Purim, a few days late

Against the better counsel of a wise friend, I got myself the Artscroll Megillah, "a new translation with a commentary anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic, and Rabbinic sources." Boy, did I ever catch the wrong end of the stick! The commentary basically tries to force the rather incongruous elements of the story into a conventional moralizing piety. Purim is a religious holiday, so a little piety is OK, but not the Jewish equivalent of Victorian Black Crepe (or, "Crape.")

I'm sure this is not a novel observation, but Purim is about the most staggeringly successful intermarriage that ever was -- a match which could only happen by chance (as in lot, pur) between a doe-eyed Israelite and a biblous sheygetz straight out of the pages of a Babylonian John Cheever. (Persian martinis, anyone?) The sky doesn't come crashing down, plague and pestilence do not beset the Jews, and nobody asks how the children will be brought up. God smiles upon the entire affair.

Rabbi Arthur Scroll (the collective religious authority of Mesorah Publications, Inc.) has nothing to say about this. The same genius who trotted out an absurd theory that Asenath, Joseph's wife, was miraculously Jewish, even though she was a cow-worshipping Egyptian, has nary a justificatory footnote for King Achashverosh.

I think the CJLS has some re-interpretation to do in light of this timely Orthodox omission. We need more sons who are unable to ask the question.

A very small election

On April 11th, there will be an election in Orange County. There is one race on the ballot, a State Senate seat. There is little doubt as to who will win: the rock-ribbed Republican who came up with the cash to put his candidate statement on the ballot pamphlet. (The other two candidates did not meet even this threshhold. The Democrat is simply a warm body who agreed to be on the ballot in order that the Republicans not be totally unopposed.) The percentage of likely voters in this election will probably be between 8 and 13 percent.

So, how many poll workers are going to be at my little polling place? FIVE. Including me. How much money is the county spending on this election? About $10,000,000.

Cui f-ing bono?