‘Hammurabi on Long Island’

    

Encyclopedia Britannica

Stone carving showing Hammurabi

standing before a god. 

The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library and Museum of the Grand Lodge of New York has hosted a steady schedule of lectures on diverse Masonic subjects for years in Masonic Hall, and now it expands its reach, presenting more talks around our state—and always free of charge and open to the public.

On Friday, this Satellite Live Lecture Series will launch at Smithtown Lodge 1127 on Long Island. Bro. Frank Ida, a Past Master of the lodge, will discuss “Masonic Beginnings in the Code of Hammurabi.”

The publicity says: “The Code of Hammurabi, a collection of laws and decrees created by Babylonian King Hammurabi around 1754 BC, is one of the oldest and most complete legal texts from the ancient world. While not directly related to the origins of Freemasonry, the code’s emphasis on justice, order, and social responsibility resonates with the principles of the fraternal organization.”

Doors will open at 7 p.m. at 34 River Road.

(I think they should move this a few miles south to Babylon Lodge, but no one consults me.) 

On Saturday, May 3 in Troy, a trio of speakers will go “Behind the Square and Compass: A Journey into Freemasonry.”

RW Michael LaRocco, Executive Director of the Livingston Library, will emcee the event. Your speakers will be:

■ Bro. Keith Dobbs on “Curiosity & Personal Journey”

■ VW Jason Chaplin on “From Operative Masonry to Speculative”

■ Bro. Jerad Gribben on “Symbolism and Rituals in Freemasonry”

This will be in the Troy Masonic Community Center (39 Brunswick Road) at two in the afternoon.

Again, admission is free, but it’s wise to book your seats. Click here and maybe I’ll see you there.

     

‘Washington museum catalog now online’

    

GL of Washington

The Masonic Library & Museum of the Grand Lodge of Washington announced yesterday how its museum collection catalog is viewable online now. From the publicity:

Our Museum Collection

is Viewable Online

Curious what artifacts we preserve at the Washington Masonic Library & Museum? Our catalog is now viewable online! Check it out via the Washington Masonic Services website here.

Just some of the items viewable online include a Grand Lodge of Washington Territory Banner (c. 1858), panoramas of Washington Grand Lodge meetings held in the 1920s, historic lesser lights from Steilacoom Lodge 2, a Masonic Grandfather clock (c. 1910s), and so much more. Every month more museum artifacts are added to this digital collection. Remember to check back periodically to see what is new.

Washington State’s history is deeply connected with Freemasonry, a fact explored in depth at the Masonic Library & Museum. This institution sheds light on how Masons, including the state’s first governor and numerous influential figures, like legislators and judges, have shaped its governance and community. Even today, Masonic members play a significant role in various local and state sectors.

The museum showcases the enduring impact of Masonic values from the state’s early days to the present. Our professional curator works in partnership with the volunteers who are the Masonic Library & Museum’s foundation and have cared for it since its inception. Together, this team tends to approximately 50,000 Masonic books, photos, and documents, plus 6,000 artifacts that comprise our collections.

The Masonic Library & Museum is a service available to the individuals, lodges, and the community at large. Those seeking to expand their knowledge of Freemasonry will find this to be an invaluable resource, with many items available online. The professional expertise of the WAMS curator is an opportunity for lodges to learn best practices to safeguard the important Masonic artifacts that they hold.

     

‘Music is a language of delightful sensations’

    

Two live music concerts to tell you about. Sorry this first one comes so late, but I learned of it only today. Wish I could go. All the info you need is in the above advertisement.

However, a few weeks off, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts will host “A Concert for Brotherhood, Family, and Future” at the Boston Masonic Building. From the publicity:

Boston Latin American Quartet.

Brother, you are invited to the Grand Lodge Gala 2025, presented by the Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts in support of Massachusetts Rainbow Girls and DeMolay.

Eliot Fisk and Zaira Meneses.

Join us for an afternoon of world-class music featuring celebrated artists Zaira Meneses, classical guitarist; Eliot Fisk, virtuoso guitarist; and Boston Latin American Quartet, celebrating rich musical traditions.

Sunday, May 4

186 Tremont Street, Boston

Doors open at 1 p.m. followed by hors d’oeuvres reception. Tickets are on sale now here. Business Attire.

The headline of this edition of The Magpie Mason is borrowed from the lecture of the Fellow Craft Degree, as rendered in New York.

     

‘What’s the deal with Masonic Hall on Seinfeld?’

    

Castle Rock Entertainment

Masonic Hall makes a cameo in an episode of Seinfeld from 1992–not that there’s anything wrong with that.

This is old news but, since I recently snapped the image above, and today is the Mets’ home opener, here we are. I finally made the effort to capture the fleeting shot of Sixth Avenue in a manic scene in one of the defining episodes of one of the most hilarious television programs of the 1990s.

Titled “The Boyfriend,” this was the first two-part episode of Seinfeld, broadcast originally on February 12 and 19, 1992, the era of the show when its writing, acting, direction, and photography reached their apex, making the comedy the unique epochal document its admirers, like myself, remember today.

(Another episode, titled “The Outing,” broadcast February 11, 1993, upheld “the NYU paper” for ridicule. I had been News Editor of The Washington Square News until recently, making that Seinfeld story especially funny and memorable. I watched it that night with fellow WSN alums, giggling like idiots—not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

“The Boyfriend” is one of those stories that keeps the stars simmering one degree below insanity. Jerry befriends Mets great Keith Hernandez. Through Jerry, Hernandez meets and begins dating Elaine. George, unemployed again, tries to snaffle undeserved unemployment insurance benefits from his case worker. Kramer, with Newman, allege Hernandez had spit on them after a Mets loss to the Phillies five years previously.

