Is David Tepper Jewish?

Yes David Tepper is a Jew.

Wikipedia reports that: Tepper was raised in a Jewish family in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the Stanton Heights neighborhood. He was the second of three children born to Harry, who worked as an accountant, and Roberta, who was an elementary school teacher who taught at public schools in the city... In 2006, Tepper donated $1 million to United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey toward their Israel Emergency Campaign.

Forbes (5/1/2016) ranked him #85 in the world's billionaires, saying:

"David Tepper, one of the most successful hedge fund managers ever, recently moved to Miami Beach from northern New Jersey, which was seen as a big tax blow to the Garden State. Tepper also moved his $18 billion hedge fund firm, Appaloosa Management, to Florida. Tepper's hedge fund performance in the years following the financial crisis has made him an investing legend. Tepper added to his legacy in 2015, a year in which many prominent hedge funds lost money, showing he could navigate though a volatile market period as deftly as a bullish one."

Here's a story from The New York Times about his move from NJ to Florida.
NYTimes: One Top Taxpayer Moved, and New Jersey Shuddered re: David Tepper
The hedge fund manager David Tepper's relocation to Florida is a case study in how tax collection changes when income becomes concentrated in the hands of a few.

Read More: http://nyti.ms/1TlBoKE

Is Merrick Garland Jewish?

Yes, Merrick Garland is a Jew.

According to Popsugar, Garland is a 63-year-old current chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Born in Chicago to a Jewish mother and Protestant father, he was raised as a Jew and referenced his background in his nomination acceptance speech. He has a wife, Lynn, and two daughters, Jessica and Rebecca, who went to Yale.

Is Bernie Sanders Jewish?

Yes, Bernie Sanders is a Jew, but the Times says that, "He Doesn't Like to Talk About It."

I was disappointed in Joseph Berger of the Times for interviewing his brother and not getting Bernie to talk about this.

And trust me, there are dozens of rabbis who would be happy to slam him in the Times for not being a good enough Jew.

The Times didn't give both sides very well and it skipped lightly over the surface of this complex issue

Here is the story:

When Senator Bernie Sanders thanked supporters for his landslide victory in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, he wistfully reminisced about his upbringing as “the son of a Polish immigrant who came to this country speaking no English and having no money.”

While the crowd cheered, Rabbi Michael Paley of New York was among many Jews watching the speech who were taken aback. He said he was surprised that the Vermont senator had not explicitly described his father as a “Polish Jewish immigrant,” a significant distinction given Poland’s checkered history with its Jewish population.

“Nobody in Poland would have considered Bernie a Pole,” Rabbi Paley said.

Is Amazon Echo Jewish?

Name Your Link

Is Amazon Echo Jewish? I ordered an Echo when it came out at the end of 2014 - it's a voice activated Internet invention from Amazon. My son Barak observed about it that it looks a bit like a Shabbat lamp (which I do not have) and wanted to know if it can be used on Shabbat. And that made me think. If Echo is Jewish, then you can't "suggest" to it that it do any work for you on Shabbat. You can't say, "Play me a niggun" or ask "What time is minhah?" or clarify "When did I last eat meat" or, on Pesach, "How many matzas do I need to eat for a kazayis?" and I could go on. But if Echo is not Jewish, then you potentially could ask all these requests of it on Shabbat or Yom Tov..and more. Q: "Alexa are you Jewish?" A: "People all have their own views on religion." Q: "Alexa are you Jewish?" A: "I'm best at answering questions about things like history and music." Alexa is evasive. Q: "Alexa, Play me the Israeli national anthem" A: "Here's a sample... by Michael Silverman." Amazon ran some quirky ads during Super Bowl 50 for the Echo. Is Alec Baldwin Jewish? Nope. Alexa did not know that. Hmm... Amazon Echo by Amazon   Learn more

Was Hall of Famer Yogi Berra Jewish?

