RASHI, RAMBAM and RAMALAMADINGDONG

A Quizbook of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun

Weekly Quiz-2023

12/24/2023

Rudy Giuliani was recently found liable for defamation after making false claims against two Georgia election workers, following the defeat of Donald Trump in the last presidential election. Last week Giuliani was ordered to pay retribution of $148 million to the victims, which led him to declare bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Giuliani continues to repeat his false claims, stating that “Everything I said about them is true.” This is not the only time Giuliani has been brought into court. He was sued for sexual assault and harassment by a former associate in a case which led to revelations of recordings wherein Giuliani made many controversial statements. Some of those statements included comments about Jews, including demeaning insults about Jewish men’s sexual prowess. In those tapes, Giuliani also criticized Jews for their celebration of what holiday?

Rudy Giuliani (2167875970) by Marc Nozell is licensed under CC BY 2.0 DEED, via Wikimedia Commons

A. Regarding Yom Kippur, he said, “Get over the Yom Kippur. This is 2018. You gotta eat, people.”

B. Regarding Passover, he said “Get over the Passover. It was like 3,000 years ago. The Red Sea parted, big deal. It’s not the first time that happened.”

C. Regarding Sukkot, he said, “Get over your Sukkos. Those little huts are more ridiculous than those rat-infested COVID huts that restaurants are cluttering up the streets with.”

D. Regarding Chanukkah, he said, “Get over that Chanukkah. So the oil burned for a week. My oil burner has been working for years so who cares. Put up a tree and drink some nog like the rest of us.”

E. Regarding Tzom Gedaliah, he said, “Get over that Tzom thing. I mean really? A fast day to commemorate the assassination of Gedaliah? If you're gonna skip a meal for every Jew who was ever killed then who’s gonna eat all of that disgusting chopped liver and gribenes?”

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12/11/2023

Norman Lear died last week at the age of 101. Lear was a writer and producer who created dozens of television sitcoms, including All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Maude, The Jeffersons, and One Day at a Time, among others. He received numerous awards for his work, including 6 Emmys, 2 Peabodys, the National Medal of Arts, and the Kennedy Center Honors. Lear was also very involved in progressive politics, most notably as a founder of People for the American Way, whose mission is to fight for equality, pluralism, freedom of thought, and compassion for others. Lear was born to Jewish parents in New Haven, CT, and though he was not religious, he described himself “as culturally Jewish as I could be and proud to be Jewish.” He noted that listening to the antisemitic Father Coughlin on the radio influenced his thinking and led him toward social activism. In 1974, Lear founded a production company whose name was influenced by his Judaism. What was the company called?

Norman Lear 2017 by U.S. State Department is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A. TAT Communications, from the phrase Tukhes Afn Tish, meaning “Buttocks on the table.”

B. Ken Men Productions, from the phrase Az me muz, ken men, which translates to “If you have to, you can.”

C. MTGL Productions, from the phrase, Mensch Tracht un Got Lacht, which means “Man plans and God laughs.”

D. CvC Communications, from the phrase Chas vChalila, meaning “God Forbid.”

E. FleyshKop Enterprises, Yiddish for “Meat Head.”

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12/04/2023

Henry Kissinger died last week at the age of 100. Born in 1923 in Germany, Kissinger and his family fled the country in 1938 to escape increasing antisemitism, including beatings he suffered by Hitler Youth gang members. He went to college in New York, studying accounting, until he was drafted into the United States Army, where he served in the intelligence division during the Battle of the Bulge. After the war he received advanced degrees and was a faculty member in the Department of Government at Harvard University. He entered the political realm, working as a foreign policy advisor to Nelson Rockefeller, later becoming National Security Advisor under President Richard Nixon. He then became Secretary of State under Nixon as well as President Gerald Ford. He negotiated the cease fire that led to the end of the Viet Nam War, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize. But he has also been viewed by many as a war criminal, responsible for the deaths of millions because of his policies in Southeast Asia, South America, the Middle East, and other areas of conflict. Kissinger was criticized for ignoring the plight of Soviet Jews, saying that “The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy, and if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.” He played a major role during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, facilitating negotiations that eventually led to an end to the war and a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt following the Camp David Accords. But Kissinger has been accused of delaying arms shipments to Israel during that war in order to force Israel into post-war diplomacy, a charge which Kissinger denied. Though raised Orthodox, Kissinger’s religious identity was complicated. He is reported to have said, “Is there a more self-serving group of people than the Jewish community?” What comment did Kissinger make in reference to his being born a German Jew?

