Frequently, I receive emails, texts and Facebook messages from friends, students, writers and academics asking if I can comment on the truth, falsity or what in “Yinglish” might be referred to as the nish-ta-heen, nish-ta-hare ness . . . “neither here nor there”) of some “fact,” “fiction” or “fable.” I’m not sure why they send me these requests; I mean I’m far from being the end-all or be-all of knowledge; that’s why we have Snopes, Google and the Washington Post Fact Checker. Truth to tell, I’m no smarter than the next fellow; I do admit, however, to having a larger personal library than most, having been afforded a pretty nifty education, and spending more of my waking hours reading and taking notes than anyone I know.
One of the people who sends me more queries than just about anyone I know is a student/great friend/fellow baseball fanatic (although he roots for the Yankees and yours truly for the Dodgers) is a fellow who always signs off as “Your Pal Al.” Well, “My Pal Al” sent me a corker the other day- concerning the accomplishments of Jewish people . . . except that a lot of them weren’t Jewish. Upon first wending my way through his email. it was difficult to tell if the person (or people) who had compiled the original list did so because they were anti-Semitic conspiratorialists or purveyors of יידיש שטאָלץ - (Yiddishe shtolz - Jewish pride). Having a rare afternoon off, I decided to go through the list he was sent and then forwarded to me, and provide a bit of a “thumbs up, thumbs-down” on each of the 49 claims.
The Roosevelts were Dutch Jews who arrived in NYC in 1682. Claes Rosenvelt before he changed his name to Nicholas Roosevelt, was the first Roosevelt ancestor to set foot in America, and Sarah Delano, FDR's mother descended from Sephardic Jews. Absolutely not! Anti-Semitic opponents of FDR however, did frequently insist that he was Jewish on both sides of his family. They referred to the New Deal as the “Jew Deal” and mispronounced the name “Roosevelt” to make it sound more like a stereotypical Jewish name. It should be noted, however, that Franklin and Eleanor’s great grandson, (through their daughter Anna), Joshua Boettiger, is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinic College in Philadelphia and has served as rabbi of Congregation Emek Shalom since August 2012.
Joseph Stalin was originally named Joseph David Djugashvili (translated as: "son of a Jew".) All 3 of the women that he married were Jewish. This is a canard which has been passed on from generation to generation. While it may be true that he had an affair with at least one Jewish women, he was also one of modern history’s most depraved anti-Semites. Part of the problem is with the translation “Djugashvili,” which does not mean “son of a Jew.” This is twaddle; likely created by anti-Semites who believed that since Karl Marx was born into a Jewish family, all Communist leaders, therefore, must also be Jewish.
Dwight Eisenhower's father was a Swedish Jew, and listed in West Point's Yearbook of 1915. In the 1915 West Point yearbook, The Howitzer, Eisenhower was jokingly referred to as both “a Swedish Jewish Jew” and “Senor Eisenhower.” The Eisenhowers were of German ancestry and were members of the “River Brethren,” a religious congregation that originated in Pennsylvania and which was a sect of the Mennonite church. There are no traces of Jewish roots on either side of his family.
Lillian Friedman, a Jewish woman, married Cruz Rivera. They named their baby Geraldo Miguel Rivera , but according to Jewish Law, anyone born to a Jewish mother is Jewish. Thus, Geraldo Rivera is Jewish. While much of this story is true, they got the spelling wrong; Geraldo spells the family name “Riviera.” Although he was raised “mostly Jewish” and became Bar Mitzvah in a Reform Jewish synagogue in New York, he has been most close-mouthed about his heritage throughout his nearly 50 years in the media. Of his 5 wives, only the latest, Erica Michelle Levy, is Jewish.