Was Hall of Fame baseball player Yogi Berra a Jew? No Yogi Berra was not Jewish. He was a Christian. According to Wikipedia, "Berra was a Roman Catholic, and he attended South Side Catholic, now called St. Mary's High School, in south St. Louis..."

An MLB article summarizes his amazing career.

Given his name it would be fair to ask, Was Yogi Berra a Hindu? According to the MLB article, "Bobby Hofman, a childhood friend who eventually played shortstop for the New York Giants and worked for the Yankees, hung the nickname Yogi on him after noting Berra's resemblance to a Hindu holy man the two had seen in a movie."

Is British Open Winner Zach Johnson Jewish?

No Zach Johnson is not a Jew. He is a devout Christian.

CNN reports, "The Open 2015: Zach Johnson -- 'I'm just a blessed boy'".

St Andrews (CNN): It was news to Zach Johnson that he'd won the Open Championship.

So focused was the 39-year-old that when Louis Oosthuizen's crucial birdie putt missed on the final hole it was his caddie Damon Green that broke the news to him.

A deeply religious man, Johnson was busy reciting scripture to keep his concentration, and when he'd finished he'd added the Claret Jug to his 2007 Masters triumph...

Is master of sex Actor Lizzy Caplan who plays famed sexologist Virginia Johnson in Showtime’s "Masters of Sex" Jewish?

Is master of sex Actor Lizzy Caplan who plays famed sexologist Virginia Johnson in Showtime’s "Masters of Sex" Jewish?

Yes Lizzy Caplan is a Jew. TOI reports:

Although she has fond memories of her Reform upbringing, bat mitzvah and Jewish summer camp, back in 2005, Caplan told American Jewish Life magazine that she had “kind of strayed away” from Jewish involvement.

“I think once I have a family I’ll be back into it,” she said. “I love being a Jew, but I’m not Super Jew.”

But last year, the Emmy-nominee blamed her lack of confidence in winning an award for outstanding lead actress on her cultural outlook.

“I don’t think it’s fair to assume that at all. I’m Jewish, so I’m predisposed to assume there’s no chance in hell that’s going to happen,” she told The New York Times.

TOI continues, "The series opens with the depiction of the pair’s release of their groundbreaking 1966 book, “Human Sexual Response.”

Indeed if you have published a book, you will love this episode.

It captures the sacred moment when the doctor receives the galley proofs from his publisher and depicts the reverence with which they are treated. Most authors know these feelings.

And in a wonderful interleaved scene that pops in and out of the episode, it portrays the fear and the fantasy that each of us authors has after we cast our books out to the public - that they will be criticized mercilessly or that they will be received as brilliant and revolutionary.

[Hat tip to ISW.]

Is Bernie Sanders Jewish?

Yes, Bernie Sanders is a Jew. He is a senator from Vermont and a candidate for president of the United States.

Wikipedia reports on his early life:

Bernie Sanders was born on September 8, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Eli and Dorothy (Glassberg) Sanders. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Poland whose family was killed in the Holocaust. His mother was born to Jewish parents in New York.

Sanders attended elementary school at P.S. 197, where he won a state championship on the basketball team. He attended Hebrew school in the afternoons and had his bar mitzvah in 1954. Sanders attended James Madison High School, where he was captain of the track team. While at Madison, Sanders lost his first election, finishing last out of three for the student body presidency. Sanders's mother died in June 1959 at the age of 46 shortly after Sanders graduated from high school. Sanders went to Brooklyn College for a year before transferring to the University of Chicago. While there, he was active in the Civil Rights Movement, and a student organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. One of the actions he took was the coordination of sit-in protests against segregated campus housing. Sanders also participated in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He was a member of the Young People's Socialist League, the youth affiliate of the Socialist Party of America.

He graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor of arts degree in political science in 1964. After graduating, Sanders spent several months on an Israeli kibbutz, and he moved to Vermont in 1968.

Is Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Jewish?

No, Judge Sonia Sotomayor is not a Jew. She is Catholic.

