I'm sorry; I don't mean to turn this journal into Tales from eBay. But how can I help it, when these wacky sellers keep putting temptation into my path?

Case in point: Jewish Prayer Book from Holocaust Period. The description gushingly notes that "This item is a piece of history! It should probably be in a museum... What makes this item so unique is the inscription from a Rabbi to a doctor wishing him a safe return home on SEPTEMBER 1ST, 1942. What a story must be behind this book!"

Well. Considering that the siddur in question -- a Hebrew / English edition -- was published in New York, the most likely story is that this was given to a departing U.S. soldier. Which was hardly a unique situation at that point. This raises the question of why this is billed as being "Holocaust Period," rather than "WWII Period," as the former is irrelevant here. Either way, hardly museum material.

Of course, this apparently did succeed in driving up the bid price, so maybe the guy knows what he's doing after all.

[Okay, I fell asleep shortly after typing that. Not a very elegant ending, but I think I'm just going to put this up as-is.]