Bench Economics

Over the weekend, I invented for my self a new outlook on social bargaining or something like that (yes, Rachel, I know you must think it cute the way I pretend that I can use fancy-shmancy technical terms). We davened at a place that had long benches in front of tables. The way the tables were, you could either be close enough to rest your siddur on the table OR close enough to stand up for the necessary parts. Over the davening, there was subtle shifting in and out, everyone being just a little bit selfish but also interested in evening up the bench and occassionally helping their friends who were trying to avoid having to push the bench back. In the end, the bench ended up just far enough to stand a bit tightly and just close enough to lean the siddur on the table a bit uncomfortably having to lean forward a bit. This solution was the worst possible for every individual person, but possibly the best for the group as a whole (we were behind in davening, so we won't all standing or sitting as one, meaning that it could never to good for all of us). I don't quite know what the whole thing meant, other than that social bargaining works, but it felt like it was illustrating something, and that's a lot of fun too.