A. “If it were not for the accident of my birth [at the beginning of the Nazi era in Germany], I probably would have been a rabbi instead of a refugee.”

B. “If it were not for the accident of my birth [as a non-US citizen], I could have been president of the United States.”

C. “If it were not for the accident of my birth [as a Jew], I might have been the German Secretary of State instead of the American Secretary.

D. “If it were not for the accident of my birth [as a Jew], I would be antisemitic.”

E. “If it were not for the accident of my birth [as a short bookish nerd] I could have been a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs and dating Taylor Swift.

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11/26/2023

Javier Milei was just elected president of Argentina. Milei, an economist, author, politician, former tantric sex coach, and self-described “anarcho-capitalist,” is a right-wing libertarian and populist who supports freedom of choice on issues such as drugs, guns, prostitution, and LGBTQ issues, while opposing abortion. He believes that global warming is a “socialist lie” and has pledged to not raise taxes, noting that “I will never raise a tax, I will never create new taxes,” while also saying that “Jesus didn’t pay taxes.” Upon Milei’s victory in the presidential race, Donald Trump tweeted that  “I am very proud of you. You will turn your country around and truly Make Argentina Great Again!” What connection does Milei have to Judaism?

Javier Milei by Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A. Though he is Catholic, he maintains a kosher-style diet, eating no pork products or shellfish, noting that “what works for Jesus’s people works for me.”

B. He studies Torah on a daily basis, commenting that “The rabbi who helps me study says that I should read the Torah from the point of view of economic analysis.”

C. His mother was Jewish and he attended Hebrew school as a child, but he later converted to Catholicism, commenting that “If I am to make my way in Argentina, I will need to do so with the support of the Holy Father.”

D. He considered converting to Judaism, but decided that becoming Sabbath-observant would interfere with his duties as president, saying “If I am president and Shabbat falls, what do I do? Are you going to disconnect from the country from the first star on Friday to the first star on Saturday?”

E. He is a strong supporter of Israel, often walked onstage at his rallies to the sound of a shofar, and has said, “I’m almost Jewish. I’m just missing the ‘blood covenant.’ ”

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11/19/2023

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated 60 years ago this week in Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the son of Joseph Kennedy, Sr., a wealthy businessman and philanthropist. Joseph Kennedy was a known antisemite who, while he was serving as the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1938, told the German ambassador that President Roosevelt was the victim of “Jewish influence” who was misinformed as to the “philosophy, ambitions and ideals of Hitler’s regime.” John F. Kennedy made many efforts to distance himself from his father’s views, both prior to and while serving as President. Which of the following is an example of John F. Kennedy’s positive connection to the Jewish community?

A. President Kennedy instructed one of his advisors, Lewis Weinstein, to organize a conference on the issue of Soviet Jews, who were being oppressed under the Soviet regime. Sadly, the conference never happened as Weinstein was only asked to do this days before Kennedy’s assassination.

B. It is well known that Robert Frost was one of the speakers at President Kennedy’s inauguration ceremony, the first time a poet participated in a presidential inauguration. It is less known that it was also the first inauguration in which a rabbi addressed the assembled, as President-elect Kennedy asked Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel to offer a benediction at the inauguration on January 20, 1961.

C. In 1947, John F. Kennedy won his first election, as a Congressman from Massachusetts’s 11th Congressional district. One of his first official acts was to co-sponsor a resolution supporting the United Nations partition plan for Palestine. At the time, Kennedy stated that “this is not a perfect plan, but it is the best plan to ensure the establishment of a Jewish state for survivors of the Nazi destruction.”

D. In August 1962, John F. Kennedy became the first American President to sell a major weapons system to Israel. The United States sold Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Israel as part of a broader strategy of expanding the U.S. bilateral relationship with Israel, an ally of growing importance in the Middle East.

E. When Kennedy was running for president he campaigned in the Chassidic communities of Brooklyn. He appeared at a rally sponsored by followers of Rebbe Nachman, where at one stop he donned a yarmulke and uttered his famous line (later to be stated again in a slightly revised way), “Ich bin ein Breslover.”

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