It’s 1972.
Scene: An airplane. Aboard are president Richard Nixon, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, an elderly rabbi and a teenager.
The pilot comes over the intercom: The plane is going to crash. There’s no chance of surviving. Unfortunately, we are one parachute short. I’m taking mine, good bye” and he bails out.
Nixon says: “I am the president of the United States, the most powerful country on Earth. I have to live. Besides, if I die, Spiro Agnew will be president. I have to have a chute.” The others agree and he bails out.
Kissinger says: “I am the smartest man on the planet. Really amazingly brilliant. Besides, I keep Nixon in line. I have to have a chute.” The other two agree and he bails out.
The rabbi says: “You have your whole life in front of you. I’m an old man and I’m not going to live that long anyway. You take the last chute.”
Then the teenager replies, “It’s OK, rabbi. The smartest man in the world just jumped out of a plane with my backpack.”