Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Profile: William Saunders Crowdy


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=876

My brother keeps telling me we need to profile Robert Rozier, the ex-NFL player / Black Israelite / murderer. So I started to research the Black Israelites, and Crowdy seemed like a better place to start...

Monday, August 30, 2010

Friday, August 27, 2010

Profile: Regina Spektor


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=875

Regina was suggested by Sari from New York, Alexander from England, and... my brother.

And, if there is such thing as "antifolk", is there anitpunk? Antirap? Anticountry?

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Update: Oh yeah, about that Hitler guy...



So you might have heard this one in the news recently. Belgian grave robbers DNA researchers have studied the genealogy of Adolf Hitler's relatives and found that he might have been part Jewish (and part African). Not WAS part Jewish (and part African). Might have been. Yawn.

Actually, it's funny how the headlines distort the findings. That chromosome is not necessarily Jewish. It COULD BE possibly African. It COULD BE possibly Berber. It COULD BE possibly Spanish. It COULD BE possibly Jewish. Seriously... yawn.

Profile: William Cohen


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=874

Cohen is one of the examples cited by the anti-circumcision lobby (lobby?). As for our stand on the matter?

No comment.

Thanks to Martin from Florida for the excellent suggestion.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Profile: Lauren Bacall


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=873

Yakov is stranded without internet (I believe he's studying the Jewish origins of the stone heads on Easter Island -- you'd think they'd have wireless there, but guess not), so once again I'm covering for his profile...

Bacall was suggested by... oh, wow. Here we go: Aaron from Asheville, Ann from New Jersey, Harvey from Napa, CA, Masha from New Jersey, Steve from California, Liora from Brazil, and Loren from Las Vegas.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Profile: Howard Schultz


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=872

Wow, that's quite a few NBA owners we've profiled...

Schultz was suggested by all-time champ La Jolla Moishe and Leonard from Kingston, Ontario.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Profile: MIke Nichols


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=871

Marcel from Germany suggested Nichols... over two years ago! Holy crap, talk about a long time coming.

For the full list of EGOT winners, and people close to an EGOT (any Jews???), see here.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Profile: k.d. lang


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=870

10 years ago, I was working for a .com that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on its image campaign, including its name, which they decided will always be lower-cased. That .com no longer exists.

I rarely get surprised when our readers tell us that someone is Jewish. When Mark from Toronto said k.d. lang is (part), I definitely was.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Profile: Jake LaMotta


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=869

Many call "Raging Bull" the greatest sports movie of all time... For me, it's just too heavy. How can you have a great sports movie without a campy montage?

LaMotta was suggested by Angelo from Philadelphia.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Profile: Laura Schlessinger


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=868

For those who missed it, here's the transcript from last week.

Way back last year, Dr. Laura was suggested by Karen from San Diego and Tim from Mission, BC.

Wow, good timing. Dr. Laura ended her show today.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Profile: Maurycy Gottlieb


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=867

I discovered Maurycy when looking for pictures of the Wandering Jew. The above is a Gottlieb's self-portrait as the character...

Monday, August 16, 2010

Profile: Lea Michele


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=866

Yakov is super-busy nowadays, so here I am blogging another of his profiles... Lea was suggested by... brace for this... Duck from New York, Bruce from Cambridge, IL, Amy from Tucson, Jay from Gaithersburg, MD, Hannah from England, Judy from Walnut Creek, CA, Esther from Philadelphia, Eric from Elyria, OH, and Joelle from North Carolina.

That being said... I'm not sure most of these suggesters will be happy with Yakov's rendition.

Anyway, I'm glad he got to channel his inner Dwight Schrute on such an unrelated topic. What's next? A tribute to beets? Bears? Oh.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Update: Philip Markoff is dead



Philip Markoff, the partially Jewish "Craigslist killer", killed himself in jail. "RIP" does not apply.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Profile: King Solomon



http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=865

I cannot tell a lie: the idea for this profile came from Moishe who uploaded Solomon to our vaunted queue and then suggested we do some sort of Judge Judy parody. I'm not exactly sure how I ended up writing it. I don't even really like TV judge shows.

