.
.
.
.
.

by Anura Guruge

Related Posts:
1. Being able to Text ‘smell’.

++++ Check Category ‘New Hampshire’ for myriad other germane posts >>>>

Click to read the details at the NH Lottery.

I personally have no problem with this rather interesting decision by the N.H. Lottery Commission. It is actually quite cute and clever. I like the smell of bacon and I eat bacon, though not to the same extent as I do pork, ham and pork sausages — in that I eat one or more of those each and every day!

Also having had a lot of dealing with Jews here and in Israel I also know it is not a kosher issue per se. Yes, I know that some people do eat lottery tickets, but even if you do it is artificial flavoring. I also know quite a few Jews that eat pork, ham and bacon. We used to have a friend from Mass. who used to fly up to Gilford, without fail, on Easter Monday in his private Cessna to have lunch with us. He was after the ham! We finally told him that if he wants ham he can come other times too and that we would be happy to have a ham cooked for him. On the other extreme I had to entertain two ultra-orthodox Jews, visiting on business from Israel, at my house and all they would partake in (as I had been warned by others in Israel) was diet Coca-Cola straight from the can. Plus one of my favorite jokes for the longest time used to be, and it was told to me by my then alter ego in Israel, Itzick: “Why do orthodox Jews in Israel need three refrigerators in their kitchen? Simple. One for dairy, one for meat and the third for the pork”. Itzick loved ham salad when he was not in Israel. So, I know the nuances.

But, I was kind of surprised. It did not seem a very Christian thing to do — and there is no point even asking “What would Jesus have done?” because I know dietary rules he and his Apostles adhered to. Jesus would probably have gone and knocked over the tables at the Commission in Concord.

I kind of had a decent hunch about these numbers but I went and looked them up in Wikipedia (and they are fairly contemporaneous):

Click to ENLARGE and read. From Wikipedia: ‘New Hampshire — religion’.

 And these numbers tell it all. In a democracy the majority can, will and should rule though trying to be sensitive to the feelings of others is also a fairly nice and decent trait.

I asked another Jewish friend from Mass. (not the one with the Cessna), who also happens to own a condo in Loon (N.H.), what a Jewish reaction would be to the bacon-smelling lottery tickets. This is what he replied: “I think that there are a fair percentage of orthodox jews that would be mildly sickened by the smell of bacon. It is all psychological … but very deeply so.”

Nothing more that really needs to be said. Yes, yes, it is not being forced on anyone. The tickets are inside plastic containers and nobody is forced to buy them. So no different to going shopping at a supermarket that sells pork and ham. But, couldn’t we have started with something else? Maybe apple pie? But, I know people like bacon. Deanna and the kids do. It is there special treat. They had some on Christmas Day and I think around New Year. I will eat, at most, two strips, but I take mine out early. I do not like my bacon crisp.