Bogdan (Yok!)

The other night I was walking back to my hotel from Independence Square in Netanya, when I went into a kiosk near the corner of Gad Mekhnes Street in order to get a Diet Coke (אלא מה). As I was paying, I looked up and saw this taped to the shelf:

Yes! There he was, Bogdan Zynovii Mykhailovych Khmel'nyts'kyi himself, hero of the Ukraine and one of the greatest mass-murderers in Jewish History. I was not a little taken aback. 'Do you know who that is?' I asked the owner. 'No,' was his reply. So, I informed him. "He's responsible for the cruel, sadistic murders of anywhere between 100,000 and 300,000 Jews in the years 1648-1649. He's also the Ukranian national hero.' The man's eyes bugged out. Then, incensed, he grabbed the bill and said, 'So, look what we'll do to this SOB. We'll tear him to smithereens together.' And he did. I took my Diet Coke and he stood there smiling. The next day I came in again and he commented, 'See what I did to that...'

Lesson #1: You never know when you're going to give a brief lecture on any topic in Jewish History or Judaism.

Lesson #2: I love Israel.