Have you seen the series on Netflix that debuted several years ago, Lupin? It is a French series (fourth year now in production) starring actor Omar Sy, who was made for the part of an African-French gentleman thief, out to revenge his father, who had been falsely accused of theft by his aristocratic employer. It starts with an elaborately planned, meticulously carried out, brazen jewel theft from the Louvre. Sy’s character, Assane Diop, has since youth been intrigued by the novels of Maurice Leblanc, featuring the gentleman thief, Arsene Lupin.

Well, what do you know! Yesterday, there was an elaborately planned, meticulously carried out, brazen jewel heist at the Louvre. In tracking the perpetrators, I would suggest starting with the books of Maurice Leblanc.

Of course, there are other possibilities. It has been said that it was an outside job, the thieves coming through a window. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t planned by someone on the inside. Take, for example, Mona Lisa. She has a suspicious smirk, you know.

I understand that Mona Lisa is none too happy with the Louvre’s plans to move her from her current location, a room she shares with several close friends, and place her in solitary confinement, in a room where she will be all alone, even with a separate entrance. She might feel she needs to show the Louvre who’s boss. You know the old saying “Veni, vidi, vici.’  Well, maybe it should now be “Veni, vidi, da Vinchi”.

I am sure there have been a lot of movies about jewel thiefs. One I remember is Topkapi, about a robbery in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. I don’t remember much. Just some of the scenes of what later became one of my favorite cities. And Peter Ustinov, who won an Oscar. It came out in 1964, just as I came out with my undergraduate degree.

Another is A Fish Called Wanda. I don’t really remember the plot, but I remember laughing throughout the film. That’s rare for me as my sense of comedy seems to be different from most of the rest of the world, and most “comedies” leave me cold.

Wikipedia tells me The Sting, The Pink Panther, To Catch a Thief, and Rififi were all about jewel theft (maybe not all from museums), but I just don’t remember the plot lines. And maybe I never saw Rififi.

We did not take part in the No Kings rallies yesterday. We went to services at Adas Israel, but the one mile journey down Connecticut Avenue had us pass several large clumps of sign carrying people. Average age? I’d say 75 to 80.

I was surprised, because I heard nothing political at Adas Israel at all, which is surprising since so much is going on. But the rabbis mentioned nothing either about No Kings or about Israel-Gaza. And neither came up in any conversation I had.

The synagogue was very crowded. Two bar mitzvahs, an upcoming wedding, and the blessing of all children born within the past year. The children were allowed to bring their parents and grandparents with them. My guess is there were 25 to 30 babies.

The kiddush lunch was so crowded that our very large social hall (the Kay) and its expansion space (the Wasserman) were insufficient to hold everyone. Someone suggested that maybe Trump should build his new ballroom over the Adas Israel parking lot, instead of at the White House. That someone was, of course, me. No one paid any attention to that comment. For good reason.

The afternoon was spent at the very low key birthday party for grandson Izzy, who is turning 5 tomorrow.  Beautiful weather, plenty of room for the kids (new school, old school, religious school) to run around. I met a number of the children, including 5 year old Isadore’s friend, 5 year-old Irving from his old neighborhood, and one of his new friends, 5 year old Hero. An animal balloon maker was at the party. She is 10. Her name is Joan.

Stopping here. Gotta go buy some bagels.