Richard Simmons died last week at the age of 76. Simmons gained fame for his exercise videos, in particular his Sweatin’ to the Oldies series. Simmons, having grown up in New Orleans as an obese child, went on to not only lose weight, but find meaning and joy in physical fitness. He shared that message in his videos, television appearances, live events, and classes at his exercise studio, Slimmons. He was born Milton Teagle Simmons to a Jewish mother, Shirley May “Sadie” Satin Simmons, but he was not raised Jewish, and he eventually became what he called an “extreme Catholic.” Why did Shirley’s Russian Jewish family disown her?
RichardSimmonsSept2011 by Angela George is licensed under ATTRIBUTION-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED via Wikimedia Commons
A. Because she served gefilte fish at her seder that was made from non-kosher catfish.
B. Because she married a non-Jewish man, Leonard Douglas Simmons Sr.
C. Because she was a burlesque dancer on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
D. Because she enrolled Richard in a Catholic elementary school, Mater Dolorosa, instead of the local public school.
E. Because it was her disgusting chopped liver that drove Richard to Catholicism.
In the recent debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the discussion devolved into comments about each other’s golf skills. Trump said of Biden that “He can’t hit a ball 50 yards.” Biden retorted, “I’m happy to play golf if you carry your own bag. Think you can do it?” And more recently, during President Biden’s press conference at the end of the NATO conference, he called out the former president by asking, “Where has Trump been, riding around on his golf cart, filling out his score card before he hits the ball?” Israel is home to two golf courses in Caesarea–a 6500-meter 18-hole course and a 9-hole par 3 course. The 18-hole course was built after James Armand de Rothschild visited the ancient ruins at Caesarea and noted that the surrounding sand dunes were reminiscent of golf courses in his native Scotland. Being an accomplished golfer himself, he decided to build a course on that land. The course opened in 1961 at an event that featured famed golfer Sam Snead. But this was not the first golf course to exist in this region, as the British Mandate authorities had built a golf course on the Dead Sea near Kibbutz Kalya in the 1930’s. British soldiers and civil servants established three competing golf organizations at the time which offered tournaments and frequently held competitions with each other. One was named the Jerusalem Golf Club and the second was the Palestine Police Golf Society. What was the name of the third group?
אבאאבןבפתיחה Minister Abba Eban in the opening of Caesarea's golf course by מועדוןהגולף - אוסףצילומיהארכיון is in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Richard “Kinky” Friedman died last month at the age of 79. Friedman, the grandson of Russian Jewish immigrants, was raised in Texas, and formed his first band, King Arthur & the Carrots, while studying at the University of Texas in Austin. In 1973, having previously been given the nickname of Kinky because of his hair, Friedman formed a new band called Kinky Friedman and The Texas Jewboys, performing satirical music, but also becoming part of the country rock movement of the time that included Graham Parsons and the Eagles, among others. The band toured with Bob Dylan, and became well known for songs including Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed, We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You, Ride 'Em Jewboy (a Holocaust tribute), and most famously, They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore. Friedman also wrote numerous detective novels, ran unsuccessfully for office in Texas, and wrote a column in the Texas Monthly magazine for many years. What was once written about Kinky Friedman in the Texas Monthly?
Kinky Friedman by Stephen C. Webster is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A. He’s the “only recording star in Nashville who buys his clothes at the Hadassah Thrift Shop.”
B. He’s the “only recording star in Nashville who takes the cheese off of his burger.”
C. He’s the “only recording star in Nashville whose success there is even more shocking than Beyoncé’s.”
D. He’s the “only recording star in Nashville who offends the Jews but the Jews love him anyway.”
E. He’s the “only recording star in Nashville whose bris had more attendees than his debut at the Grand Ole Opry.”
Oklahoma’s state superintendent has ordered that schools include the teaching of the Bible in all classes. Among those immediately protesting Oklahoma’s new requirement is the Jewish Federation of Tulsa, which issued a statement saying, in part, “we believe this directive undermines the core principles of religious freedom and the separation of church and state.” Jews first came to Oklahoma in the late 1800’s, attracted, as were many others, by the Land Run of 1889 (an event where previously restricted lands in former Indian Territories were opened by the U. S. Government to anyone who wanted to stake a claim). Jews settled throughout Oklahoma, often opening clothing or furniture stores. High Holiday services were first held in Oklahoma City in 1890 and a synagogue was established there in 1903. The current Jewish population in Oklahoma numbers roughly 5000. What was the context of a headline in a newspaper that read in part “Shylocks of Oklahoma City” ?
