Profile: Nicole Krauss

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1185

I highly recommend Krauss' "History of Love". "Great House" is very good as well.

Update: Sir Paul to convert?

According to the National Enquirer (yes, the National Enquirer...), Paul McCartney is converting to Judaism.

MAZEL TOV! PAUL MCCARTNEY, baptized Roman Catholic but admittedly never very devout, quietly told pals after his marriage to socialite NANCY SHEVELL – who’s Jewish and takes her religion seriously – that he’s studying Judaism and promised his new bride he’ll convert, reports a friend of the star.

The former Beatle’s first wife, LINDA EASTMAN, came from a prominent Jewish family and McCartney had talked about converting after they married, but just never got around to it.

Paul told pals he’ll complete his conversion studies next year.^[1]

Considering the source... we'll see.

Profile: John Goodman

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1184

Goodman was suggested many times before, but this profile was spurred by Michael from Glencoe, IL, who wrote "it is my understanding is that he was not born Jewish, rather he converted to Judaism for purposes of marriage."

Previous suggesters included Frank from Pennsylvania, Deanna from Florida, Ilaan from Toronto, Karen from Blacksburg, VA, Benn from Michigan, George from Baltimore, and old champ Moishe from La Jolla.

Profile: Morris Michtom

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1183

Earlier this week, we ran my profile of Morrie Yohai, inventor of the Cheez Doodle. Today we're running my profile of Morris Michtom, inventor of the Teddy Bear. If there were other famous inventors named Morris, I suppose we'd run those this week too. But Morris the Cat didn't invent anything, so we're left with two. Such is life.

Profile: Rena Sofer

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1182

"Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style" is clearly superior to the other SBTB movie, "Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas". But I've said too much already.

Sofer was suggested by Gil from San Jose, Costa Rica.

Profile: Boris Gurevich

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1181

Good time as any to link this handy reference to Jewish Olympic Medalists.

Thanks to Oleg from California for the suggestion.

Profile: Morrie Yohai

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1180

Yohai was suggested by... Jeopardy!

Settling the Score: Seth Meyers

Seth Meyers always has been one of the trickiest people to profile. The internet just doesn't agree. We had him at Not a Jew because of... some quote we can no longer find.

First, we got an email from someone who claimed to have went to college with Seth and said that we are wrong and that he is definitely a Jew. Then, we got an email that says we were right the first time. Seth's father is Lawrence Meyers, Jr, mother is Hilary Olson. More importantly, Seth was previously listed on the Jewish tweens site, and his publicist wrote in, asking for removal. So...

Update: Barely a Jew. See here.

Profile: Dick Savitt

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1179

For more on Savitt, see this article.

Savitt was suggested by Tracy from Wayne, PA.

Profile: Chuck Schuldiner

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1178

Steve from Austin, TX sent us a long list of death metal musicians... but Schuldiner made the most sense to profile.

Profile: Benjamin Rubin

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1177

Yes, this is one of those profiles where I write something controversial, knowing that it could get me in trouble, only no one will care. Later I'll write something innocuous like, "Elizabeth Taylor got old" and we'll get piles of hate mail. So weird...

Anyway, Rubin was suggested by...me! Go me!

Profile: Misha Defonseca

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1176

More about Misha at Cracked.com.

Profile: Judah Maccabee

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1175

Judah Maccabee was suggested by... Mel Gibson, of course.

Profile: Gimli

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1174

It's ugly, big-nosed dude week here at JONJ! Nah, just kidding. Barbara Boxer isn't a dude!

Anyway, Gimli has actually been hanging around for a while, but there's only so many geeky profiles one site can write. At least that's what we keep telling ourselves...

Thanks to Lenny from Massachusetts, David from San Francisco, and Ben from Canada for the suggestions.

Profile: Peter Falk

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1173

This happens all the time: an important non-profiled Jew dies, we get lots of suggestions, but... well, we are not in the process of writing obits. So here's Falk, be it very late...