And yet, here we are.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Profile: Boris Spassky


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=864

The seven (at least part) Jewish chess champions are: Wilhelm Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Bobby Fischer (BARF), and Garry Kasparov.

Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir Kramnik are rumored to be at least part Jewish, but those are likely just rumors...

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Profile: Mata Hari


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=863

Yes, people thought that Mata Hari was possibly Jewish because of her black hair, eyes, and dark complexion...

Not Jews in the News: LeBron and a rabbi?


Oh oh. First Amar'e and not this?
LeBron James could use some sound advice; that much has been clear since his much-criticized decision to announce that he would be joining the Miami Heat in a one-hour ESPN special that shot that network's credibility and enraged the city of Cleveland. And now he's getting some, from a most unexpected source: an Israeli rabbi who speaks no English and bases his teachings on the Kabbalah.[1]

Could it be? Could LeBron be converting?
James met Tuesday with Yishayahu Yosef Pinto, a 37-year-old spiritual leader whose following in the business community is as intense as it is mysterious to the uninitiated. According to TMZ, the NBA star was seeking guidance in advance of a major merchandising meeting set to take place on a yacht later in the day.

Oh. It's about merchandising. Well then.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Profile: The Ferengi


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=862

The Ferengi were suggested by Thomas from New York in response to our Dr. Zoidberg profile about Star Trek not visiting a "Jew" planet.

Obviously, we beg to differ. Hopefully this is the last Star Trek profile I have to write....actually ever. My nerd quotient is starting to climb from not disturbingly knowledgeable up to thoroughly horrifying. Mrs. Yakov is already concerned....

Monday, August 9, 2010

Profile: Oscar Mayer


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=861

I'm a Hebrew National guy, myself. Though, if I'm at the Yankee game I'll go for a Nathan's dog. One of the hardest things for me about living in Boston were those abominations, those porky Fenway Franks. Seriously. What are those people thinking? Then again, Moishe says he really enjoys an Oscar Mayer beef frank, so clearly people with bad taste aren't just in Massachusetts.

Just kidding Moishe. Mostly. The Oscar Mayer wiener was suggested by...no one? I could have sworn someone suggested this. Oh well, either Moishe will correct me later or I'll just have to accept that one of us thought of the idea and later forgot that we thought about it.

This happens a lot, actually.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Profile: Chelsea Clinton


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=860

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Settling the Score: Amar'e Stoudemire



An update from an article in the Wall Street Journal:
It appears that Mr. Stoudemire isn't Jewish under religious law. Mr. Stoudemire said his mother's links are solely from her study and appreciation of the Old Testament.

but, but, but...
While he doesn't consider himself religiously Jewish, he said he feels spiritually and culturally Jewish.

So yeah, Barely a Jew it is. Unless... well, there are plenty of mohels in Israel, right, Amar'e?

Profile: Jonathan Goldsmith


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=859

I don't always surf the web, but when I do, I go to Jew or Not Jew.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Profile: Erhard Milch


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=858

Here's another Jewish Nazi: Werner Goldberg, who "The Ideal German Soldier".


Milch was suggested by Bernard from Norway and Norman from Germany.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Profile: Richard Feynman


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=857

Believe it or not, Feynman is one of our most requested profiles. Sent in by Daniel from New York, Sergei from Jersey City, Cees from Toronto, Xinle(!) from Arkansas(!), Yaniv from Israel, Alex from Chicago, and Andrew from Tennessee.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Profile: Sean Kanan


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=856

Kanan was suggested by... me, of course! Wait, what's that? Someone else actually suggested him? Adam from Illinois. Gotta give the readers what they want, I always say!

Sunday, August 1, 2010