Monday, January 31, 2011

Profile: Irving Jaffee


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=987

I just love profiling these old obscure Jewish champion athletes. So Jaffee was suggested by... me.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Profile: Puff the Magic Dragon


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=985

Puff was actually suggested by a co-worker of mine who has asked to remain anonymous. Therefore we'll give him as generic a name as possible, let's say...Jim Smith.

In a somewhat unrelated note, Puff's creators swear up and down that their pet dragon poem has absolutely nothing to do with drugs or drug culture.

Suuuuuuuurrrre.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Profile: Sophie Okonedo


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=984

Sophie has also appeared in "Dr. Who". We keep getting Dr. Who relates suggestions from our British readers, but, alas, it's just not our cup of tea...

Thanks to Ben from London for the suggestion.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Jews in the News: Anti-semitism in hockey



Jewish minor league hockey player Jason Bailey, now with the Binghampton Senators, is suing his old team.

According to the complaint, Bailey endured "a barrage of anti-Semitic, offensive and degrading verbal attacks regarding his Jewish faith" from Raymond, head coach of the [Bakersfield] Condors. Raymond, according to the lawsuit, would say, "they (referring to Jews) 'only care about money and who's who.'"[1]

Profile: Johann Strauss


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=983

I'm pretty sure the younger Strauss is the more famous Strauss. I think.

Strauss (not sure which one) was suggested by Yaakov from Jerusalem.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Profile: Thora Birch


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=982

Thora and her father were in the news recently... Creeptastic.

Mr. Birch asked the actor why he was rubbing Ms. Birch’s back during the scene. The actor – whom none of the sides would name – said that he had been directed to do so as part of the scene. Mr. Birch objected, saying that the back rub was unnecessary, and told the actor to stop.

Birch was suggested by returning suggester Cristela from Lima, Peru.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Profile: The Baudelaires


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=981

In the Daniel Handler profile, we wrote "[we] haven't read the books, or seen the unfortunately supposed mediocre film". I've since seen the film (better than expected) and read all the books (quite good).

Friday, January 21, 2011

Profile: "Macho Man" Randy Savage


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=980

I kinda already went down this road with the Goldberg profile. What can I say? I love the idea of Jewish-themed wrestlers. Other Jewish-themed things I'd like to see, but will never happen: a Jewish-themed theme park, a Jewish-themed casino, a Jewish-themed sports team.

Well, I can dream can't I?!

In any case, Mr. Savage was suggested by macho men Mark from Atlanta, Bruce from Cambridge, Kendall from Ottawa, and Joe from Scranton.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Profile: William Friedman


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=979

Dear readers: sorry to have mislead you, but our formula for the secret message inside the profile contains one error. Oops.

Friedman was suggested by returning suggester Jim from Tampa.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Profile: Catherine Oxenberg


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=978

Oxenberg was suggested by Loren from Las Vegas and Alexandra from Denver. And here's the British succession list from back in 2001.. Fascinatingly obsessive.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Profile: The Guardians of the Universe


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=977

The Guardians were suggested by Stan from West Virginia, who read about their possibly Jewish past on one of my favorite blogs about comics: Comic Book Legends Revealed by Brian Cronin. Good times.

Of course, it's one of my favorites and yet I needed someone ELSE to tell me it was there, but, hey, I never claimed to be good at what I do. Just to be one of only two people (and one of them's a horse) doing it...

Monday, January 17, 2011

Profile: Marty Turco


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=976

Finally, finally, finally! Thanks, Chicago Blackhawks PR department!

Turco was suggested by... here goes: Jake from Ottawa, Jason from Rockville, MD, Jordan from Ontario, Austin from Florida, Josh from Ontario, Eric from Philadelphia, and Pete from Brooklyn.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Profile: Robert Kraft


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=975

Kraft also owns the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer, an ugly stepsister to the Patriots. He was suggested by Corey and Mary from, where else, Boston, as well as Elayne from... Manhattan?

