Game Theoretic Analysis of a Bankruptcy Problem from the Bible
A man has been in business for many, many years and the business
is going down the drain. He is seriously contemplating suicide and he
doesn't know what to do. He goes to the Rabbi to seek his advice.
He tells the Rabbi about all of his problems in the business and asks
the Rabbi what he should do. The Rabbi says "Take a beach chair and a
bible and put them in your car and drive down to the edge of the
ocean.
Go to the water's edge. Take the beach chair out of the car, sit on it
and take the bible out and open it up. The wind will rifle the pages
for a while and eventually the bible will stay open at a particular
page.
Read the bible and it will tell you what to do."
The man does as he is told. He places a beach chair and a bible in
his car and drives down to the beach. He sits on the chair at the
water's
edge and opens the bible. The wind rifles the pages of the Chumash
and
then stops at a particular page. He looks down at the bible and
sees what he has to do.
Three months later the man and his family come back to see the
Rabbi.
The man is wearing a $1,000 Italian suit, the wife is all decked
out
with a full-length mink coat and the child is dressed in beautiful
silk.
The man hands the Rabbi a thick envelope full of money and tells
him
that he wants to donate this money to the synagogue in order to
thank
the Rabbi for his wonderful advice. The Rabbi is delighted. He
recognizes
the man and asks him what advice in the bible brought this good
fortune
to him. The man replies: "Chapter 11."