Fiorello Laguardia, famous former mayor of New York City, whose mother's name was Jacobson. His father was not Jewish. Laguardia spoke seven languages fluently, including Hebrew and Yiddish. He was Jewish. Fiorello LaGuardia’s mother was named Irene Luzzato Coen, the scion of a Jewish family from Trieste, then a part of Austria. Irene married at age twenty‑three, and though raised in a religious home was "thoroughly Italian in speech and culture"---the prevailing tendency among Jews in cosmopolitan Trieste. On their marriage certificate, Irene recorded her religion as Israelita; Achille La Guardia, her husband, "carrying the memory of indignities heaped on him by his teachers, all priests," wrote down nessuna---"nothing." La Guardia, the future Congressman and NYC mayor spoke a passable Yiddish but was decidedly not fluent. Neither was he at all knowledgeable when it came to Hebrew. (For further insight into the Jewish side of Fiorello LaGuardia, feel free to check out either of my books on the Jews of Capitol Hill, The Congressional Minyan and The Jews of Capitol Hill.”
Winston Churchill whose mother's name was Jenny Jerome, was a Jew. So, he was Jewish. Not even close! Jennie had an Iroquois Indian great-grandfather, but no evidence of any Native American ancestry has yet been uncovered, despite much genealogical digging. The Jewish writer Moshe Kohn, in an article in The Jerusalem Post on 15 January 1993, alleged that the Jerome family name was originally Jacobson, and that Jennie's ethnic ancestry was, in fact, Jewish, at least on her father's side. However, there is no truth to this claim; the name of the family was never "Jacobson" but was always "Jerome" since the family (in the person of a Huguenot immigrant named Timothy Jerome) first set foot in America in about 1717.
Cary Grant, whose mother, Elsie, was Jewish. His father, Elias Leach, was not. Grant's original name was Archibald Alexander Leach; He was Jewish. There is virtually no documentation to prove one way or another that Cary Grant was/was not even partially Jewish. His mother Elsie Maria Kingdom was from Bristol. It would seem that the only “proof” of his Jewishness came late in life when he was asked why he had made a substantial contribution to a the United Jewish Appeal. Grant - who was indeed born “Archie Leach” - offhandedly remarked “. . . because somewhere back in history, I had a Jewish ancestor.” That’s about as far as it goes. In checking with my hometown sources, no one ever heard about Grant’s claiming Jewish antecedents. And believe me, Hollywood is a small town . . .
Peter Sellers' mother, Margaret Marks, was Jewish. His father, Bill Sellers, was not. Peter's real name is Richard Henry Sellers. He is Jewish. Richard Henry Sellers was born in Portsmouth, England. His father William was a pianist and his mother Agnes, one of the Ray Sisters group of entertainers, was the great-granddaughter of famous Jewish boxer Daniel Mendoza. Despite his Jewish origins Peter was educated at the Roman Catholic St Aloysius College in Highgate. So far as can be told, Seller’s involvement in Judaism extended no further than his genealogy .
David Bowie's mother is Jewish, his father is not. One of Bowie's albums discusses his Jewish ancestry. His real name: David Stenton Haywood Jones. This is patently untrue. At various times in his career, Bowie (born David Robert Jones) called Hitler (y’macn sh’mo) “the first Rock Star” and gave the Nazi salute on stage. Towards the end of his life he espoused an interested in Kabbalah - from whence came the rumor that he had a Jewish background. I can tell you from “neighborhood” history and knowledge that there was a time not long ago when tons of celebrities from the worlds of film and music became devotees of kabbalah . . . few of whom were Jewish. It was just “the thing to do.” I well remember back in those days when the Kabbalah aficionados would approach me and say “I understand that you can actually can read this stuff in the original; perhaps you can help me. There’s a few things I don’t understand.” My answer, larded with sweet sarcasm, usually started with “Only a few things you don’t understand? Then I should be listening to you!”
Robert DeNiro's mother is Jewish. He is Jewish. Sorry about that; Mr. De Niro’s mother was raised Presbyterian but became an atheist as an adult, while his father had been a lapsed Catholic since the age of 12. Against his parents' wishes, his grandparents had De Niro secretly baptized into the Catholic Church while he was staying with them during his parents' divorce. His parents divorced when, at age 2, De Niro’s father announced that he was gay.
