Jews in the News: Steve Mesler is golden

Well, what do you know. We actually got a Jewish gold medalist out of the Winter Olympics. Bobsledder Steve Mesler (third from the left on the podium) and his teammates won the 4-man competition on the second to last day of the Olympics.

For those curious, the one Jewish athlete whose results we haven't mentioned, Israel's Mihail Renzhyn, finished 55th in the Giant Slalom and 35th in the Slalom.

Jews in the News: Andrew Koenig, RIP

Yes, Andrew Koenig was Jewish; his father, Walter Koenig (Chekov from "Star Trek") definitely is. So was his mother, Judy Levitt.

For those unfamiliar, Koening, who played Mike Seaver's (Kirk Cameron, DEFINITELY NOT A JEW) best friend Boner on "Growing Pains" went missing in Vancouver. His body was discovered yesterday, an apparent suicide.

Profile: Steve Jobs

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=745

A rarity: after new information came forth, we changed the profile on the day it was published (originally we had a theory about Jobs' biological mother being Jewish; that turned out to not be the case).

Jobs was also suggested by Anne from Belmont, CA, Joe from the Virgin Islands, Elayne and Matthew from NYC, and Moishe from La Jolla.

Jews in the News: Charlie White

Michael from Hartford comes through once again, finding an Olympic Jew that we missed: ice dancer (yes, ANOTHER ice dancer), silver medalist Charlie White (that's him on the -- ahem -- right). His grandmother made the call to the Detroit Jewish news to reveal Charlie's Jewish roots. Way to go, grandma!

Settling the Score: Meryl Streep

Michael from Hartford, who excellent suggestion led to today's profile (CHRIS Pine, who would have thunk it), sent us a correction about Meryl Streep. We've made mistakes before, and we always admit them, but here it turns out the mistake is Meryl's own. SHE thought she was Dutch and part Jewish... Turns out she's German and goyishe. Here are some links on the subject. Our profile of her had to be obviously altered as well.

Thanks, Michael!

Profile: Chris Pine

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=744

There is a bit of a groundswell among my fellow nerds and Trekkers who decidedly disliked the new Star Trek, as if the fact that the mainstream populace enjoying the film means that it must be disliked by those "in the know."

I've never understood this need by the disenfranchised to respond by disenfranchising. It's one of the uglier sides of geek-dom and one that I've found offputting enough to keep me out of the hardcore nerd culture (admittedly, for the best).

It is not my place to decide for the masses what is good or bad (just who is Jewish and who isn't). Could the story have been more cerebral? Sure. Was the plot nonsensical and, at times, completely ludicrous? Absolutely.

But if you were any kind of fan of that old series and couldn't watch the movie without a sense of its inherent joy...

I think you've lost something important along the road to fandom. And I think that's rather sad.

Pine was suggested by Mike from Hartford.

Profile: Irina Slutskaya

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=743

Jews in the Olympics (ie, Jews dancing on ice) update: Ben Agosto and his shiksa Tanith Belbin just miss the medals, getting 4th. Israel's Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky finish 10th -- probably Israel's best performance at Winter Olympics ever...

Profile: John Mayer

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=742

No, we do not have a Twitter account. We will NEVER have a Twitter account. Sorry, loyal fans. The website itself and the blog is more than enough. (Oh, right, someone made a fan page for us on Facebook... that might get updated one day, right?)

So yes, Mayer did reveal on Twitter that he is half Jewish. That link in the profile actually takes you to his tweet. As for the other "tweets"... they are ALL based on real emails we have received. Some are verbatim, some have been changed a small bit. All the names have been changed.

Mayer was suggested by Elizabeth from Columbus, OH, Adam from Bloomington, IN, Neen from Detroit, and Harry from New York.

Profile: Jake Gyllenhaal

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=741

Jake, of course, will be playing the title character in "Prince of Persia" (so not a Jew).

Thanks to Anne from Dallas for the suggestion.

Profile: Torah Bright

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=740

Torah was suggested two months ago by Donn from Caldwell, NJ. Obviously, we had to wait for the Olympics for this profile.

Olympic Jews update: biathlete Laura Spector finished 77th in the 7.5 km and and 65th in the 15 km.

Profile: Gene Wilder

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=739

You might read this and think that it's a pretty cheap way to (finally!) profile Gene Wilder. But actually it's just a really cheap way for me to namedrop my extra-super-distant cousin Max Stern.

So ha!

Wilder was suggested by Tsvi from Albany, Sarah from Florida, Peter from Lake Mary, FL, Daniel from St. Louis, Tommy from Cleveland, and Greg from Virginia.

Profile: Saint Paul

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=738

We kid, goyim. We kid because we love.

Or do we?

Profile: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=737

Left out: Gordon-Levitt's teenage performance as Demi Moore's son in "The Juror", where she is... the juror, tormented by the evil and suave (oh, so suave) Alec Baldwin.

Joseph was suggested by Dave from Detroit and Holly from California.

Profile: Esti Ginzburg

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=735

The extremely lovely Miss Ginzburg, together with her rival, the gorgeous Bar Refaeli, is featured in last week's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. We browsed... just for research purposes, we assure you.

Ginzburg, who made our blog's Jews in the News last year, was suggested by Bruce from Cambridge, IL. Usually, because of our backlog, suggested profiles take a while to appear, but here, for whatever reason, we felt the urge to publish it immediately...

Profile: Benjamin Agosto

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=736

Here's an article about Jews at the Winter Olympics: they count three Americans -- Agosto, Laura Spector (biathlon), and Steve Mesler (bobsled). There are also three Israelis -- Mikail Renzhyn (downhill skiing), and siblings Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky (ice dancing).

So hooray, it's the Winter Olympics! Ummm... Hooray? Anyone? Anyone?

For proof that ice dancing is not a real sport, see below: