Weekly Quiz 2022
Elvis
A movie has just been released called Elvis, starring Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. It’s long been known that Elvis served as a Shabbos goy for Rabbi Alfred Fruchter and his family, who lived upstairs from the Presleys. A Shabbos goy is a non-Jew who is tasked with performing certain jobs which are prohibited for Jews on the Sabbath, such as turning on lights or heating systems. Rabbi Fruchter was the first principal of the Memphis Hebrew Academy. Rabbi Fruchter’s son Harold later said that his father would not have asked Elvis to be their Shabbos goy had he known what?
Elvis Presley by Rossano aka Bud Care is licensed under CC BY 2.0
A. That Presley was actually Jewish, thus making him ineligible to act as a Shabbos goy. It turns out that Elvis was descended from a Jewish great-great grandmother, whose daughter and subsequent female descendants, including Elvis’s mother, were all halakhically Jewish, though practicing Christians.
B. That their apartment building would always be swamped by crowds of young fans, tour groups, and others wanting to see the place where Elvis grew up.
C. That Presley’s father Vernon was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi.
D. That he would start dating his future wife Priscilla when he was 24 and she was only 14.
E. Rabbi Fruchter once saw Elvis sobbing in the sanctuary where students held prayer services at the Hebrew Academy. The Rabbi did not interrupt Elvis, so as not to embarrass him, but later asked him what was wrong. Said Elvis, “Rabbi, You saw me crying in the chapel. The tears I shed were tears of joy. I know the meaning of contentment. Now I am happy with the Lord.” The Rabbi was moved, and gave Elvis a hug. But Harold Fruchter later said, “It was only after my father had died that we heard the record Crying in the Chapel and realized that Elvis was simply writing a song that day. Had my father known that Elvis was composing, and not having a true religious experience, he would have been angry and not allowed Elvis to continue acting as our Shabbos goy.”
Revlon
The Revlon Company, founded in 1933 by brothers Charles and Joseph Revson, and a chemist, Charles Lachman (the source of the “L” in the company name), declared bankruptcy last week, overwhelmed by debt, supply chain problems, and more. The Revson brothers were raised in Manchester, New Hampshire by Eastern European Jewish immigrants. They and Lachman started the company by creating a new kind of nail enamel, and by the end of World War II had built the enterprise into a multimillion dollar company. Revlon continued to expand with new products and acquisitions, including Charlie and Jean Nate perfumes, Mitchum deodorants, Ty-D-Bol, Evan Picone and Elizabeth Arden. The company went public in 1996, and was eventually acquired by a subsidiary of Ronald Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes. Perelman, the grandson of Litvak immigrants, was raised in a Conservative household, but became an Othodox Jew in adulthood. He is a major financial supporter of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, and he is Sabbath observant and keeps kosher. In what unusual way has Perelman maintained his Jewish practices?
Revlon by Mike Mozart is licensed under CC BY 2.0
A. Perelman employs a private chef to cook all his meals, and he paid for the chef, who is not Jewish, to live in Israel and France for a year studying with kosher chefs and learning all the rules of kashrut.
B. Perelman had a private synagogue built in the garden space between his two back-to-back Upper East Side townhouses.
C. Some makeup, in particular lipstick, is not kosher for Passover as there are some ingredients which are chametz, and might be ingested. Perelman paid to have a small lab set up in one of Revlon’s manufacturing facilities specifically to make lipstick for his wife with products that are all certified kosher for Passover.
D. Perelman paid to have a Torah scroll written by a scribe in Jerusalem, which he dedicated to his parents, Ruth and Raymond Perelman. The scroll, which is guarded and maintained by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation (official overseers of the Wall) is only brought out two or three times a year when Perelman comes to say Shabbat prayers at the Western Wall.
E. Sometimes when Perelman travels to his home in the Hamptons, or to Miami or other destinations, he’ll take a group of at least nine Lubavitch rabbinical students with him to be sure he has a minyan for services.
Britney Spears
Performer Britney Spears got married last week to Iranian model and actor Sam Asghari. Spears has struggled for many years with mental health issues and had been placed under a legal conservatorship in 2008, with control over many aspects of her life given to her father Jamie. Late last year, after a series of legal interventions, the conservatorship was ended. In 2003 Spears became a practitioner of Kabbalah, having been introduced to this tradition by Madonna. Spears said at the time, “Through Kabbalah, I was able to look within myself, clear all the negative energy and turn my life around.” But she gave it up a few years later, saying, “I no longer study Kabbalah. My baby is my religion.” She had also considered conversion to Judaism at a time when she was romantically linked with another model, who was Jewish, but the relationship ended quickly. Britney Spears has often been seen wearing a Star of David necklace, and she also has a Hebrew tattoo on the back of her neck. What does the tattoo say?
Britney Spears Domination Announcement by Afq Aden is in the public domain,
A. The tattoo says אין סוף, Ein Sof, which means “the Infinite,” which is a name that Kabbalists use to refer to God.
B. The tattoo says יצחק, Yitchak, which is the Hebrew name of Isaac Cohen, the Jewish model she was dating at the time.
C. The tattoo was supposed to read שלום, Shalom, meaning peace. She says she chose this tattoo to help her focus on inner peace as she struggled with her many public legal and health issues. But in fact, the tattoo actually reads שלוס, Shalos, because the tattoo artist incorrectly inked the letter ס, Samech, instead of the similar looking correct letter, ם, Mem Sofit.
D. The tattoo reads המש, the Hebrew letters Hey, Mem, Shin, which she says means “healing” (though that is not accurate).
E. The tattoo reads אופס אעשיתי את זה שוב, Oops, Asiti et zeh shuv, which means “Oops, I did it again.”
Jerry Nadler & Carolyn Maloney
A court-ordered redistricting in New York has resulted in two current Democratic members of Congress having to run against each other, as the newly-drawn district borders now encompass both of their residences. Jerry Nadler’s 10th district is primarily based on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, while Maloney’s 12th district is centered on the Upper East Side. The newly configured 12th Congressional District covers both sides of uptown Manhattan. Both candidates have strong connections to the large Jewish community in the district. When Nadler was seen on C-Span carrying a bag from Zabar’s, a famous Upper West Side appetizing store, his spokesman said that the bag contained “A babka and the Constitution, what else?”. Maloney has touted her authorship of the Never Again Education Act, providing support and funding for Holocaust education. But Maloney made a gaffe recently when she attempted to prove her bona fides to Upper West Side Jews by referring to another dining institution in that neighborhood, the Jewish-style deli and appetizing store Barney Greengrass. What did she incorrectly call that store?
Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney by U.S. House Office of Photography are in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A. Barney Crabgrass.
B. Barney Green Beans.
C. Grassroots.
D. Mr. Green Jeans.
E. Barney Rubble.