Gangsterland: A Novel (49 page)

I am not a rabbi, so I am deeply appreciative to a variety of sources for the spiritual wisdom included throughout this work, including, obviously, the Torah, Talmud, and collected works of the Midrash, but also, namely:
A Book of Jewish Thoughts
(Bloch Publishing, 1926), Selected and Arranged by Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz, the edition that once belonged to my grandparents, and then was handed down to my mother, and then, when I needed it most, to me;
Holy Mountain: Two Paths to One God
(Binfords & Mort, 1953) by Rabbi Raphael H. Levine, given to my mother when she graduated from high school;
A Treasury of Jewish Humor
(Doubleday, 1951) edited by Nathan Ausubel; and
Judaism: An Anthology of the Key Spiritual Writings of the Jewish Tradition
(Simon & Schuster, 1991) edited by Arthur Hertzberg. My fictional interpretation of the meanings found in all of the above isn’t to be taken as actual Jewish law, or even as my own beliefs, which is not the fault of the wonderful writers, scholars, and religious leaders who wrote the above. Also, thank you to the United States Treasury Department, Bureau of Narcotics, for keeping such assiduous records and compiling them in
Mafia
(Harper Collins, 2007), an indispensable compendium of bad guys.

Finally, my beautiful wife, Wendy, whom I write all of these books for, and who reads every word, but has to live with them for much longer. I’m coming to bed now.