The Longest Distance

There’s a story I heard once about a religious man who got into a taxi in Israel. 

As often happens, the driver struck up a conversation. “I can tell you’re religious,” the cab driver said. “I have a friend who became religious through a crazy story.”

He continued: “My friend and I served in the army together. One day, we were walking through a field when a huge snake wrapped itself around my friend’s leg and started squeezing tighter and tighter. 

My friend yelled out to Hashem and said that if He would save his life, he would become religious. And just like that, the snake loosened its grip, slithered off his leg, and disappeared.”

The passenger was in awe. “That’s an amazing story!” he exclaimed. “So, what about you? Why didn’t you become religious after seeing that?”

The cab driver answered simply: “Because it happened to my friend, not to me.”