In the Times blogs, Charles M. Blow wrote about the religious composition of the court in his post called, "The Catholic Court":

"Thirty years ago eight of the nine Supreme Court justices were Protestant. Now only two are. Five are Catholic, and two are Jewish. If federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor is confirmed as a replacement for Justice David H. Souter, who is Protestant, she will become the sixth Catholic justice on the court."

Is Sotomayor the first Hispanic Supreme Court Judge?

Technically, you could argue that Sephardic Jewish judge Benjamin Nathan Cardozo was the first Hispanic judge to serve in the US Supreme Court. Cardozo served from 1932 until his death in 1938.

Cardozo was born in New York City, the son of Rebecca Washington (née Nathan) and Albert Jacob Cardozo. Both Cardozo's maternal grandparents, Sara Seixas and Isaac Mendes Seixas Nathan, and his paternal grandparents, Ellen Hart and Michael H. Cardozo, were Sephardic Jews; their families immigrated from England before the American Revolution, and were descended from Jews who left the Iberian Peninsula for Holland during the Inquisition. Cardozo family tradition held that their ancestors were Marranos from Portugal, although Cardozo's ancestry has not been firmly traced to Portugal. [Wikipedia]

The AP reported via the StarTribune that, "Some definitions of Hispanic include Portugal and Portuguese-speaking cultures; others don't." [reposted]

Is Bob Dylan Jewish?

Yes, Bob Dylan is a Jew. He is a strange and famous musician whose personal views on things have always been hard to figure out.

Dylan turned 74 on his birthday, May 24, 2015.

Dylan was born a Jew named Robert Allen Zimmerman (Hebrew - Shabtai Zisel (or Zushe) ben Avraham) in 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, and raised there and in Hibbing, Minnesota. His paternal grandparents, Zigman and Anna Zimmerman, emigrated from Odessa, Russia around 1905. His mother's grandparents, Benjamin and Lybba Edelstein, were Lithuanian Jews who arrived in America in 1902. His paternal grandmother's maiden name was Kyrgyz and her family originated from Istanbul.

Dylan’s parents were Abram Zimmerman and Beatrice "Beatty" Stone. When Dylan was six, his father was stricken with polio. The family returned to Hibbing, where Zimmerman grew up.

A few years back Dylan recorded a Christmas album. Ryan McDuff, from the blog Bully! Pulpit reported:

LOS ANGELES, Calif -- Bob Dylan is recording his first Christmas album, Bullypulpit.com has exclusively learned and has been quietly compiling a collection that includes both Christmas carols and modern songs. At least four songs have reportedly been recorded for the album including, “Must Be Santa,” “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas" and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

The recording sessions have been taking place at fellow recording artist Jackson Browne's Groove Master’s Studios in Santa Monica, California, where Browne produced his album, "I’m Alive."

Prominent media expert and best-selling author Michael Levine said the move by Dylan was "completely consistent with his longstanding tradition of doing the unexpected. Concerning Bob Dylan literally nothing would surprise me which of course is part of his lasting appeal. He confounds like no other pop artist ever."

The inclusion of “O Little Town of Bethlehem," written by an Episcopal priest named Phillips Brooks in 1867 after a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, is likely to fuel speculation about Dylan's religious beliefs that have swirled ever since he publicly converted to Christianity in 1979, recorded explicitly religious material on three subsequent albums and for a time refused to play his old songs. Religious references on subsequent recordings became less overt after 1981's "Shot of Love."

The other three songs, “Must Be Santa” by Hal Moore and Bill Fredricks, “Here Comes Santa Claus” by Gene Autry and Oakley Haldeman and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” by Buck Ram, Kim Gannon and Walter Kent were all written between 1943 and 1960.

"A Christmas album by Bob Dylan in the pipeline doesn't really shock me," said Scott Marshall, author of a forthcoming book on the singer, "God and Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life". "At first glance it may sound bizarre, but I don't think Dylan cares much about what his detractors might make of it. Dylan still sings songs from "Slow Train Coming" to this day and he's both never renounced being Jewish or renounced his experience with Jesus some three decades ago. He remains enigmatic and this will probably be talked about for years to come."

