As retold by Bruce Lowitt

One night outside a small town, a fire starts inside the local chemical plant. In minutes the building is engulfed in flames and the alarm goes out for every available nearby fire department.

When several volunteer fire departments arrive, the president of the chemical company rushes up to the fire chiefs and says, "All of our secret formulas are in the vault in the center of the plant. They must be saved. I will give $100,000 to the fire department that brings them out intact."

One fire department after another tries to enter the burning building. Each is driven back by the intense heat.

Then, in the distance, another siren is heard. Moments later the truck from the nearby Jewish rural township, with a volunteer fire company made up of mostly elderly men, roars toward the scene, past the other trucks and straight into the inferno.

Outside, the other firemen watch as the Jewish old timers jump off and begin to fight the fire with a performance and effort never seen before. Within a short time, the fire is extinguished and the secret formulas are saved.

The grateful chemical company president announces that for such a superhuman feat he will double the reward to $200,000, then walks over to personally thank each of the brave old Jewish firemen.

The local newspaper reporters rush to the fire chief, 70-year-old fire chief, Abe Miskowsky, and ask, "What are you going to do with all that money?"

"Vell, the foist thing ve do is fix the brakes!"