Profile: Jim Levenstein

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1730

Suggested by TBS.

Profile: Simon Wiesenthal

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1729

Suggestion by... someone a while back.

Profile: Edith Head

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1728

Suggestion by Miriam from Burbank and Muse from Connecticut.

Profile: Francois Englert

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1727

Suggestion by the Nobel committee.

Profile: John and Horace Dodge

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1726

Suggestion by Jeffrey from Maryland.

Profile: Benoit Mandelbrot

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1725

Suggestions by Natalie from Florida and Don from Arizona.

Profile: Veronica De La Cruz

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Suggestion by Cliff from Rockland.

Profile: Maya Plisetskaya

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Suggestions by Mila from Alexandria, Mark from Tennessee, and Bill from Brooklyn.

Profile: Zygi Wilf

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1722

Yes, more Jewish Vikings...

Profile: Emmy Noether

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1721

Suggestions by Galyna from Ohio, Erwin from New Mexico, Dean from Israel, and Jim from Princeton.

Profile: Jon Favreau

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Suggestions by Ben from London and Kern from California.

Profile: Jorge Sampaio

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Sampaio was suggested by... someone a while back. Sorry, can't find the email.

Profile: Sarah-Theodora

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Suggestion by a blog commenter.

Profile: Isaac Berger

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1717

Although the Palestine-born Berger competed for the US, he truly could be called Israel's first medalist...

Profile: Val Kilmer

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Suggestions by Levi from Texas and Paul from Minnesota.

Profile: Frank Zappa

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Suggestion by Alan from Pennsylvania, Shulum from Georgia, Albert from California, and Clay from Texas.

Profile: Rudy LaRusso

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Suggestion by Daniel from Brooklyn.

Profile: Josh Saviano

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O Score of 6, if only that was possible...

Profile: My Sharona

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1712

Suggestion by David from Long Island.

Jews in the News: Ausmus Gets His Aliyah on the Major League Bima

It was announced over the weekend that the Detroit Tigers, former home of Hank Greenberg, decided to up their JQ and hire former bat-less wonder Brad Ausmus as their new manager.

And what were Ausmus qualifications to be the new Tiger top man?

Well....he, ummm, played baseball. And he managed the Israeli National Baseball team for a few months. And people tend to think of him as a good catcher (which, per Bill James, only proves that Ausmus could not hit).

And that's about it, actually.

Thus continues a long baseball tradition of hiring people based on a sole qualification (a professional playing career) that only reinforces the candidates lack of quantifiable qualities.

In the NFL, the currently most respected head coach is Bill Belichick. He never played professionally. The head coach of the (at this writing) undefeated NFL Chiefs is Andy Reid. He never played in the NFL, either.

In the NBA, the two managers from last year's finals were Erik Spoelstra and Greg Popovich. Number of professional basketball games between them? Zero.

And while there are certainly plenty of former pros managing teams (the Super Harbaugh Bros, recent Stanley Cup winning coach Joel Quenneville, zen master Phil Jackson) all of them spent time in the ranks as either assistants or college coaches (or both) before being brought up to manage the major league club.

In MLB? Nah. That guy's got grit.

So are we happy that a Jewish guy (and a proud one at that) got hired to manage the Tigers? Sure.

But as baseball fans, honestly, we'd rather they'd have picked another goy who actually might be able to do the job competently (unlike, say, Robin Ventura, Ron Washington, Joe Girardi, Dusty Baker...)

Profile: Murray Gell-Mann

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1711

Suggested by the recent rush of Nobel Jewish laureates.

Profile: Amy Irving

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1710

Suggestions by Michael from Hartford, Neal from Sarasota, and Miriam from Burbank.