Let us move to another masterpiece of the Judeo-American literary tradition, Herman Melville's Moby Dick. We need not follow the lead of certain Talmudic literary critics who read the title as Moishe Dick. Suffice it to note that be he Moby or Moishe, he is but a Johnny-come-lately to the venerable Yiddish trinity: Milche Dick, Fleishe Dick, and Pesach Dick. In the famous chapter 43, entitled "The Whiteness of the Whale," Melville confronts us with the fundamental and profound duality of the monstrous creature. Is the whiteness a symbol of virtue and goodness, or is it the emblem of terror and evil? Is the whale a three-dimensional latke, wallowing in its gargantuan and blubbery circularity, bodying forth the benign and virtuous aspect of nature? Or is the whale a gigantic hamentash, tapering from its massive triangular head to its tail fins, and incarnating the darkness, the malevolence, the evil in its universe? Ahab takes the whale for a hamentash, and carries his ship and crew with him to destruction.

- Marvin Mirsky, quoted in The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate

(Over breakfast, I also read Ted Cohen's reasoning as to why "a world without latkes is unthinkable." Hee!)