Mendel the Modest is the best person on earth: generous, kind, thoughtful, and deeply pious. He dies and goes to Heaven, and is met there by the Archangel Gabriel. “Mendel,” Gabriel says, “I can’t let you in.”

Mendel is humble. “If that is the will of Ha-Shem,” he says.

“Oy,” Gabriel says. “Look, Mendel, when the Lord delineated the 613 laws, it seemed pretty clear to the rest of us that there would never be a person who would fulfill and obey every last one of them. Then you came along.”

Mendel is meek. “I did only what Ha-Shem expected of me,” he replies.

Gabriel shakes his head. “Buddy,” he says, “you’re making the rest of us look bad. Know what I mean? With all your mitzvot, you’re throwing off the curve.”

Mendel is puzzled.

“Here’s what I want you to do,” Gabriel says. “Go back for one night and sin. Just once. Nobody back in your village knows you’re dead yet. Go and commit one sin. I’m not asking for a lot. Just to keep things in balance. This is a must.”

“I will do as you bid,” Mendel says.

Suddenly he finds himself back on the road outside his shtetl. It’s night. He walks a little until he sees the home of Batya, a woman recently widowed. Perhaps he can sin with her. He knocks on her door.

“Mendel,” she says. “Come in.”

Batya makes some tea and puts out some cookies. They talk of this and that and the other thing, and then Mendel reaches for her. “What are you doing?” she asks.

He kisses her. She kisses him back. They fall together onto the feather bed.

He wakes up the next morning. He has had relations with a woman outside marriage. He has obeyed Gabriel’s requirement. He gets dressed as Batya sleeps, and he leaves the house to return to the spot where he had landed yesterday. As he walks down the path from her house, Batya opens the door and rushes to his side.

“Oh, Mendel,” she says. “I was so lonely, and you gave me companionship. I was despondent, and you gave me hope. I had only been suffering, and you gave me pleasure. Mendel—you don’t know what a mitzvah you did for me.”