Suggestions from Peter from Lake Mary, FL, Ariel from London, Aaron from Massachusetts, Jeoffrey from Athens, GA, JeriAnn from Connecticut, Jason from Vancouver, Mark from New York, Simon from Switzerland, Gary from New York, Eddie from the Netherlands, and Ajay from the UK.

Profile: Iceman

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1172

After I wrote this, Yakov informed me that Jean Gray is dead, and Cyclops is co-inhabiting with Emma Frost. So I set it in 1993, when, apparently, my knowledge of comics died.

Profile: Barbara Boxer

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1171

So California has two Jewish Senators. Until recently, Wisconsin did as well: Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold.

Boxer was suggested by Jon from Tennessee, Ed from New York, Lawrence from Arizona, Judy from California, and Arnie from Parts Unknown.

Profile: Scott Caan

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1170

I originally wanted to push this closer to the Entourage finale, but then remembered that no one cares about Entourage. Which is kinda the point.

Caan was suggested by Glory from Sherman Oaks, CA and Josh from Santa Cruz, CA.

Settling the Score: Barbara Bach

We had Barbara Bach (Jewish father, goyishe mother) as Borderline Jew, but here she is with Ringo Starr at Paul McCartney's wedding... and that's clearly a cross. Barely a Jew it is.

Update: RIP Al Davis

Al Davis, the visionary and vilified Oakland Raiders owner passed away today. He was 82.

Profile: Jew's Ear

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1169

Originally, the mushroom was called Judas' Ear, based on the myth that the mushrooms were actually grown from Judas' blood on the tree near where he was killed. Or somesuch. Not exactly up on my Christian mythology. Anyway, that got shortened to Jew's Ear over time an that's how we ended up with fun profiles like this one.

At least I had fun with it anyway...

Profile: Ralph Steinman

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1167

Had to be done... Had to be done. And gives us back-to-back Ralphs!

Suggestions from Mila from Alexandria, Greg from Orange, CA, and David from Highland Park, IL.

Profile: Ralph Branca

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1168

There was actually a big to do story about this in the New York Times a month or so ago, followed by all sorts of editorials on what makes someone a Jew, etc., etc.

It's like someone should create some sort of website to talk about all this stuff...

Jews in the News: Another Nobel Jew!

No research necessary on this one: the Chemistry winner is Israeli Daniel Shechtman. We're 3/3 in awards, 5/7 in people at the moment. Could this finally be Philip Roth's year???

Doubtful.

Profile: Rahab

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1166

Ah, the Bible... what will those crazy kooks think of next?

Jews in the News: Two for three, again!

Yesterday, two for three in medicine... Today, two for three in physics!

Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess, Jews, share the Nobel Prize in Physics with the token goy, Brian Schmidt...

Jews in the News: Two Nobel winners in one day

Two of the three laureates for this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine are Jewish: Bruce Beutler and Ralph Steinman. The latter won posthumously(!), having passed away on September 30.

The Nobel committee was unaware of his death. Had they known, their own rules would have precluded him being selected as a winner. The decision was made Monday, just before the announcement, Nobel officials said.

"The events that have occurred are unique and, to the best of our knowledge, are unprecedented in the history of the Nobel Prize," the Nobel Assembly said in a statement, announcing that Steinman will remain a Nobel laureate.^[1]

Profile: Anne Meara

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1165

So now we have father-mother-son, to go with father-mother-daughter (but not Jews) and father-son-wife...

Meara was suggested by Sarah from Florida, Rachel from Philadelphia, Miriam from Burbank, and Ilene from Boston.

Top 10 Profiles: September

1. Ben Affleck (+1)
2. Jesus Christ (+1)
3. Adolf Hitler (+2)
4. Mel Gibson (0)
5. Rex Grossman (+63)
6. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (+13)
7. Scarlett Johansson (+4)
8. Sandra Bullock (+5)
9. Steve Jobs (-8)
10. Charlie Chaplin (-2)