Barefoot & Wagons
Volume 48, Issue 9
By Paige Sichs

War in Times of Rain
From a frowning sky the rains fell. Inside the Fire Island Synagogue in Seaview, locals took refuge with a discussion on no less hostile terrain: religion and politics. It was in fact a refreshingly even-keeled, honest and educated discussion of Jewish theory and philosophy on war, led by Rabbi Shaul Magid, the first in a three-part discussion series.
Though he tried to stick to the ideas of antiquity, the discussion seemed to return to modern day Israeli issues of settlement, occupation, and Zionism, or what Magid described as the “Israel-Palestine treadmill.”
Because the Jews have had such a meager history of political hegemony, unlike Egypt, Rome, Greece, Mongolia, India, China and Japan they lack truly mature theories and ethics of war, Magid argued.
The discussions are a tradition at the Synagogue. Past years’ topics have included gender one year and Christian Zionism another.
Drawing a distinction between “the kind of war that God commands” and “discretionary war,” such as King David conquering Assyria, Magid made a convincing argument that there is no Jewish equivalent to the Muslim Jihad or the Christian crusade – that is, there is no Jewish concept of a state of war, as in our contemporary “war on terror.”
But Magid noted that as “the Jewish people are again in a position of power…we need to develop these ethics of war.”
Some in the audience expressed a lack of contentment with the format of discussing war in only theoretical terms, including one woman, Mildred, who forcefully said, “Israel is fighting for its life right now. There is blood in the streets.”
Regardless of the truthfulness of that statement, many in attendance tried to shush Mildred, feeling that it was neither the time nor the place, and wanting continue the discussion.
Mildred donned her blue poncho and walked out into the rain, not to return.
“I want to talk about Jewish war. I don’t want to actually have one,” Magid joked.

Getting Pushy
Word has it that an unruly Ocean Breezer fancied it was a good idea to push Ocean Beach’s own Sgt. George Hesse when the police reported to his house after noise complaints very early on Sunday, August 8.
Everybody, stop for a second. Now: if you’ve beer-bonged more than two cases of Busch, remember to take ten deep breaths before doing anything you might regret in the morning.

Wind Farms
We at Barefoot and Wagons generally applaud initiatives that clean the air and reduce dependency on fossil fuel. However, this wind farm thing seems like such an obvious boon to the environment – it’s really like free energy – that we cannot imagine what will stop it.
Beyond the sky-writing and kayaks and children, this is just one more thing that’s going to junk up the views on our beaches. That’s why Paige Sichs only goes to the beach at night these days, to moon-tan and cry.

Inflation
Some people went all out with their costumes at the hugely successful Ocean Beach Community Fund dance, including Dorsey and Bob Adler of Ocean Beach, who posed inflatable life-size dolls on their body to resemble Cirque du Soleil performers. Bob Adler also donned a pair of size 12 pumps and fishnets for the occasion.
“They’re your basic sex toys,” Bob said, when asked where they procured the dolls. “We dressed them up.”
86ing the Competition
Wally Pickard’s call for another Fire Islander who has been on the island as long as he – this is his 86th summer – met with no serious challengers, he reported. Judge Mehlman was among the few super-longtimers who stepped forward
“We got none for 86. We just got a few for 50,” said Pickard with a laugh.
At the festivities was one Ann Lanigan of Seaview, who recalled, at the age of 13, having had her first kiss with a young, dashing Pickard.
“I don’t remember it clearly but it probably happened,” said Pickard modestly.
Of his 86 summers, he said, “All I can say is I feel fine. It’s an accomplishment, I guess.”
Pickard’s streak of summers was almost interrupted by World War II, but Pickard was injured in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and sent home, and never missed the summer. We asked him how Ocean Beach had changed since he first began coming out.
“It’s much more developed. We had boardwalks when I was a kid, now we have cement walks. There were lots of vacant property then, not so much now. And it’s very much populated, especially on weekends,” he said. “The place was not well known.”
Congratulations to Mr. Pickard on his streak, and we hope he keeps coming for another 86 wonderful summers.