A. In 1927, the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on the lawn of Temple B’nai Israel, Oklahoma’s oldest synagogue still in operation.. The klansmen left behind flyers telling the Jews to leave Oklahoma, with a headline that read “Shylocks of Oklahoma City–Go Away!”, as reported in the headline of the Muskogee Phoenix newspaper. Thankfully there was no damage done to the synagogue and no one was hurt.
B. The headline in the Oklahoman newspaper referenced the annual Greek rush at the University of Oklahoma-Norman (a suburb of Oklahoma City) with the headline “Fraternity Prospects Dance with the Shylocks of Oklahoma City”. As part of the annual rush for new pledges, each fraternity put on a presentation for new freshmen. The school’s only Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, presented a short play called The Merchant of Norman, based very loosely on Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, featuring some of the fraternity members dressed like Shylock while dancing the hora.
C. In 1907, when Oklahoma became a state, the capital city was Guthrie. But a few years later it was proposed to move the capital to the larger city of Oklahoma City, much to the chagrin of Guthrie residents. A statewide vote was held and the move was approved, after which the Secretary of State, Leo Meyer, who was Jewish, stealthily moved the official state seal from Guthrie to Oklahoma City. The residents of Guthrie were outraged, and the Guthrie Daily Leader later ran an article with the headline “Shylocks of Oklahoma City Have State by the Throat”. Basically, the belief was that the Jewish merchants in Oklahoma City had conspired to have the capital moved for their financial benefit.
D. The complete headline, which appeared in the Dearborn Independent, read “Shylocks of Oklahoma City Spread the Dust Around”. The Dearborn Independent was Henry Ford’s weekly newspaper which regularly featured his antisemitic rants, blaming Jews for World War I, controlling the gold supply and American economy, and promoting the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This article was in response to the Dust Bowl storms which covered Oklahoma and much of the mid-west in the 1930’s. Ford blamed Jewish businessmen and bankers for usurious practices which put farmers out of business, leading to the drying up of the fields that fed the dust storms.
E.West Side Story, the musical about the conflict between New York’s Puerto Rican and white gangs, was originally envisioned as East Side Story, a conflict between New York’s Jewish and Catholic communities. Similarly, the musical Oklahoma, with its conflict between the cowmen and the farmers, was originally about a conflict between Oklahoma’s red neck and Jewish communities. The review in the weekly arts paper The Oklahoma Free Press had the headline “Shylocks of Oklahoma Meet the Crackers of Claremore”. The play featured an earlier version of the song The Farmer and the Cowman including these lyrics: The Shylocks and the Crackers should be friends/Oh, the Shylocks and the Crackers should be friends/One group eats the paschal lamb, the other likes to chew on ham/But that’s no reason why they cain’t be friends.
Willie Mays, the “Say Hey Kid,” died last week at the age of 93. Mays began his baseball career in the Negro Leagues before playing for the New York Giants, later becoming the San Francisco Giants, while finishing his career as a New York Met. He won multiple honors throughout his career, including Rookie of the Year, National League MVP (twice), Golden Gloves (12 times), and the Roberto Clemente award in 1971, which goes to the player who “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement, and the individual’s contribution to his team.” Mays hired banker Jacob Shemano, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, to help him get his finances in order at a point midway through his career when he found himself close to bankruptcy. Shemano refused to take payment, happy to work with the baseball great, and they became close friends, with Mays even visiting the Jewish Home for the Aged with Shemano. Their main point of contention was when Shemano’s wife served Willie Mays a bagel and lox, which Mays says he couldn’t swallow. While Mays did not pay Shemano for his services, what is one way that Mays returned the favor for Shemano’s work?
