Three Rabbis : The Rabbi Nachtner

Rabbi Nachtner: 

You know Lee Sussman?

Larry Gopnik: 

Doctor Sussman? I think I - yeah.

Rabbi Nachtner: 

Did he ever tell you about the goy's teeth?

Larry Gopnik: 

No... I- What goy?

The Rabbi Nachtner: 

So... Lee is at work one day; you know 

he has the orthodontic practice 

there at Great Bear. 
He's making a plaster mold - it's for 

corrective bridge work - in the mouth 

of one of his patients, Russell Kraus. 
The mold dries and Lee is 

examining it one day before 

fabricating an appliance. 

He notices something unusual. 
There appears to be something engraved on 

the inside of the patient's lower incisors. 

He vav shin yud ayin nun yud. 

"Hwshy 'ny". 

"Help me, save me". 

This in a goy's mouth, Larry. 

He calls the goy back on the pretense of needing 

additional measurements for the appliance. 

"How are you? 

Noticed any other problems 

with your teeth?

“No.”

There it is. 

"Hwshy 'ny".

 "Help me". 

Son of a gun. 

Sussman goes Home. 
Can Sussman eat? 
Sussman can't eat. 
Can Sussman sleep? 
Sussman can't sleep. 

Sussman looks at the molds of his other patients, 

goy and Jew alike, seeking other messages. 
He finds none. 

He looks in his 

own mouth. 

Nothing. 

He looks in his 

wife's mouth. 
Nothing. 

But Sussman is 

an educated man. 

Not the world's greatest sage, 

maybe, no Rabbi Marshak, 

but he knows a thing or two 

from The Zohar and 

The Kabbalah.

He knows that every Hebrew letter 

has its numeric equivalent. 

8-4-5-4-4-7-3. 

Seven digits... a phone 

-number, maybe? 

"Hello? Do you know a goy 

named Kraus, Russell Kraus?"

 Who?

 "Where have I called? 

The Red Owl in Bloomington. 

Thanks so much." 

He goes. It's a Red Owl. 

Groceries; what have you. 

Sussman goes home. 
What does it mean? 
He has to find out if he 

is ever to sleep again. 
He goes to see... 

The Rabbi Nachtner. 
He comes in, he sits right where 

you're sitting right now. 

"What does it mean, Rabbi? 

Is it a sign from Hashem, 'Help me'? 

I, Sussman, should be doing 

something to help this goy? 

Doing what? The teeth don't say. 

Or maybe I'm supposed 

to help people generally, 

lead a more righteous life? 

Is the answer in Caballah? In Torah? 

Or is there even a question? 

Tell me, Rabbi, what can such a sign mean?"

[pause as the Rabbi drinks his tea]

Larry Gopnik: 

So what did you tell him?

Rabbi Nachtner: 

Sussman?

Larry Gopnik: 

Yes!

Rabbi Nachtner: 

Is it... relevant?

Larry Gopnik: 

Well, isn't that why you're telling me?

Rabbi Nachtner: 

Okay. Nachtner says, look : 
The teeth, we don't know. 
A sign from Hashem? Don't know. 
Helping others... couldn't hurt.

Larry Gopnik: 

No! No, but... who put it there? 
Was it for him, Sussman, or for whoever found it, or for just, for, for...

Rabbi Nachtner: 

We can't know everything.

Larry Gopnik: 

It sounds like you don't know anything! Why even tell me the story?

Rabbi Nachtner: 

[chuckling] First I should tell you, then I shouldn't.

Larry Gopnik: 

What happened to Sussman?

The Rabbi Nachtner : 

What would happen? Not much. 
He went back to work. 
For a while he checked 

every patient's teeth 

for new messages. 

He didn't find any. 

In time, he found 

he'd stopped checking. 

He returned to Life. 
These Questions that 

are bothering you, Larry - 

maybe they're like 

A Toothache. 
We feel them for a while, 

then they go away.

Larry Gopnik: 

I don't want it to 

just go away! 
I want An Answer!

The Rabbi Nachtner : 

Sure! We all want The Answer! 
But Hashem doesn't owe us 

The Answer, Larry. Hashem doesn't owe us anything. 
The Obligation runs 

the other way.

Larry Gopnik: 

Why does He make us 

feel The Questions if 

He's not gonna give us 

any Answers?

Rabbi Nachtner: 

He hasn't told me!

[Larry puts his face in 

his hands in despair]

Larry Gopnik: 

And... what happened 

to The Goy?

Rabbi Nachtner: 

The Goy...? 

Who cares?

These are the Members 

of The Airplane.