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Profile: Bela Guttman


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=973

Interestingly, with Guttman and Benny Friedman we have profiled two Jews who played for the New York Giants in the 1920s: soccer (Guttman) and American football (Friedman).

Returning suggester Max from Israel asked us to profile Guttman during the World Cup... better late than never!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Profile: Gabrielle Giffords


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=974

Well, this had to be done. Giffords was suggested by Harry from New York (again!!!), Miriam from Burbank, John from LA, Sarah from Wichita, and another returning suggester, Jim from Tampa.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Profile: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=972

Hanukkah Wallace, Torah Bright, Shalom Harlow, now Israel Kamakawiwo'ole... Not a Jew among them.

Thanks to Nils from Darmstadt for the suggestion.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Profile: Honi HaM'agel


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=971

Believe it or not, it was impossible to find a picture of Honi. So this is "A Rabbi" by good old Rembrandt. Seems appropriate.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Jews in the News: Gabrielle Giffords



Well, not the best way to make the news... Today, some nut opened fire in Arizona, killing six and wounding 12 others, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Yes, she is Jewish. As of this writing, Giffords is in a critical condition.

What a fucked up world we live in...

Friday, January 7, 2011

Profile: Judy Blume


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=970

This profile is all about "Are You There G-d, It's Me, Margaret" but my favorite will always be "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing". Either way, you really can't go wrong, honestly.

Blume was suggested by returning suggester Amy from Alaska and Jessica from Boston.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

JONJ at Judische Allgemeine



Our website got reviewed by the Jewish German website, Judische Allgemeine. Here is the original article, and here is the Google translation.
Demonstrably Jewish celebrities, however, were [not] only the usual suspects such as Einstein, Freud and Meyer Lansky and Laszlo Biro (inventor of the ballpoint pen), [but] Gottfried Fuchs, who scored ten goals in the 1912 Olympics for Germany against Russia, as well as Jean Lafitte, pirate and terror of the Caribbean 18th Century.

Profile: Maurice Sendak


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=969

Hmmm. Some kind of a children's week we're having. From a profiling someone barely out of diapers, to Power Rangers, to Sendak. Wonder who tomorrow will bring...

Sendak was suggested by Jeff from New Jersey, Leah from Lahaina, HI, and Harry from New York (again!).

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Vegas Baby!


We've had some big news brewing here at JONJ for a while now and it's been hard for us to keep it under wraps till now, but (finally) the truth can be revealed:

JewOrNotJew.com will be making our first ever public appearance at Tribefest 2011 in sunny (though you'd never know from inside the casino) Las Vegas!

The event will be held from March 6-8 and we will be in attendance. We have some fun activities planned which we'll be able to announce soon (OK, one hint: Jewpardy!) and it'll be your chance to throw rocks at us ask us your burning questions about the site. And Hashem knows, that's a hot ticket.

There'll be a bunch of other fun folks there as well including a published author, a professional football team owner and a hip hop violinist (wha? we have no idea, but it sounds cool as all heck, right?) so it should be a good time even if we're not enough to get your motor running (tough to imagine, we know).

Plus it's Vegas, so do you really need convincing?

All the details are linked above. We'd love to see you there (Except you crazy people. You stay home. And stop e-mailing us, too please. Urijah Faber is not Jewish and, frankly, we don't care).

Seriously, it's gonna be an awesome time and we can't wait. Vegas baby. Vegas.

Profile: Lord Zedd


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=968

Lord Zedd was suggested by Dave from London. And here is the clip. BEWARE.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Profile: Jonathan Krohn


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=966

Krohn was suggested by... no one? What the hell? How on earth did he get into our queue? Oh well...

Monday, January 3, 2011

Profile: Claude Levi-Strauss


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=967

Levi-Strauss, not to be confused with Levi Strauss, was suggested by Barbara from Las Vegas and Yaniv from Israel.

Saturday, January 1, 2011