Dylan's spiritual pendulum swings back and forth. In 2007 Dylan went to Chabad Lubavitch for Yom Kippur, where he got an aliyah to the Torah. JTA Reported back then:

Bob Dylan's religious odyssey took a turn home on Yom Kippur.

The folk legend attended services at the Chabad-Lubavitch of Atlanta... Dylan was born Jewish but has dabbled in several faiths.

He arrived at morning services wearing a ski cap and a tallit, and stayed for the duration, the Web site said. Dylan was called to the Torah for an aliyah by his Hebrew name, Zushe ben Avraham, according to the Chabad outpost's rabbi, Yossi Lew.

Dylan was in Atlanta for a concert following the holiday.

As always be sure to see my friend Larry Yudelson's Tangled Up In Jews site for more background on the Jews and Jewishness connected with Bob Dylan.

Is Jon Stewart Jewish?

Yes, Jon Stewart is a Jew.

Marty Kaplan takes this question up in his Jewish Journal article, "Waiting for Jewman."

Jon Stewart did his show, business as usual, on Rosh Hashanah this year. That night, when his interview guest, Meghan McCain, daughter of Senator John McCain, greeted him with “Happy New Year,” Stewart looked uncharacteristically nonplussed for a nanosecond, before replying, “What? Huh? See you in Times Square tonight.”

“Culturally Jewish, but not practicing” is what it’s called on the JDate profile form. Stewart grew up in suburban New Jersey with the name Jon Stewart Liebowitz. When radio host Howard Stern asked him about his real name, Stewart answered, “Actually, it’s ‘Jewy Jewman.’ ”

It’s hard to imagine someone who identifies more strongly with New York-style Jewish shtick. He switches into Jerry Lewis’ voice and gestures at the drop of a yarmulke. Yiddish intonations take up considerable space in his comic’s toolkit, as do mentions of obscure Jewish holidays, traditional Jewish food and top hits from the Torah. ..more...

Hollywood Jew blogger Danielle Berrin pursues the topic, "Jon Stewart’s version of Judaism," linking it somehow with the Jewish Standard brouhaha over a gay wedding announcement:

Earlier this week, The Berman Jewish Policy Archive, a research and analysis outfit at NYU, offered their findings on the state of Jewish journalism in the aftermath of a controversy at The Jewish Standard in New Jersey. One critique, from Andrew Silow-Carroll, expressed a wish “that journalists would move beyond their serial habit of assessing the ‘Jewishness’ of various public figures.”

The sentiment seemed shortsighted, because “assessing” the Jewishness of others enables communal connection. For example, knowing Jon Stewart was born Jewish is one thing; hearing him crack self-deprecating Jewish jokes night after night is intimately endearing. A Jew can participate in Stewart’s jokes because there’s a shared reference point; Jews aren’t laughing at Stewart, they’re laughing with him...more...

We are puzzled at the linkage of topics. But we want to make it clear that sometimes asking if someone is Jewish is just that and nothing more. And sometimes it is more.

Jon Stewart is a comedian. His profound impact as a cultural critic and political commentator is anything but funny. That's a big part of what makes him Jewish, no?

[repost from 10/16/2010]

Is Sheldon Silver Jewish?

Yes New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is a Jew. He is a member of the Orthodox community on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and a graduate of Yeshiva University, class of 1965.

Sadly, he was arraigned at a federal courthouse Jan. 22, 2015, on bribery and corruption charges.

JTA reported on the story and linked it to another scandal involving an associate of Silver.

William Rapfogel, the longtime CEO of New York’s Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, was arrested in September 2013 for involvement in a kickbacks scheme. He pleaded guilty to helping fleece more than $9 million from the charity, including $1 million that he pocketed himself, and was sentenced last July to 3 ½ years in prison and ordered to pay $3 million in restitution.

