HUNGRY GERALD

The great German/Jewish poet and man of letters Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) said, after demolishing a platter of stuffed cabbage at a Jewish restaurant in Vienna: “What a noble religion we have.” The prescient Heine, on a darker note, said: “Where they have burned books they will end by burning people.” Sidebar: There is a just-restored white marble monument to Heine, “Lorelei,” on a plaza opposite the art deco Bronx County Courthouse (the Courthouse is featured in Tom Wolfe’s novel “Bonfire of the Vanities.”)