If he can squeeze one more drop
out of the lemon, he gets all the money.
One day a nebbish wearing horn-rimmed glasses, with a pen-holder in his suit
jacket, walks in and says he'd like to try. After the howling stops, the bar
owner agrees, takes a lemon, squeezes it until every drop has run into the
glass, then hands it to the scrawny challenger - who gives it a squeeze.
More lemon juice spills out. Another squeeze. More juice. One final squeeze and
a solitary drop falls.
"I don't believe it," the bar owner says, handing over the money.
"What's your secret. Do you lift weights? Are you a wrestler? A bouncer?
What?"
The man says, "I'm a fundraiser for the UJA."
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