RASHI, RAMBAM and RAMALAMADINGDONG

Vince McMahon Jr. of World Wrestling Entertainment announced his retirement last week. This came a month after he resigned as the organization’s chairman and CEO, following allegations that he had paid millions of dollars in hush money to female WWE employees with whom he had sexual encounters. The Jewish connection to wrestling, and specifically to the WWE, goes back to the early 1950’s through the unlikely path of a Jewish boy from Vienna. Rafael Halperin was a student of the famous rabbinical scholar Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, known as the Chazon Ish. Halperin moved with his family from Vienna to Palestine in 1933, where he began pursuing athletic endeavors including weight lifting and body building. He then opened a gym, which eventually led to a chain of health clubs (The Samson Institute for men and The Venus Salon for women) and he organized the first Mr. Israel contest, which he won. He later became a professional wrestler in the United States, working with Vince McMahon Sr.’s Capitol Wrestling (the precursor to WWE), where he competed under the names “Mr. Israel” and “The Rasslin’ Rabbi,” at one point winning 159 consecutive bouts. Halperin returned to Israel where he further popularized the sport. Halperin’s last professional match was in 1973 against Abu Antar, the “Jordanian Tiger,” at a sold out match at Tel Aviv’s Yad Eliyahu Arena. What else did Rafael Halperin do in his life besides professional wrestling?

Israel Wrestler Rafael Halperin from Dan Hadani Collection, The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, The National Library of Israel is licensed under CC BY 4.0

A. He worked as a diamond cutter.

B. He opened a glatt-kosher ice cream shop in Mea Shearim which has separate lines for men and women.

C. He started a number of businesses in Israel, including an automat, a summer camp, an automated car wash, and the largest optical chain in the country.

D. He helped develop a credit card with a chip which would disable the card on the Sabbath, ensuring holders wouldn’t violate the rules of Shabbat by buying things.

E. He served as a personal trainer to the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie.

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Actor James Caan, most famous for his role as Santino “Sonny” Corleone in The Godfather, died last week at the age of 82. Caan was born in the Bronx to German Jewish immigrants, and his father was a kosher butcher. In addition to acting, Caan worked professionally in rodeos for many years, earning him the moniker “the only New York Jewish cowboy.” Yet many people still believed that he was Italian, and he twice won an “Italian of the Year” award. What was James Caan once asked that led him to respond, “They would have gotten punched in the face.”

James Caan 1976b is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 NL

A. When being interviewed about his experience filming The Godfather, Caan was asked if the production set caterers ever asked him (not knowing that he’s Jewish) if he’d like some prosciutto.

B. While in Israel, Caan was asked by a reporter if he had come across the Women of the Wall holding an egalitarian minyan at the Western Wall.

C. In regards to the BDS movement promoting that entertainers should boycott Israel, Caan was asked if anyone ever suggested he should not visit the country.

D. In an interview with the New York Jewish Week about his Jewish upbringing, Caan was asked if his grandmothers were the stereotypical Bubbys who would pinch their grandson’s cheeks.

E. Caan was asked what would have happened if he had ever awakened to find horse heads in his bed.

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