FYI

I United States and worked as an elec-
! trical engineer. In 1920, Lasker invit-
I ed the electric breast pump, which
I he manufactured and marketed him-
I self until 1932. He also was the
I author of several books on chess,
I checkers and the Chinese board
I game, Go.

How DO YOU GET

CURLY FROM YEHUDA?

1We all knew and loved him (well,
I maybe "love" is a little strong...) as
I "Curly" Howard, one of those wild
I and wacky Three Stooges (is there a
I single woman on the face of the
planet who thought they were funny?
i Wasn't this essentially a guy thing?).
But did you know his real name was
Jerome Horowitz? He (and brothers,
Moe and Shemp) later changed the
last name to Howard. (The other
I Stooge, Larry Fine, was an in-law.) If
you're looking to visit Curly's grave,
I stop off at the Home of Peace
I Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Here,
you'll find Curly's headstone — but
no reference to the Three Stooges.
I Curly's monument bears his English
I name, Jerome Howard, and the leg-
: end, "Beloved husband, father &
I brother," and his Hebrew name,
I Yehuda Leyb, ben [son of] Shlomo
Natan ha-levi.. Curly was born Oct.
22 1903, and died Jan. 18 1952.

DAISY, DAISY GAVE HER

ANSWER, BUT NO

BYE, BYE, BUGSY

KADDISH - AS NOT -IING To Do WITH DEATH

Aside from the "S'hma", the "Mourner's Kaddish" is probably the best
known prayer in Judaism. But did you know what it is actually about? The
"Mourner's Kaddish" (which makes no mention of the loss of life, or griev-
ing, or mourning) is in fact one of four Kaddish prayers, all of which
address God's greatness -- "He is glorified and sanctified throughout the
world," reads the "Mourner's Kaddish." Written in Aramaic (the language
of Babylonian Jews), the Kaddish dates to the sixth century CE. Initially, it
was recited only after groups gathered to study Torah (today, his same
version is known as the "Kaddish de-Rabbanan"). Other versions of the
prayer include the full Kaddish and the half Kaddish, which serve to sepa-
rate different parts of the service. Most scholars belieVe the "Mourner"s
Kaddish' originated in Germany around the 13th century, when Jews suf-
fered extreme persecution (a central them of the 'Mourner's Kaddish" is

God's justice). CI

ONE LISTENED...

I A certain woman was the heir to a
tremendous fortune. Everyone knew
her as Daisy, but her birth name was
I Margaret Singer; her father was
I Isaac Singer, founder of Singer
I Sewing Machines.
1 Two years
I before she
I died in 1939,
I Daisy threw a
I bottle into the sea
I near her home in
England. Inside
was this mes-
sage, "I
leave my
entire estate
to the lucky
person who
finds this bottle
and to my attor-
•

,

10/9

1998

120 Detroit Jewish News

ney, Barry Cohen, share and share
alike." Ten years after Daisy's death,
an unemployed restaurant worker
named Jack Wurm was
walking along the beach
1 in San Francisco when he
found the bottle. He con-
tacted Cohen, and the
two went to claim their
substantial treasure: an
estate worth about
$12 million, plus a
yearly benefit of
$160,000 in
Singer stock. But the
money was never
paid out. The Singer
?0 Corp. refused to
honor the will
0 because it was not
witnessed.

ALL PUMPED UP ...

Who could have imagined a
man would have been the one to
invent this? Edward Lasker, born in
Germany in 1885, is the man
responsible for the single-most impor-
tant minor appliance for working new
moms: the electric breast pump.
Lasker, who was educated in Ger-
many and England, held a degree in
engineering. When he was 6, he
discovered chess and it became his
passion, along with engineering.
Lasker won numerous chess tourna-
ments and later was regarded a mas-
ter of the game. From 1914-1915
he toured the United States, where he
gave lectures and exhibitions on
chess (not to be confused with world
chess champion Emmanuel Lasker,
1868-1941). He then settled in the

.

He was handsome and hotheaded,
which he how he got his name
(people said he was almost
"bugsy," crazy, when he lost his
temper). Today, Benjamin "Bugsy"
Siegel lies in a modest crypt in a
cemetery in Los Angeles. And most
while know much about his life, few'
know the dubious title he gained
I with his death. Siegel (1905-1947)
was a New York native who started
his career in crime as a thief. He
later became an asso-
ciate, so to speak, of
mobsters Meyer
Lansky, Lucky
Luciano and
Frank Costel-
lo, and by age 28
Siegel was serving
on the syndicate's
board of directors
on the East Coast„,
Siegel wanted to
branch out, though,
and moved to Califor-
nia where he loved min-
gling with Hollywood celebri-
I ties and where a little spot known
las Las Vegas caught his eye. He
promised to build up the area for L-2,
the mob, but he got hopelessly into
1 debt trying to do so. Apparently,
Siegel's pals didn't appreciate his
endless spending, nor the fact that
he was pocketing all the profits. In
June 1947 Siegel was shot at the
home of his girlfriend Virginia Hill
— a murder reportedly organized
by Meyer "I'm just a businessman"
Lansky. So what was so unusual
about Siegel's death? He was the
first syndicate board member to be
executed by his own.

I

I

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