Rapfogel’s wife, Judy Rapfogel, is Silver’s chief of staff. After her husband’s arrest, Judy Rapfogel claimed she had no knowledge of her husband’s criminal malfeasance, and she remained on Silver’s staff.

Silver and William Rapfogel lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same shul, the Bialystoker Synagogue on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The two men often sat together in the sanctuary on Shabbat morning, though in recent years Silver began going to the early minyan on Saturday mornings, a neighborhood insider who declined to be identified told JTA.

Is Sigourney Weaver Jewish?

Now it is far-fetched that anybody would think that actress Sigourney Weaver is Jewish. No, Sigourney Weaver is not a Jew.

The tall actress whom we know and love from Alien, to Working Girl to Avatar, and whom we once met, and told her how much we liked her work, is a Christian of Scottish-English extraction.

But it is noteworthy that IMDB reported that when she was young after graduating from high school in 1967, she spent several months on a kibbutz in Israel.

/repost from 7/16/10/

Is Stephen Hawking Jewish?

No, the famous scientist Stephen Hawking is not a Jew. He attended St. Albans, an independent Christian school, as a child.

Hawking is a noted British theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He has written a new book in which he challenges the notion that God created the universe.

According to the Guardian: Stephen Hawking says universe not created by God.

Even though Hawking is not a Jew, British Chief Rabbi Sacks has seen fit to challenge his heresy:

Chief rabbi challenges Stephen Hawking in row over origins of universe

Wikipedia informs us that, regarding religion:

Hawking has stated that he is "not religious in the normal sense" and he believes that "the universe is governed by the laws of science. The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws."

Our dad, Rabbi Dr. Zev Zahavy, wrote a book on the subject of cosmology and religion -- "Whence and Wherefore - Cosmological Destiny to Man Scientifically and Philosophically Explained: An Analysis Relating to 'In the Centre of Immensities' by Sir Bernard Lovell ".

Purchase the Kindle edition of this book here: Whence and Wherefore

He brilliantly defends the notion that God created the universe and finds solace and wisdom in that conclusion. In 2010 we sent a copy to Professor Hawking. We did not hear back from him.

Is Ronald A. Klain Jewish?

Yes, the new Ebola Czar Ronald A. (Ron) Klain is a Jew. He previously served as Vice President Joseph Biden's Chief of Staff.

President Obama will appoint Klain according to CNN citing White House press secretary Josh Earnest, "to make sure that all the government agencies who are responsible for aspects of this response, that their efforts are carefully integrated. He will also be playing a role in making sure the decisions get made."

Klain previously served as Chief of Staff and Counselor to Vice President Al Gore. Klain also knew Biden as a result of his service as counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary when Biden chaired that committee.

Klain lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with his wife Monica Medina, who is not a Jew, and their children Hannah, Michael and Daniel.

The Times reported in 2007:

... when they married, Ron Klain and his wife, Monica Medina, struck a deal: their daughter and two sons would be raised Jewish (for him), but they would celebrate Christmas (for her).

Despite their satisfaction with the arrangement, the couple, who live in Chevy Chase, Md., have never put up the tree while Mr. Klain’s mother is visiting from Indianapolis. Instead, they wait until after her annual December visit.

“I grew up in Indiana, with a decent-size Jewish community, but we were a distinct minority,” Mr. Klain said. “Not having a Christmas tree was very much part of our Jewish identity in a place where everyone else did.”

In the HBO movie "Recount" Kevin Spacey played Ron Klain.

Spacey, who was born in South Orange, New Jersey to Kathleen A. Spacey (1931-2003), a secretary, and Thomas Geoffrey Fowler (1924-1992), a technical writer, is not a Jew.

Is Bruce Levenson Jewish?

Yes Bruce Levenson is a Jew. He is the team owner who has decided to sell Atlanta Hawks over a racist e-mail that he wrote in 2012. He admits that he, "wrote an 'inappropriate and offensive' email concerning African American spectators."

