Congratulations, Bugsy Siegel

Nevada legalised gambling 75 years ago today.


I like books and movies that take place in casinos. Funny how often they seem to be crime stories, police procedurals, murder mysteries and whatnot, whether they concern upper-crust tuxedo-wearing slackers in Monte Carlo -



- or abuse-ridden lowlifes in Las Vegas.



In real life, on the other hand, it's been my experience that there's no place so desperately boring as a Las Vegas casino. So, with all due respect, today's anniversary leaves me pretty cold.

Benshlomo says, Someone's making money hand over fist out there.

Unique New York

"The Pushcart War started on the afternoon of March 15, 1986, when a truck ran down a pushcart belonging to a flower peddler."

I'm terrifically sorry to be late with this historical commemoration, but better late than never.

In any case, twenty years ago yesterday, Albert P. Mack of Mammoth Moving smashed Morris the Florist's pushcart and knocked Morris into a pickle barrel, where his picture was snapped by young Marvin Seeley. As historian Jean Merrill points out, from that point onwards New York's pushcarts fought back against the oppressive trucking companies of Manhattan, and although few New Yorkers realized at the time that they were living in a war zone, the events of the next few months permanently changed city dwelling into the comparatively civil, efficient and happy way of life we know today. (I wish.)

So everyone go out and read this vital work of history immediately. Then we'll talk.

Benshlomo says, Sometimes alternate history beats the real thing all hollow, doesn't it?

How to Stop the Killing

I heard this story on National Public Radio yesterday while driving home from work. The violence, alas, is nothing new; the part that caught my attention was the claim that sectarian violence in Iraq is even more of a threat to democracy and peace than the insurgency is. (Here is further detail on the same story.)

It brings to mind an incident from the life of Mahatma Gandhi.



Without mistaking movie scripts for historical analysis, the fact is that shortly after the British withdrew from India and left it to divide itself into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan, the Hindus and Muslims began killing each other in really atrocious numbers as they moved from place to place.

For Gandhi, who had spent much of his life dreaming of an independent homeland, this must have been so devastating as to be physically painful. So he began to fast and said he would not eat until the killing stopped.

He nearly died, but it worked. To this day, despite the ongoing war over Kashmir and other sporadic violence, Hindus and Muslims in that part of Asia no longer murder each other wholesale.

In Iraq, on the other hand, murder is an ongoing event. And these aren't Hindus and Muslims, these are two sects of the same faith. If history didn't teach otherwise, you'd think it would be fairly easy to establish peace among two groups of Muslims, or Christians, or Jews, for that matter.


So where is the Iraqi Gandhi who will refuse to put up with it?

Benshlomo says, I want a hero.

Fire and Ice

Yesterday was the Fast of Esther. Observant Jews did not eat or drink from sunup to sundown, and neither did I.

We do this in remembrance of the day about 2400 years ago that Queen Esther of Persia asked all the Jews to fast and pray for three days with her, so that when she went to King Ahaseurus the next day he would hear her and rescue the Jews from Haman. (That was the first of many men throughout history who have decided that the thing to do is kill all the Jews.)

Well, it worked, and that's why we celebrate Purim, which is today. Happy Purim, everyone. As usual with the Jews, the theme of today's holiday is, "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat."


I have fasted before on major observances, but yesterday I had more success than usual in keeping my mind on the reason for my hunger and thirst. I said to God, "May my fast be the last bit of energy we need to bring the Messiah, although my fast is shorter, includes fewer people, and comes from a less pious person than the fast in Persia all those years ago. Those people prayed for redemption, and You delivered it. I pray for redemption in the same manner on the same day; may You deliver it now."


Well, today I ran across this in science news. Astronomers have discovered fire and ice in the tail of a comet.

Now, the Bible teaches that shortly before the Hebrews left slavery in Egypt all those thousands of years ago, God sent a series of plagues to straighten the Egyptians out and to demonstrate His power. One of the plagues was a massive hailstorm, which the Bible tells us consisted of hailstones and fire from the sky. The Midrash interprets this to mean that the fire burned inside the hailstones, which would be impossible under ordinary circumstances, but which God produced in this case as an open miracle to show the Hebrews Who was rescuing them.

When Moses prayed that the plague end, again according to Midrash, the hail stopped falling on the spot. The hailstones that had not yet hit the ground miraculously remained in the air, and there they are to this day, ready to come down as part of the cleansing of the Earth when the Messiah arrives.

And, according to NASA, there they are, all mixed up in the tail of a comet.

You don't have to take the Midrash literally, of course, but it's interesting, isn't it? And on the day after many Jews fasted in commemoration of an ancient prayer for redemption, myself included.

I take a certain amount of satisfaction, deserved or undeserved, from that.

Benshlomo says, We want Mashiach now, we don't want to wait.