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When you've had enough of being called a behemoth.
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ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
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You were fabulous!"
—Rene and Max Kreitman
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ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Q: At least once a week my ob-
noxious big brother comes into my
room and calls me a behemoth. I
give my parents credit: they try to
control him, they really do. They
even took away his "Baywatch"
viewing privileges until he began
having dizzy spells. He was suffer-
ing, he said, with "Baywatch' with-
drawal."
Well, I have had enough — and
I do mean enough. It's time for me
to give it right back to him. Do you
have any ideas?
A: There are so, so many
strange, fantastic animals that
might serve this purpose. Per-
haps your brother is a rahab, for
example, or a basilisk or even a
barnacle-goose.
But first, be comforted in
knowing that the behemoth is
not really as awful as its cum-
bersome name might suggest.
Some translate the word, men-
tioned in Job 40:15-24, as a hip-
popotamus. Perhaps not the
most delicate of animals, but cer-
tainly not the most repulsive.
Later, scholars defined the be-
hemoth as a mammoth, one-of-
a-kind creature who would be
served as a meal to the righteous
at the end of the world. Pass the
mustard.
Jewish writings, both factual
and fictional, make numerous
references to strange creatures
like the behemoth. The Sefer
Haittur, written in the 12th cen-
tury by Isaac ben Abba Mari,
tells of "barnacle-geese" which
grow on trees. Midrashic litera-
ture speaks of a "basilisk," a
snake with a chicken head whose
mere look was enough to kill, and
a "shamir," a worm that could
split stones in half. Some trans- .
late the word tannin, which ap-
pears in Exodus, Deuteronomy
and Psalms, as "dragon," while
readers of Job will find mention
of a phoenix. Another mytholog-
ical creature, who was said to
have battled God and lost, was
the "rahab," also often translat-
ed as a kind of dragon.
Q: Is it true that Leon Trotsky,
of all people, was one of the first
to recognize Hitler's plan for world
domination?
A: His true indeed. And it isn't
just a matter of one revolution-
ary seeing through the ambitions
of another, because world lead-
ers of virtually every persuasion
apparently believed Hitler's
claim that he was a pacifist.
Throughout the early 1930s,
Hitler was insistent that he had
no plans for war, no ideas of in-
vading other nations. Even Trot-
sky's nemesis, Josef Stalin (a
man who certainly should have
recognized the tyrannical drives
of another), signed a German-So-
viet non-aggression pact. Asso-
ciates said he was truly surprised
when Hitler didn't hold up his
end of the deal and invaded the
Soviet Union.
Trotsky, however, saw
through Hitler from the start. In
his 1933 pamphlet What Hitler
Wants, he warned, "Hitler's paci-
fism is not a fortuitous diplomatic
improvisation but a vital part of
a grand maneuver which is to
change radically the relationship
of forces in favor of Germany and
to lay the basis for the European
and the world offensive of Ger-
man imperialism."
Q: Recently, in yet another ex-
ample of its brilliancy, the ever-
compelling and fascinating Tell Me
Why told the tale of the first Jew-
ish female senator. In the same
vein, I was curious to know how far
and how quickly Jewish immigrants
advanced in this country by learn-
ing the name of the first foreign-
born Jewish governor.
A: Common sense might sug-
gest that such a man had served
as head of some place like New
York or California, right?
Common sense would be mis-
taken.
In fact, the first Jewish immi-
grant to serve as a governor in
the United States was a resident
of— get ready for this — Idaho.
Moses Alexander was born in
1853 in Germany. His family
came in 1868 to the United
States, settling in that bastion of
Jewish culture and intellectu-
alism, Chillicothe, Mo.
Initially, Moses attended pub-
lic school. But then family fi-
nancial problems forced him to
take a job, working as a clerk.
Moses was determined to con-
tinue his schooling, however, so
he studied at night and worked
during the day. After a few years
he was no longer a clerk at the
store; he was the owner.
In 1886 Moses Alexander was
elected to the Chillicothe city
council, and two years later he
was mayor.
For health reasons, Alexander
in 1891 moved to Boise. There,
he opened a chain of successful
clothing stores and was elected
mayor in 1897. After several
terms in that capacity, he was
elected governor of the state of
Idaho in 1914. He served two
terms as governor, from 1915 un-
til 1919.
In addition to a lifelong inter-
est in politics, Alexander was ac-
tive at Congregation Beth Israel
of Boise and donated great sums
to Jewish charities throughout
the world. He died in Boise in
1932.
Groucho Marx: Where did he get
his looks?
Q: If I'm not mistaken, a famous
Jewish actor once remarked, "I
don't care to belong to a club that
accepts people like me as mem-
bers." Who was it?
A: That was Groucho Marx,
also the man behind such pro-
found observations as wThe hus-
band who wants a happy
marriage should learn to keep
his mouth shut and his check-
book open," and "She got her
good looks from her father — he's
a plastic surgeon."
Send questions to Tell Me Why,
The Jewish News, 27676
Franklin Road, Southfield, MI
48034, or fax to (810) 354-6069.
All letters must be signed and in-
clude the writer's address. Ques-
tions answered in the column will
feature only the writer's initials
and city of residence.