Comedian Richard Lewis died last week at the age of 76. Lewis’s comedy grew from his Jewish upbringing and identity, as he noted, “It’s so much funnier being a Jew than anything else. If we don’t find humor then we’re in deep trouble.” He was known for a self-deprecating style of comedy, as seen in many appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and other late night shows, as well as sitcoms and movies, most recently as a recurring character (playing himself) on Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. He and David were born 3 days apart in the same hospital, and later attended the same summer camp, where they hated each other, only becoming best friends early in their professional lives. According to Lewis, what significant event in his life involved his father?

Richard Lewis (cropped) by Joeyjojo86 is licensed under  CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED via Wikimedia Commons

A. Lewis noted that his father “was so well loved as the cantor at our synagogue that the congregation wouldn’t let me sing at my own bar mitzvah.”

B. Lewis noted that his father “was such a successful caterer that he was booked on my bar mitzvah, and I had my party on a Tuesday.”

C. Lewis noted that his father “was so well known as a local mohel that he used to show me off in his ads as a sample of his work.”

D. Lewis noted that his father “was so well recognized as a member of the local Lubavitcher community that he insisted that I always wear black clothes.”

E. Lewis noted that his father “dropped in on Larry’s bris, which was in the hospital right after I was born. He told Larry’s father that the lox they served was ‘Prett-ay, Prett-ay, Prett-ay Good.’ ”

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Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker ruled that frozen embryos are in fact humans, with the same rights as children. Therefore, these embryos cannot be destroyed, for according to the judge, human life “cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself.” While there are some areas of disagreement within the Jewish community, most agree that embryos and fetuses do not have the same rights as individuals once they are born. Therefore there is not an absolute prohibition against abortion as there is in the Catholic Church, for example. Much is written in the Talmud and in later rabbinic writings about embryos, fetuses, artificial insemination, IVF, abortion, and other related issues of pregnancy and childbirth. Which of the following is a true statement with regard to the Jewish perspective on these issues?

Ivf by DrKontogianniIVF is licensed under CC0 1.0 DEED via Wikimedia Commons

A. The fetus is not considered to be a life until the head emerges during the birth process.

B. Most Orthodox religious authorities allow for the discarding of unused fertilized embryos, but not the use of those embryos in research.

C. When a baby is conceived with a donor egg from a non-Jewish woman but carried by a Jewish woman, some rabbis say that since the egg is from a non-Jewish woman, the baby is not halakhically Jewish. Others, however, state that the source of the egg is insignificant compared to the role played by the gestational mother; therefore the child is halakhically Jewish.

D. Until the 40th day after conception, the embryo is considered to be “merely water.”

E. Judaism is opposed to freezing of embryos, based on the wisdom of my Bubby who always told me, “Oy, it’s freezing outside. Bubbele, you’ll catch your death of cold. Here. Put on a sweater.”

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Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fanni Willis is heading up the criminal trial of Donald Trump and 18 other defendants for conspiring to commit election fraud. Willis herself is being investigated in regard to a personal relationship with her chief investigator, Nathan Wade. During a hearing on that matter, former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes testified that in 2021, Willis had asked him to be a special prosecutor in the Trump case, but he said no. He had already once had to live with private security due to threats against him, and he didn’t want to have to “live with bodyguards for the rest of my life.” Barnes said that in that previous incident, he had assumed at first that the threats were because of his leadership regarding the removal of the Confederate battle emblem from Georgia’s state flag. But he learned from the FBI that those threats against him were because he was “too close to the Jews.” What was Governor Barnes’s connection to Jews that incurred the wrath of some Georgia racists?

Governor Roy Barnes by Will Folsom is licensed under CC BY 2.0 DEED, via Wikimedia Commons

A. Barnes was influential in bringing about a reexamination of the case against Leo Frank, the Jewish business owner who was convicted in 1913 on charges that he assaulted and strangled a 13-year-old female employee. When Frank’s death penalty was commuted and changed to life in prison by then governor John Slaton, a mob stormed the prison, dragged Frank out, and lynched him. Frank was pardoned in 1986, but Barnes’s efforts have led to a possible exoneration of Leo Frank.

B. In 2001 Governor Barnes appointed a commission which ultimately approved a plan to provide kosher meals in state prisons. There was opposition by white supremacists and others on the far right, as well as others who simply felt that the cost would be prohibitive, especially because it was assumed that many who didn’t actually keep kosher, or weren’t even Jewish, would sign up for the kosher meals, believing that it would taste better than regular prison food.

C. In 2002 Roy Barnes presented playwright Alfred Uhry, an Atlanta native, with The Outstanding Georgia Citizen Award in recognition of his artistic achievements. Uhry is known for his plays with Jewish themes and characters, in particular Last Night at Ballyhoo, Parade, and Driving Miss Daisy.

D. In 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King was scheduled to speak at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium, but the City Council imposed financial requirements intentionally designed to prevent King from speaking there, even though Jim Crow laws had officially ended in Georgia. Then-lawyer and activist Roy Barnes reached out to friends who were members of Temple Emanu-El, a prominent Reform synagogue in Atlanta, which opened their doors to Dr. King. Barnes introduced King at that event and remained close to the Jewish community.

E. Governor Barnes established a commission to determine what to do about Georgia’s controversial Stone Mountain, the massive mountainside carved with images of Confederate heroes Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. The commission approved Barnes’s suggestion that the mountainside be re-carved to feature CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

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Sixty years ago (February 9, 1964), Ed Sullivan looked at his audience and the camera and announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles!” The moment was the unofficial launch of Beatlemania, and cemented Sullivan’s place as the arbiter of the best in entertainment at that time. Sullivan had started as a reporter and writer, known in particular for his syndicated column for the New York Daily News. He went on in 1948 to become host of the variety show Toast of the Town, which was later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show, remaining on the air until 1971. Besides presenting innumerable Jewish entertainers on his show (Joel Grey, Barbra Streisand, Irving Berlin, and Henny Youngman, to name just a few), Sullivan was a supporter of Jewish causes. He received the annual Brotherhood Award from Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in 1961, and he appeared at a UJA event at Madison Square Garden on June 11, 1967, the day after the Six-Day War ended. In 1930, Sullivan, a Catholic, married Sylvia Weinstein, a Jewish woman, against the wishes of both families. What did Sylvia Weinstein do to mollify her family when she and Ed Sullivan started dating?

Beatles with Ed Sullivan by CBS Television is in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons

A. She promised her family that he would convert before they got married.

B. She told her family that they should not object, as “You’ll see. Someday he’ll get you tickets to see the Beatles!”

C. She told her family she was dating someone named Ed Solomon.

D. She actually did not tell them she was dating a Catholic, knowing that nothing would mollify them. (Of course, they did find out once she got engaged).

E. She told her family that if they made her break up with Sullivan, she would start dating that Italian fellow, Topo Gigio.

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