JL;DR SUMMARY Stav Appel, an accidental historian, argues that the tarot cards, specifically the Jean Noblet Tarot de Marseille, might have been invented by crypto-Jews as an educational tool to preserve Jewish knowledge during a time of intense antisemitic persecution in medieval Europe. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.