Jerry stresses over how to interact with his new and famous friend, worried about his choice of shirt. Elaine dates the Mets legend, meeting at the old Fitzpatrick’s on the UES while he regales her with Game 6 excitement. Kramer and Newman unpack their spitting accusation, which leads to a devilish satire of Oliver Stone’s JFK, released two months earlier, was still in theaters, featured Wayne Knight, and would be nominated for eight Oscars the following Wednesday. Now that is one magic scene!

And then there’s George.

He attempts to con the state unemployment benefits system by claiming he recently had interviewed for a position at latex manufacturer Vandelay Industries, giving Jerry’s address and phone number for its contact info. After leaving his case worker, George maniacally races uptown to Jerry’s apartment to enlist his complicity in the fraud. In a cab heading up Sixth Avenue, he harries his driver with maddening backseat driving. The cabbie (Richard Assad), exasperated, pulls over and throws his fare out of the car.

This happens at the corner of Twenty-Third and Sixth, where stands Masonic Hall, plainly visible in the b-roll shot, as you see above.

In the end, George’s plot explodes in calculated madness, leaving him sprawled on Jerry’s floor, pants around his ankles, prompting Jerry to deliver a line said to have been improvised: “And you want to be my latex salesman?!”

Castle Rock Entertainment

And that was only the first of the two episodes.

The neighborhood looks different today. That Icon Parking lot on the right is long gone—yada, yada, yada—the 22-story luxury apartment building, annoyingly named The Caroline, was completed on the site in 2002.

Of the multitude of reasons why Masonic Hall is a legend amid the cityscape, I’d say its cameo in this Seinfeld episode ranks among the top 200.

     

‘Hermitix on Freemasonry’

    

It’s not possible to keep track of all the podcasts out there. Hermitix is not devoted to covering Freemasonry specifically, but inevitably it comes up. Its host—I guess the Hermit-in-Chief—James de Llis says it is “focusing on one-on-one interviews relating to fringe philosophy, obscure theory, weird lit, underappreciated thinkers and movements, and that which historically finds itself ‘outside’ the academic canon. The aim of the podcast is to allow autodidactic thinkers, amateur philosophers and the generally curious an insight into the work of thinkers who are often impenetrable to those outside of the academy.”

Cue Bro. John Michael Greer.

Author of multiple books on subjects from druidry and wicca to tarot and Golden Dawn, Greer is a repeat guest on the show, and was back last Thursday for more than an hour of fun chat about the Craft and Greer’s experiences. Enjoy.

     

‘Back in SRRS’

    

(With apologies to Dirk McQuickly of the Rutles.)

A tiny preview of this year’s Heredom
seen this week on social media.

Just because you’re not a Scottish Rite Mason doesn’t mean you cannot be part of the Scottish Rite Research Society. After an embarrassingly long absence from the SRRS, I rejoined yesterday, inspired by Chris Ruli’s visit to The ALR (see post below).

Looking forward to reading the scholarship this excellent group gathers and presents to us. Heredom Vol. 32 is due this fall. There’s also The Plumbline newsletter, in electronic form now from what I hear, plus the annual bonus book, which never disappointed me in the past.

SRRS

Click here to join or rejoin or renew.

     

‘Franco-American history at The ALR’

    

Our presenters last night at The American Lodge of Research were Bro. Chris Ruli and Bro. Erich Huhn, who discussed Lafayette and Tocqueville, based on both Frenchmen’s tours of the United States in the 1820s and ’30s.

The American Lodge of Research contributed to New York Freemasonry’s celebration of the Marquis de Lafayette last night by hosting Bro. Chris Ruli, author of Brother Lafayette.

Ruli published the book last summer, in time for the bicentenary of Lafayette’s farewell tour of the United States, having been invited by President (and Freemason) James Monroe and hosted jointly by the Masonic fraternity. Hailed as The Hero of Two Worlds, the young French officer played significant roles in the American Revolution. At age 66, he sailed to the United States and undertook a tour of all 24 states (albeit with only one step into Mississippi!) and the District of Columbia between August 1824 and September 1825, and was feted by civil, military, and Masonic authorities everywhere as “The Nation’s Guest.”

Bro. Lafayette’s portrait hangs
outside our lodge room.

Speaking to the lodge, Ruli retraced Lafayette’s travels and explained the tour’s significance to Freemasonry and how it should be understood in historical contexts, including the anti-Masonic movements of the nineteenth century. Lafayette visited a variety of locations here in New York State and was initiated into Royal Arch Masonry at Jerusalem Chapter and into Templary in Morton Commandery in New York City.

Before Chris took to the lectern, Bro. Erich Huhn, the Junior Deacon of the lodge, discussed another Frenchman’s historic ties to the United States: Alexis de Tocqueville. His tour of the country spanned through 1831 and 1832 and resulted in the landmark book Democracy in America.

Tocqueville, a historian and political philosopher, came to study the nature and habits of Americans, noting, among other things, how the citizens of the growing republic were self-reliant and enjoyed the practice of banding together in voluntary associations, a common reality completely different from life in Europe.

Huhn explained how Freemasonry’s teachings fit into Tocqueville’s observations, particularly the ways lodges of that period served as workshops in democratic practices.

The ALR’s next meeting will be Monday, June 30 at 7 p.m. inside the French Doric Room of Masonic Hall in Manhattan for our annual elections and installation of officers. Before then, though, we’ll get together for a festive board to commemorate a significant event in New York Masonic history. Details to come.