Willie Mays cropped by New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer, William C. Greene is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A. Willie Mays won the National League MVP award in 1954 with the New York Giants, and in 1965 with the San Francisco Giants. The second time that Mays won the award, he gave his MVP plaque to Shemano, who proudly displayed it in his office at the Golden Gate National Bank.
B. Willie Mays attended the bar mitzvah of Gary Shemano, Jacob’s son, at San Francisco’s historic synagogue, Congregation Sherith Israel. Mays reluctantly agreed to Jacob Shemano’s request that Mays carry the Torah around the congregation at the beginning of the Torah reading (this was allowed at the Reform congregation at that time).
C. Willie Mays became a spokesman for the Golden Gate National Bank, which Shemano had founded. The ads featured Mays promoting the bank, and ending with the line “Golden Gate...The Grand Slam of Banking.”
D. Willie Mays became an annual donor to San Francisco’s Jewish Welfare Fund (which later became the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco). In 1975, Shemano was honored by the JWF as Man of the Year, and Mays attended the dinner. Mays addressed the attendees and spoke of the values which Shemano modeled in his relationship with Mays.
E. Willie Mays helped Jacob Shemano’s sons impress the girls. When Gary and Ritchie Shemano would attend Giants games, Mays would get the names of their dates in advance and then toss a personalized signed baseball to the girls as he came out onto the field.
Donald Trump recently stated that “Milwaukee, where we are having our convention, is a horrible city.” He was specifically referring to crime, noting that “the crime numbers are terrible.” In response, Joe Biden tweeted a picture of himself with the 2021 NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks, saying “I happen to love Milwaukee.” German Jews first arrived in Milwaukee in the 1840’s. Most were Reform Jews, and many were secular and did not belong to synagogues. Eastern European immigration, mostly Orthodox, grew later in the 19th century, with many working in clothing and footwear manufacturing. The community continued to grow in the 20th century, and in 1938 the Jewish Vocational Service opened, the first organization in the country which focused on helping veterans get job training and employment. The current Jewish population is approximately 25,000, and the city features the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, which opened in 2008. What is another bit of Milwaukee Jewish history?
A. Miller Brewing Company was founded in 1855 by Ernst Meyerhof, a German Jew who emigrated to Milwaukee in 1845. He had worked as a brewer in Bavaria before coming to America. Not wanting to use his Jewish name for his company, he chose Miller as a take off from Milwaukee.
B. Harley-Davidson, Inc. company is headquartered in Milwaukee. The company was founded in 1903 when Milwaukee native William S. Harvey teamed up with a Jewish immigrant, Arthur Davidson, to design and market the motorcycle which is now an iconic brand. Harvey had worked as a salesman for Ford Motor Company, and Davidson was an engineer who had worked at Austro-Daimler in Vienna.
C. In 1947 a Polish Jewish immigrant named Zalman Margulies opened a store, Margulies Dry Goods, on Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Milwaukee. Margulies later changed his name to Marshall, and when the store expanded, he changed the name to Marshalls. Marshalls eventually opened locations in 42 states, and in 1976 Zalman (Margulies) Marshall sold the chain to the Melville Corporation.
D. The Settlement Cook Book, published in 1901, was compiled by Lizzie Black Kander, who was the founder of the settlement house referenced in the title. The book, one of the first and still most famous Jewish cook books, contained Jewish recipes. cooking techniques, nutrition information and more. The Settlement House which Kander founded was located in Milwaukee, not New York City as most people assume.