Shari Belafonte's mother is Jewish. Her father, Harry's grandfather is a Jew. She is Jewish. Shari Belefonte’s father, Harry was born in Jamaica, the son of a black mother and Dutch Jewish father of Sephardi origins. This in no way makes her Jewish, although she does have a bit of a Jewish background.
Olivia Newton John's grandfather, a Jew, was a Nobel Prize winning physicist. John is of paternal Jewish ancestry; her grandfather, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born, fled with his family to England from Germany before WWII to escape the Nazi regime. This only means that she has Jewish family members . . . not that she is Jewish.
Harrison Ford's mother is a Russian Jew, his father is Irish Catholic. As the son of a father of Irish/Catholic descent and a mother whose family were made up of Eastern European Jews, Ford always claimed When asked about what influence his Jewish and Irish Catholic ancestries may have had on him, he quipped, "As a man I've always felt Irish, as an actor I've always felt Jewish." (Apropos of nothing: for years, there was a rumor that the great Charlie Chaplin was Jewish. No one knew for certain. Part of the problem was that no one ever asked him directly; many accused him. Finally, late in life, a writer asked him directly. His response? “I’m afraid I’ve never had that honour.”
The first theater to be used solely for the showing of motion pictures was built by a Jew Adolf Zukor. Actually, the first movie theater (then called a “Nickelodeon” was created by a vaudeville impresario named Harry Davis. The date of its opening was June 19, 1905; the place was Pittsburgh. The first film shown at his theater was director/producer Edwin K. Porter’s 1903 “flicker” The Great Train Robbery. The only Jewish person involved in the film - generally considered the first “real” movie - was one of the actors: Gilbert M. Anderson, who would eventually be known worldwide as Broncho Billy, own his own movie production company and be an early employer of Charles Chaplin. His real name was Max Aronson , and was definitely Jewish . . .
The first full-length sound picture, The Jazz Singer was produced by Jews, Samuel Goldwyn & Louis B. Mayer (MGM). WRONG! “The Jazz Singer,” starring Al Jolson (Asa Yoelson) , the son of a cantor, hit the silver screen in 1927. Neither Goldwyn nor Mayer had anything to do with it. It was produced by Warner Brothers. None of the four Warner brothers were able to attend: Sam Warner —among them, the strongest advocate for Vitaphone, the system that brought sound to film —had died the previous day of pneumonia, and the surviving brothers had returned to California for his funeral.
A Jew, Dr. Abraham Waksman, coined the term antibiotics. Correct. Selman Abraham Waksman (1888-1973) was a Ukrainian-born inventor, chemist and microbiologist. He taught the latter at Rutgers University for more than 4 decades, and won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1952.
A Polish Jew, Casimir Funk, who pioneered a new field of medical research, gave us a common word -- vitamins. Correct. The son of a distinguished Polish dermatologist, Funk (1884-1967) was born in Warsaw. Little is known of his personal life. While researching beriberi - a common illness in the Far East that causes peripheral nerve damage and heart failure - Funk discovered that the typical Far Eastern diet of polished rice was deficient in thiamine. Adding this vitamin back into the diet cured beriberi. Later that year, he isolated a substance now known as niacin (vitamin B3). When he published his findings in 1912 and his book The Vitamines, in 1913, Funk immediately became well known in the scientific world.
The first successful operation for appendicitis was performed by a Jewish surgeon, Dr. Simon Baruch. Yes and no. Dr. Simon Baruch (1840-1921) who was born in Posen, West-Prussia, made his way to the United States as a teenager, eventually earning a medical degree from what today is called Virginia Commonwealth University. He served as Robert E. Lee’s personal physician during the Civil War, and eventually moved to New York. While he did diagnose the first case of perforating appendicitis successfully operated on, he did not perform the actual surgery. Today, Dr. Baruch is remembered for two things: being an early and ardent proponent of public health programs - most notably public baths - and being the father of Bernard Baruch, a highly successful American investor who was both an advisor to Presidents Wilson and FDR, as well as a highly regarded diplomat. (Of him, that riotous wit Dorothy Parker [Rothschild] once wrote: “There are 2 things I will never understand: how zippers work and the precise function of Bernard Baruch!”)
