"What Are You Another Sayanim?"

Nothing like a little humor to start the day. In case someone didn't notice, the second comment from "anonymous" to my prior blog entry, "Another New York Times Op-Ed Concerning Iran", reads in its entirety:

"JG? oh, yes... Mr. Grossman is it? commenting on Iran, are you!? What are you another sayanim?"

Let's review this bit by bit:

"Mr. Grossman is it?"

I think so. At least the last time I looked in the mirror. I really do need a shave.

"[C]ommenting on Iran, are you?"

Yup, if I read my prior blog entry correctly. You see, I don't think the U.S. should enable a regime which murders Baha'is, Kurds, Jews, Sunni Muslims, homosexuals and political dissidents, which stones to death adulterers, which is threatening to wipe Israel off the map, and which will soon be able to hit Europe with ballistic missiles, freely to pursue its nuclear weapons program.

"What are you another sayanim?"

This threw me for a loop, given that I didn't know the meaning of "sayanim". Was I being accused of owning a certain type of cat? Was I being informed that I suffer from an itchy skin disease? Or perhaps that I am the long lost descendant of a blue-blooded family? Curiosity piqued and able to spare a minute, I did a Google search and learned that according to Victor Ostrovsky's 1990 book, "By Way of Deception", "sayanim" (plural) are non-Israeli citizens who assist the Mossad.

Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not a "sayan" (singular), unless criticism of tyrannical theocracies places a person in this category. W.C. Fields once said:

"It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to."

I have tried to live my life by faithfully responding to the demands of ethics and morality and raising my children in like manner. Nothing more, nothing less.