{"id":133,"date":"2012-06-19T15:13:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T15:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stoneskin.wpengine.com\/?p=133"},"modified":"2013-05-14T13:00:29","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T13:00:29","slug":"a-few-thoughts-on-where-a-hero-came-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stoneskinpress.com\/index.php\/a-few-thoughts-on-where-a-hero-came-from\/","title":{"rendered":"A Few Thoughts On Where A Hero Came From"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Dansky’s<\/a> New Hero Character<\/h1>\n
\n

So the main character in my story in Stone Skin Press\u2019 upcoming anthology, The New Hero (vol. 1)<\/strong><\/em><\/a> is a Magical Pirate Rabbi. That\u2019s how I describe him when people ask about the story, and that\u2019s about as good a way as any to sum him up. Yes, he\u2019s a pirate. Yes, he\u2019s a rabbi. Yes, there is magic in the story, though how much magic, I\u2019ll let you, dear reader, decide for yourself.<\/p>\n

(The story, incidentally, is called \u201cThe Thirty-Ninth Labor of Reb Palache\u201d. This implies that there are at least thirty-eight other labors, though to be completely truthful, at this pointl I\u2019m only certain as to what about six of them might have been.)<\/p>\n

And yes, people dig the Magical Pirate Rabbi. It\u2019s a fun juxtaposition of characteristics \u2013 you hear \u201crabbi\u201d, you think maybe an avuncular guy in a skullcap who\u2019s a bit worried that someone accidentally scheduled the synagogue singles bowling tournament over Yom Kippur. You think \u201cpirate\u201d, you think Johnny Depp channeling Pepe Le Pew. Cognitive dissonance for the win, with the added fun of magic on top of it.<\/p>\n

The funny thing is, then, that Reb Palache was based on a real guy. I found him in the pages of Edward Kritzler\u2019s fascinating book\u00a0Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean<\/em><\/strong>. The historical Samuel Palache was a pirate, a spy, a diplomat, a merchant, and depending on whom you believe, the first man to settle openly as a Jew in Amsterdam. On top of that, he negotiated the first treaty between a Christian country and a Muslim one, founded the first\u00a0minyan<\/em>\u00a0in Amsterdam, and commanded a Moroccan fleet during wartime. I like to think that if they\u2019d had internet memes in the days when he was stomping around the Iberian coastline, there would have been all sorts of Chuck Norris-style references to Reb Palache.\u00a0\u00a0(In fact, the whole Palache family was full of this kind of awesomeness. Go check them out. I\u2019ll wait.)<\/p>\n

But in the end, that’s the beside the point. The real Reb Palache was all kinds of interesting. Hopefully my fictional version does right by him. I’d like to think so.
\nAnd on Wednesday, you’ll be able to tell me if I did.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Dansky’s New Hero Character So the main character in my story in Stone Skin Press\u2019 upcoming anthology, The New Hero (vol. 1) is a Magical Pirate Rabbi. That\u2019s how I describe him when people ask about the story, and…<\/span><\/p>\n

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