Dr.. Abraham Jacobi, hailed as America's father of Pediatrics, is a Jew. True. Born in Hartum, Germany in 1830, Jacobi earned his medical degree from Bonn University. He fled to the United States after the Revolution of 1848 and became a specialist in diseases affecting children and women. His activities included the organization of the children's ward at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. Married twice - the second time to a physician named Corinna Putnam, Jacobi appears to have had little if any attachment to Judaism.
Until a Jewish doctor, Dr.. Siccary proved it differently, people believed that tomato was poisonous. London-born Dr. John de Sequeyra (1712-1 795) came from a distinguished family; his ancestors - doctors all - served as court physicians to the kings of Spain and Portugal. Dr. John Siccary (the Americanized version of his name) would eventually become physician to then-Colonel George Washington. And indeed, he did introduce tomatoes to the American diet in the mid-18th century. No less a personage than Thomas Jefferson mentioned Dr. Siccary as being the first to bring the tomato into the American diet. Precious little is known about the good doctor.’s personal life.
A Jew, Levi Strauss, is the inventor/originator of jeans & Levis, the largest clothing retailer in the world. Although without question Levi Strauss made a vast fortune as the inventor of the eponymous trousers and apparel, Levi Strauss is by no means “the largest clothing retailer in the world.” That honor belongs to Inditex—headquartered in Arteixo, Galicia, Spain. Even in the United States, Nike ($30.6 billion), Ralph Lauren $7.6 billion), Old Navy ($6.6 billion) and the Gap ($6.2 billion) have greater annual revenues than the company originally founded in San Francisco. (Levi Strauss and Co., by the way, comes in 5th with annual revenues of $4.8 billion.)
In 1909, four Jews were among the 60 multi-cultural signers of the Call to the National Action, which resulted in the creation of the NAACP. Correct: Among the initial signers of the Call to National Action were Henry Moskowitz, Anna Strunsky, Lillian Wald, Edwin Seligman, Rabbi Joseph Silverman, and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. It should be noted that a clear majority of Jewish people who were part of the initial founding and financing of the NCAAP were liberal/Reform and mostly German Jews.
A Jew, Emile Berliner, is the man who developed the modern day phonograph. While Thomas Edison was working out a type of phonograph that used a cylinder as a record, Berliner invented a machine that would play a disc. The machine he patented was called the gramophone, and the famous RCA trademark is a picture of a dog listening to "his master's voice" on Berliner's device. The gramophone was superior to Edison's machine. In short, Emile Berliner made possible the modern record industry. His company was eventually absorbed by the Victor Talking Machine Company, now known as RCA. This is correct. It would also appear that Berliner’s sole connection to his Jewish roots was his strong support for Zionism.
A Jew, Louis B. Mayer (co-founder of MGM), created the idea for the Oscar. Correct . . . however. While it is true that Louis B. Mayer did first propose the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927 as a non-profit organisation with the goal of advancing the film industry. The first Academy Award Ceremony took place two years later at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, on 16 May 1929. Tickets for the private dinner cost $5 and the presentation ceremony hosted by Douglas Fairbanks [actor and first president of the Academy] lasted just 15 minutes. The actual Oscar statuette was designed by MGM design chief Cedric Gibbons, and sculpted by George Stanley. It did not receive the name “Oscar” for nearly a decade; no one knows for certain where the name comes from. I believe the name was given by then-Academy president Bette Davis after he former bandleader husband Oscar Harmon (“Ham”) Davis.
European Jews are the founding fathers of all the Hollywood Studios. Mostly correct. Several of the founding fathers were from Central Europe; one, Darryl F. Zanuck, the founder of Twentieth Century, was an Episcopalian from Wahoo, Nebraska. Ironically, when it came to making tangible contributions to Jewish causes, Zanuck was, hands down, the most giving of the entire landsmanshaft (Yiddish for “fraternal organization”).