E. Golda Meir grew up in Milwaukee after her family emigrated there from Kiev. Golda and her best friend Liba started a pro-Zionist club at Milwaukee’s North Division High School. As part of their activities, Liba and Golda would open every meeting of the club by dancing and singing the club’s theme song which they wrote, with the following lyrics: Ehad, Shtaim, Shalosh, Arba, Hamesh, Shesh, Sheva, Shmone./Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hok a tchynik, Pupick, Shvitzer. Gary Marshall read Golda Meir’s autobiography and based the TV show Laverne & Shirley (which was set in Milwaukee), on Liba and Golda, incorporating their Zionist club song into the show’s theme song.
Mexico just elected its first female, and first Jewish president, Claudia Sheinbaum. While not religious, Sheinbaum has acknowledged her connection to Judaism, saying, “I grew up without religion…But obviously the culture, that’s in your blood.” The first Jews to arrive in Mexico came in the early 16th century–Sephardic Conversos, or Crypto-Jews–who fled the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal. Some had converted to Catholicism, while others secretly maintained their Jewish beliefs and practices. More tolerance of Jews began in the early 1600’s, when the King of Spain ordered Mexico to free Conversos who had been imprisoned for maintaining their Judaism. After Mexico became independent in 1821, the Inquisition was officially abolished in Mexico, and Jews slowly gained more freedom. The first recorded instance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services took place in 1861. Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe began emigrating to Mexico in the late 1800’s, with more immigrants coming in the 1920’s when the United States established immigration quotas. By the mid-20th century there were numerous synagogues and Jewish organizations, and the current Jewish population is believed to be as much as 100,000. A Jewish man named Hernando Alonso holds what distinction in Mexico?
A. He was the first rabbi to serve in Mexico, having moved there from Curaçao, where he had served as rabbi at Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in the Americas.
B. He was a carpenter on the ship of explorer Hernán Cortés, which led him to be the first Jew known to set foot in Mexico, in 1521.
C. He was the first Mexican to win a Nobel Prize, specifically for literature, honoring his many poetry collections including El laberinto de la soledad: Vida y pensamiento de México (The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico) and La Llama Doble, Amor y Erotismo (The Double Flame, Love and Eroticism).
D. He was one of the most successful matadors in the history of Mexican bullfighting, known as El Judío de los Toros.
E. He was the first Jew to be burned at the stake in the North American continent.
Pope Francis has received some negative publicity of late, first for using a gay slur in comments at a meeting with bishops, and then for saying to a group of priests that “gossip is a women’s thing.” What did Pope Francis do that led Rabbi Noam Marans, Director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations at the American Jewish Committee, to comment that the Pope “gets it in his kishkes”?
A. In 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Argentina (who became Pope Francis that year) co-wrote the book On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century with his friend Rabbi Abraham Skorka. Rabbi Marans was referencing that book, where the two clergy focused on the building of bridges between Catholics and Jews worldwide.
B. In November 2019, a Roman Holocaust survivor had been the victim of death threats. As the Pope was offering remarks to a public audience, he veered from his prepared remarks and stated, “The Jewish people have suffered so much in history. But today the habit of persecuting the Jews, brothers and sisters, is here reborn. This is neither human nor Christian.” Rabbi Marans was in that audience and later praised the Pope for his compassion.
C. When Israeli President Reuven Rivlin visited the Pope in 2015, Rivlin’s bureau chief, Rivka Ravitz, was not comfortable bowing to the Pope, as is protocol. The Pope therefore covered his cross necklace with his hand and bowed down to Ms. Ravitz. Rabbi Marans made his comment following that interaction.
D. Pope Francis visited Israel in 2014. While there, he became the first Pope to visit the grave of Theodor Herzl, and he visited Yad Vashem, where he kissed the hands of Holocaust survivors. Rabbi Marans was referring to this trip by the Pope when he made his remarks.