Levenson is a highly visible and communally active Jew. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports:

Levenson is a noted philanthropist who has been acknowledged for donating to organizations such as Birthright Israel, the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Youth Philanthropy Institute. Levenson has supported BBYO, the Jewish-American youth movement says on its website, adding that he also served as the Aleph Godol of Brandeis AZA.

Levenson was also among 100 prominent American Jews who sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in April, urging him to “work closely” with Kerry “to devise pragmatic initiatives, consistent with Israel’s security needs, which would represent Israel’s readiness to make painful territorial sacrifices for the sake of peace.”

Levenson accompanied his NBA team on a tour of the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. in April, and took his Holocaust survivor mother-in-law along with him.

Is Kevin Kline Jewish?

Though his father was Jewish, actor Kevin Kline is not a Jew. Wikipedia reports, "Kline's father was Jewish, from a family that had emigrated from Germany; Kline's mother was of Irish descent, the daughter of an emigrant from County Louth. Kline was raised in his mother's Catholic religion (his father had become an agnostic)... He graduated from the Catholic Saint Louis Priory School in 1965."

In the controversial new film, The Last of Robin Hood Kline plays Errol Flynn (who was not Jewish). The movie recounts Flynn's last scandalous affair with young underaged girl - Beverly Elaine Aadland - and has received some criticism and negative reviews because of that pedophilic theme.

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Was Elvis Presley Jewish?

No, Elvis Presley was not a Jew.

Wikipedia reports that, "The family attended an Assembly of God church, where he found his initial musical inspiration. Presley's ancestry was primarily a Western European mix: on his mother's side, he was Scots-Irish, with some French Norman; one of Gladys' great-great-grandmothers was Cherokee. Presley's father's forebears were of Scottish and German origin."

A Cantor who lived above the teenaged Elvis in Memphis recalls the Elvis at times was his Shabbos Goy - that is, he turned on lights for the Orthodox man who would not do that on the Sabbath. [Hat tip to Barak!]

The interview with the cantor was done by KCRW.

They summed it up: "The story of an orthodox Jewish family who lived above Elvis Presley’s family in a house in Memphis. They would often call on teenage Elvis to be their Shabbos Goy - the gentile who would perform "work" that religious Jews did not do while on the Sabbath or day of rest. In return, the Fruchter’s may have unwittingly influenced Elvis’ music."

Was Robin Williams Jewish?

How sad. He is dead. 

Was Robin Williams a Jew?

No. His father was Episcopalian, his mother was a Christian Scientist.

It makes no difference. I mourn.

He was such an amazing talent. A phenomenal energy.

Too young. Too soon. Too tragic.

Is Architect Frank Gehry Jewish?

Yes, "the world's most famous living architect," Frank Gehry is a Jew. The Jewish Journal extols him and his new found involvement in Jewish architectural projects in a recent article.

The secret to architect Frank Gehry’s genius? Grandma’s gefilte fish.

Avoiding the press after a slew of praise, Gehry is now completing a number of projects in his Santa Monica offices, including a schematic design for the $130 million Winnick Institute in Jerusalem, a project of the Simon Wiesenthal Center to promote mutual understanding and respect among the world's communities.

It is Gehry's first formal work of public Jewish architecture in his nearly 50-year career, and it has unlocked a host of memories and associations.

"Frank is delving into his Jewish background in a way I don't think he's really done in the past," says Craig Webb, Gehry Associates project designer. Gehry has looked to both the Star of David and the octagonal format of Islamic architecture for inspiration. "We hope this building in any small way can contribute to the resolution of the conflict in Israel and the Middle East."

Considering Gehry's celebrity and Israel's sinking tourism and morale, the project couldn't have come at a better time. The architect's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, single-handedly put the small regional capital of the Basques on the map. A riot of titanium-clad sails and surfaces, the museum was nearly universally extolled when it opened in 1997 as one of the greatest buildings of the 20th century. Already awarded the Pritzker Prize (considered his profession's Nobel) in 1989, Gehry has become the world's most famous living architect.