Jews comprise a mere 1/4 of 1% (13 million) of the world's population (of over 6 billion), and while 99% of the world is non-Jewish, 72% of Pulitzer Prize winners are Jews. The only place I found this statement was on the website for Congregation Beth Mordecai. In matter of fact, it turns out that the entire email I received from My Pal Al had been copied and forwarded to him (and who knows how many others?) from this website. I found an even earlier version of this piece (August 19, 2010) by one Harriet P. Gross published in the Texas Jewish Post.
Three of the greatest & most influential thinkers dominating the 20th Century are Jews - Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, and Karl Marx. True . . . with a lower case “t.” While from a Jewish legal point of view all three are Jewish (their mothers were Jewish), Marx never evinced any Jewishness during his lifetime. Freud’s interest in Judaism was largely intellectual: viz. Moses and Monotheism; Einstein, who like the other two, came from an assimilated family, published a letter 65 years ago that had Jewish folks atwitter: “For me the unadulterated Jewish religion is, like all other religions, an incarnation of primitive superstition. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong, and in whose mentality I feel profoundly anchored, still for me does not have any different kind of dignity from all other peoples. As far as my experience goes, they are in fact no better than other human groups, even if they are protected from the worst excesses by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot perceive anything ‘chosen’ about them.”
The most popular selling Christmas song "White Christmas" was written by a Jew, Irving Berlin . True. He also wrote “The Easter Parade.”
Of the 660 Nobel prizes from 1901 - 1990, 160 have been awarded to Jews. More Jews have won more Nobel prizes than any other ethnicity. They have won 40x more than should be expected of them based upon their small population numbers. Not true enough. In matter of fact, 203 Jewish men and women have been awarded Nobel Prizes: 35 in Chemistry, 55 in Medicine, 56 in Physics, 15 in Literature, 33 in Economics and 9 in Peace. (It should be noted that a 204th laureate, the Russian Boris Pasternak, was awarded the prize in literature in 1958. He originally accepted the award but after intense pressure from the Soviet government, was forced to decline.
A Jew, Dr. Jonas Salk, is the creator of the first polio vaccine. Correct
Hayam Solomon & Isaac Moses, both Jews, are responsible for creating the first modern banking institutions. Not even close. The establishment of the Bank of England, the model on which most modern central banks have been based, was devised by Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, in 1694. Then too, there are those who claim that The oldest continually operating bank in the world is Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which has been operating as a bank in Italy since 1472. (It should be noted that the Polish-born Salomon (1740-1785) was one of the major financiers of the American Revolutionary War. From 1781 on, Salomon brokered bills of exchange for the American government and extended interest-free personal loans to members of Congress, including James Madison. He also purchased much government debt; so much so that when he died at age 45, he owed his creditors over $600,000 (approximately $152,580,000.00 in today’s dollars).
Jews created the first department stores in America in the nineteenth century. The Altmans, Gimbels, Kaufmanns, Lazaruses, Magnins, Mays, Strausses became leaders of major department stores. Julius Rosenwald revolutionized the way Americans purchased goods by improving Sears Roebuck's mail order merchandising. Hart, Schaffner, Marx, Kuppenheimer and Levi Strauss became household names in men's clothing. Actually, the earliest American department stores were “Arnold Constable,” started in 1825 by Aaron Arnold, an immigrant from England (it stayed in business until 1975), and the “Marble Palace” created by one Alexander Turney Stewart in New York City in 1846. For longevity, nothing can compare to the store which has been clothing yours truly for the better part of a lifetime: Brooks Brothers, which first opened its doors 202 years ago . . . right after the reopening of the White House in 1818. In comparison, the Jewish shmattiers are rank newcomers.
Marc Chagall (originally Segal) a Russia Jew, is one of the great 20th century painters. Born Moïche Zakharovitch Chagalov in Vitebsk (modern-day Belarus) in 1887, Chagall was unquestionably one of the greatest of all 20th century artists.
The fortune(s) of English Jews -- Isaac Goldsmid, Nathan Rothschild, David Salomons, and Moses Montefiore -- helped England become a world empire. Correct.