E. Rabbi Marans had invited the Pope to his Passover seder. At one point, the Pope excused himself from the table and “disappeared” for a half hour, shortly after eating the Hillel sandwich of bitter herbs on matzah. After Rabbi Marans went to check on the Pope, he reported to the other guests that the Pope was okay, but “you know, some people can’t really handle the bitter herbs, like the Pope, who ‘gets it in his kishkes.’ ”
Ivan Boesky died last week at the age of 87. Boesky, son of Russian Jewish immigrants, obtained his law degree but then worked in finance at a number of companies including L.F. Rothschild. He then started his own brokerage firm, Ivan F. Boesky & Company. He eventually amassed a huge fortune, in particular by betting on corporate takeovers. He also was successful in many financial dealings as a result of huge sums in cash which he paid others for inside information which he used to guide his investing. In 1986 he pleaded guilty to one count of insider trading, for which he served two years in prison and was permanently barred from working in the securities industry. The character Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street was in part based on Boesky, in particular the “greed is good” speech which Gekko delivers, similar to Boesky’s 1986 commencement speech at the Haas School of Business of the University of California, Berkeley where he stated, “Greed is all right, by the way. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.” What else is true about Ivan Boesky?
US Penitentiary, Lompoc [where Ivan Boesky served his prison term] by Federal Bureau of Prisons is in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons
A. Boesky once attended a bar mitzvah party on the Queen Elizabeth 2 yacht; he arrived too late for the boat’s departure, so instead he descended onto the boat at sea in a helicopter.
B. The investigation of Boesky’s insider trading was spearheaded by U. S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani. Boesky ultimately cooperated with Giuliani, providing information that led to the indictment of Michael Milken. Boesky went on to support Giuliani in his 2008 campaign for president, with rumors that Giuliani intended to appoint Boesky as chair of the Federal Reserve.
C. After his release from prison, Boesky’s personal connection to Judaism grew. He donated a significant amount of money to establish a support program for Jews incarcerated in the federal prison system. The program, called Boesky’s Atonement, provided prayer books, kosher food, and holiday items for those in need.
D. When Boesky divorced his first wife, Seema Silberstein, she agreed to pay him a $20 million settlement, plus $180,000/year for life.
E. After Boesky finished his prison term, he enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary. However, not convinced that he had truly atoned, the faculty declined to give him smicha, his rabbinical ordination. As a result, he incorporated his own seminary and awarded himself smicha, thereafter referring to himself as the Boesker Rebbe.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened in Los Angeles in 2021, dedicated to the film industry. The museum holds more than 13 million objects, including Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, tablets from The Ten Commandments, and a shark mold from Jaws. Shortly after opening, the museum received much criticism that it failed to reflect the major role that Jews played in the Hollywood film industry. As a result, the museum announced plans to add a permanent exhibit dedicated to Jewish industry pioneers, and this exhibit, titled “Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital,” just opened. Among those featured in the exhibit are Louis B. Mayer (Lazar Meir), the Warner brothers (the Wonsal brothers), and Samuel Goldwyn (Schmuel Gelbfisz). They and so many other founders of the movie industry were born to Jewish families who emigrated to the United States at the turn of the 20th century.
Samuel Goldwyn, born in Warsaw, eventually made his way to Hollywood where he partnered with his brother-in-law Jesse L. Lasky in hiring the unknown playwright Cecil B. DeMille to direct a silent film titled The Squaw Man. Goldwyn’s success continued as he hired writers including Ben Hecht, Dorothy Parker, and Lillian Hellman, and worked with actors including Eddie Cantor, David Niven, Gary Cooper, and Danny Kaye.
While Goldwyn did not embrace Judaism, he did ultimately become president of the United Jewish Welfare Fund and was a strong supporter of Israel. Among the honors he received were the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A. His second marriage, to a Catholic woman, produced a Catholic son, pleasing Goldwyn who felt this helped him “bleach out his Jewishness.”
B. He was the only major Hollywood producer who refused to blacklist writers targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee.
C. Upon being told that a book he had purchased for filming, The Well of Loneliness, couldn’t be filmed because it was about lesbians, he reportedly replied: “That’s all right, we’ll make them Hungarians.”
D. He was unsuccessful at convincing Sigmund Freud to write a romantic screenplay (which he assumed would have great sex scenes).
E. Playwright Lillian Hellman stated that “Within limits, I liked him.”