A man with two heads appeared before King Solomon with an unusual legal claim. He was part of a family dividing an inheritance, and he demanded a double portion — one share for each of his two heads. After all, he argued, if he had two heads, was he not in some sense two people?
The other heirs scoffed. "He is one man with a deformity," they said. "One man, one share." But the two-headed man insisted. Each head could think independently. Each head could speak. If personhood was defined by the mind, then he had two minds and deserved two portions.
The case was brought before Solomon, the wisest judge who ever lived. Solomon did not consult legal precedent — there was no precedent for a case like this. Instead, he devised a test. He ordered his servants to bring a pot of boiling water. Then he commanded them to pour the hot water over one of the man's two heads.
The scalding water hit the first head, and it screamed in agony. But so did the second head. Both mouths cried out. Both faces contorted in pain. Both sets of eyes streamed with tears. What one head felt, the other felt as well.
"If you were truly two people," Solomon declared, "then pain inflicted on one head would not be felt by the other. But both heads scream when one is burned. Both heads share the same suffering. You are one body, one person, one life — and you will receive one share of the inheritance."
The ruling stood, and the Rabbis preserved it as a testament to Solomon's genius for cutting through impossible questions with a single, decisive act.