Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Rabbi responds to my email


I posted this blog a few weeks back "Churchill was Jewish? or The Day the Rabbi Screwed Up" and sent an email to the Rabbi for comment. Here is what he said:

"Shalom
I posted that page without vetting every assertion in it. I looked up the three you mention.

Cary Grant – There is an entirely unsubstantiated rumor that Archibald Leach (Cary Grant’s real name) was born to a Jewish seamstress who worked in his father’s factory and that his mother, Elsie, raised him as her own.

David Bowie seems to have had a Jewish or half-Jewish mother but apparently there was nothing of Judaism in his upbringing. One article I looked at said he has an interest in Kabbalah as part of a general interest in mysticism.

Robert deNiro – His mother was not Jewish but may have had some Jewish ancestry.

I found these things out using Google (e.g., “Robert deniro Jewish mother”) There was a lot of conjecture, some Nazi conspiracy theories, and obvious repition of rumors. One site that looked more accurate is http://www.adherents.com/largecom/fam_jewish_catholics.html (with some good links).

It’s really nice to know someone actually reads my blog. Maybe I should pay more attention to it. "


L'shalom,
Rabbi Philip J. Bentley
Agudas Israel Synagogue
Hendersonville NC

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