In 1918, Detroit, a Jew, Max Goldberg, opened the "first" commercial parking lot. Correct. BTW, another fortune was made in commercial parking lots by a future United States Senator from Ohio: Howard Metzenbaum . . .
In 1910, a Jew, Louis Blaustein, and his son opened the "first" gas station, eventually founding the American Oil Company (AMOCO). The Blausteins became one of the richest oil families in the world. Correct, although Forbes dropped the Blausteins from their list of the richest American families in 2016.
A Jew, Dr. Albert Sabin, developed the first oral polio vaccine. Correct
A Jew, Steven Spielberg, is the most successful filmmaker since the advent of film. Yes Indeed
A Jew, Emma Lazarus, wrote the famous poem, �The New Colossus" which is inscribed on the Statue Of Liberty. Yes
A Jew, Harry Houdini (Weiss) is the father of magic and illusion. Yes
Abraham, is the father of the Jews and Arabs, and from whom the world's 3 major religions: Judaism, Christianity & Islam originated. Correct. And, atop the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, there is a statement written in ornate Arabic, which translates to say “Allah is our god, Mohammed is His prophet, and Abraham is his friend.”
Jews are the oldest of any people on earth who have kept their national identity and cultural heritage intact. Don’t tell that to the Chinese, Indians, or Aborigines,
George & Ira Gershwin and Irving Berlin, all Jews, are three of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. Let’s not forget the likes of Lerner, Loewe, Paul Simon, Harold Arlen, Sammy Cahn, Marvin Hamlisch, Lorenz Hart, Carol King, Biilly Joel . . .
Isadore & Nathan Straus, who are both Jews - "Abraham & Straus," eventually became sole owners of Macy's, the world's largest department store, in 1896. Correct
Dr. Paul Ehrlich, a Jewish physician, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908 for finding the cure for syphilis. Correct
Armand Hammer, a Jew, of "Arm & Hammer" fame. a physician & businessman originated the largest trade between U. S. and Russia. Incorrect. Hammer was named after Armand Duval a character in La Dame aux Camélias, his father, Dr. Julius Hammer’s favorite novel. Armand had virtually nothing to do with “Arm & Hammer.” And yes, Dr. Armand Hammer did play a significant role in setting up a large (though not the largest) trade deal between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.
Louis Santanel, a Jew, was the financier who provided the funds for Columbus ' voyage to the New World (America). Incorrect. While Luis de Santángel did have a hand in convincing the King and Queen of Spain to underwrite Columbus’ journey to the New World, de Santángel was by no means Jewish. His grandfather had become a converso long before his grandson’s birth. And, it was only after the old man’s conversion to Catholicism that the family began to prosper.
Sherry Lansing, a Jew, became the first woman to become president of a major Hollywood studio, Paramount Pictures. Correct
Flo Zigfield, a Jew, of "Ziegfield Follies" fame, is the creator of American burlesque. Incorrect. Ziegfeld (not “Ziegfield”) was born in Chicago in 1867 to a Catholic mother and a Lutheran father. Ziegfeld was baptized in the Catholic church. A master showman, he wound up going broke - which forced his wife, the actress Billie Burke to return to acting in order to earn an income - and died of pleurisy at age 65 in 1932. Zigfeld’s bankruptcy was added to the world’s great fortune: had he remained solvent, Billie Burke would never have played Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz.
So there you have it My Pal Al. It is a confusing list; a pastiche of near anti-Semitic canards and pro-Jewish pride/chauvinism. That it would originate on a Jewish website is both troubling and a bit mystifying. I am grateful to have so many friends, students and readers who do reach out to people they trust - like me - and ask "What gives with this?” before forwarding what may well be a pile of dung on to others. Thanks for the compliment.
One can only wish that there were more people like you, people who reach out before passing along what may well be the lies, half-truths or stereotypes posted by others. There is indeed enough to be proud of in the long history of the Jewish people without needing to “invite” others into the tribe who by law, heritage, culture, practice (or lack thereof) simply do not belong.
I look forward to seeing you in class tomorrow afternoon . . .
160 days until November 3, 2020.
Copyright©2020 Kurt F. Stone
