Robbery in a Bank

I read a joke and tried to translate it into Ladino. Some robbers enter the bank and shout: 'The money doesn't belong to you. But each one's life does belong to him.' Everyone in silence, and slowly they lay down on the floor. This is called: CONCEPTS TO CHANGE MENTALITIES. Changing the conventional mentality of thinking in the world.

At this a woman placed herself in a provocative way on one of the tables. The robber shouted at her: 'Woman, this is a robbery, not a rape.' This is called: BEING PROFESSIONAL. Giving all your attention to what you are specialized in doing.

After taking all the money from the bank, the young robber, who had graduated from university with his MBA (Master of Business Administration), said to the other, old robber, who had not even finished primary school: 'Come, let's count what we took.' The old robber answered him: 'Don't be a fool, this is too much money to count. Let's wait for tomorrow's news to know how much money the bank lost.' This is called EXPERIENCE. Experience is more important than a paper from an academic institution.

Once the robbers had gone, the director of the bank said to call the police. To this the chief answered: 'One moment, let's not forget the 5 million we are missing from last month. We can add it to what the robbers took.' The director said: 'You're right.' This is called: MANAGING WITH STRATEGY. Taking advantage of a situation that was not favourable.

Again the robbers counted the money they stole and it came to 20 million, but the next day the news was saying that they stole 100 million. Hearing this news, the robbers began to think: 'We risked our lives for 20 million, while the directors of the bank stole 80 million. Apparently it is better to study and know the system of what goes on than to be a robber.' This is called: KNOWLEDGE IS AS VALUABLE AS GOLD.

The director of the bank felt very happy to see his loss on the Stock Exchange solved by the robbery. This is called: TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CONDITIONS. The moral of this story: Give a man a weapon, and he can rob a bank. Give a man knowledge, and he can conquer the world.

Correction: In the article on 'THE SACRIFICE' that came out in the last issue of 'Şalom', the word 'ONA', which means 'SAISON', 'SEASON', 'MEVSİM', was printed by mistake as 'ZONA', which means 'PROSTITUTE'. The word 'ONA' comes from Hebrew, but Ladino too used it as its own. That is how I heard it from my parents.