As retold by Bruce Lowitt


Mendelbaum is sitting on a park bench reading Final Call, Louis Farrakhan's newspaper.

Gittleman sees him. "What are you, nuts? You should be reading the Jewish Journal, the Daily Forward. Why are you reading that rag?"

"Look," Mendelbaum says, "I read the Journal, the Forward, all I read is stories about anti-Semitism, desecrated synagogues, inter-marriage, Palestinians attacking Israel ..."

"So?"

"So, for a change I'd like to read good news. Farrakhan's paper says the Jews control the banks, the Jews have all the money, the Jews control the news media, the Jews run Hollywood. ... At my age it's better I should read nothing but good news."