North LA Surfers Beware another surfing rabbi in the line up

Many of you are probably familiar with "The Surfing Rabbi" Nachum Shifren but it looks as though another bearded one will be dropping in but don't worry he aint no Kook.

Surfing Rabbi Charges I.V. and Rincon
UCSB Alum Yom Tov Glaser Plays Music and Surfs at His Alma Matter
Thursday, February 14, 2008
By Ben Preston

Graduates from the University of California, Santa Barbara are known for all sorts of accomplishments. The list of alumni includes everyone from scientists to musicians, and everything in between. Once a party-focused surfer studying geology and the effects of global warming upon surf spots, Yom Tov Glaser is one of those UCSB graduates who joined the ranks of interesting alumni. Now a Hassidic Rabbi living in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel, Glaser has not lost a bit of his Southern California appetite for surfing, skating, mountain biking and good music. Now, it's his way of connecting with students and friends.

Teaching the Torah though song.
Yesterday evening, Rabbi Glazer breezed into town a bit jet lagged, having just arrived from Israel, and played a little concert for students and community members at Hillel in Isla Vista. Invited by the UCSB Chapter of the Jewish Awareness Movement (JAM), he entertained and taught his audience with a unique blend of rabbinic wisdom, song, and funny stories from his raucous days as a UCSB undergrad. "UCSB is a weird scene," he said, "there are rich kids from SoCal who don't care about anything, and granola kids from NorCal who care about everything. During the Gulf war, UCSB was the hottest protest place in the country, and all the SoCal kids had to learn how to protest from the NorCal kids." Rabbi Glaser participated in many war protests in 1991, and noted that UCSB has a rich tradition of protest. "In Jerusalem, I had dinner with a lady who went to UCSB in the late 60s, and told her about the 'die-ins' we used to have on the lawns on campus. She was like, 'Oh, we burned a bank!'"

No foot pumps, he's skating though the crowd with that guitar.
The Kabbalah—which, literally translated means "receiving"—is the mystical aspect of Judaism which seeks to interpret the hidden meanings and inner secrets of the Torah. The Hasidic movement—began in Europe in the 18th Century under increasing repression of Judaism and as a response to charges that Judaism had become too academic and lost a degree of its spirituality—has been a major force in the popularity of Kabbalistic study. Hassidim believe that the largely esoteric Kabbalah can and should be understood by everyone. Rabbi Glaser's specialty is Kabbalah, and he uses his casual storytelling style and musical talents to teach bits of its wisdom. In addition to singing covers of Bob Marley songs, he has written a number of original tunes that are dedicated to Jewish life and teachings. He also sings reeling Israeli folk songs that get everyone up dancing. By the end the evening, almost all of the 40 or so people who showed up to see him at Hillel were dancing wildly in huge circles as Rabbi Glaser played guitar, sang, and weaved in and out of the crowd on a skateboard he borrowed from one of the students.
One might wonder how someone who was so into partying, surfing and mountain biking might have gotten involved in such a deeply religious life path. "In college, I gained a love for deep conversation," he said, "I remember one night, when I was supposed to be studying for a final, I got into a conversation with two other students in the study room in San Miguel, and ended up talking to them all night. After that, I was addicted to those deep conversations. Then, after graduation, on a trip to Israel, I realized that Jews are the nation of the conversation."

The Rabbi enjoys a few waves at Rincon.
Rabbi Glaser finished his talk by relating people in life to five surfers. The first surfer is the one who paddles shoreward to escape danger; the second, a safe, practical surfer who doesn't take unnecessary risks; the third, one who grabs the bull by the horns and paddles for the big waves, riding the wave of life; the fourth is the surf photographer—the voyeur who observes everything; and the fifth surfer is a guy who lives on Sabado Tarde. "If you've ever been on Sabado, if you didn't know where you were, you could be in Kansas," he said. "It's flat, there are cheesy apartments there…anyway, the fifth surfer doesn't even realize where he is—he's all spaced out."

A few lucky students were able to continue hanging out with Rabbi Glaser this morning, as he was amped to go surfing while in Santa Barbara—something he hadn't been able to do for a few years. Early this morning, after his morning prayers, he cruised down to Rincon with JAM's Rabbi Mitch Goldstein and a handful of UCSB students and managed to score a decent chest high swell. Not only that, but pulling into the parking lot, the group noticed that Kelly Slater was suiting up, getting ready to go out for a surf. Rabbi Glaser and the group of students took advantage of the opportunity, and spent a few minutes chatting with the friendly eight time world champion. Later on, Slater and Rabbi Glaser could be seen talking out in the lineup, in between a few rather impressive sets. The fun didn't stop there, because when Rabbi Glaser and the students came back up to the parking lot to leave, Jack Johnson was pulling surfboards from his truck. Rabbi Glaser couldn't resist chatting up a fellow musician and UCSB alum, much to the delight of the already-stoked group of students.

Rabbi Glaser will spend the rest of his U.S. stay performing a few lectures and concerts around the Greater Los Angeles area, and visiting his family. His parents still live in L.A., and are currently hanging out with the seven grandchildren he brought with him from Israel. Having met Rabbi Glaser in Israel in 2001, Rabbi Mitch Goldstein has been bringing his students to visit on JAM's Israel trips. Although he is a Hasidic rabbi, Glaser still knows how to party. "When I wasn't an observant Jew, I threw these huge parties," he said. "Now, when I have parties for Jewish holidays, I figure God's watching, so I don't want to disappoint." According to his description of these celebrations, busloads of people show up. "Tons of people come, but it's fun with more substance to it," said Rabbi Mitch, who has been to a few of Glaser's holiday parties. As Rabbi Glaser drove away from Rincon this morning, listening to Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker," everyone commented on how much fun it had been spending time with him. Whether or not you believe in everything he has to say, his genuine happiness at his chosen life path rubbed off on everyone.

Shiver Me Tuckas Pirate Jean Lafitte was Jewish

Jewish pirates save Louisiana (Taken from the blog "Pratie Place")

Jean Lafitte's diary states he was born in Port-Au-Prince, Saint Domingue, in 1782. His mother died the next year, so Jean and his siblings were raised by their grandmother, the Sephardic Jew Zora Nadrimal. She told them of her flight from Spain to France with their mother to escape the Inquisition, which tortured and murdered their grandfather Abhorad. (The brothers later falsely claimed the Bordeaux region of France as their birthplace to snag French privateering credentials.)

The family lived a peaceful life in Santo Domingo until the Slave Insurrection of 1791. The Lafitte/Laffite brothers escaped to Martinique where they purchased a Letter of Marque (makes it kosher to seize and loot enemy vessels). Jean married a Danish Jewess, Cristiana Levine, and after four profitable years of privateering the family left for France with everything they owned. On the way their ship was taken by a Spanish Man of War. They were stripped and dumped on a sand cay; days later an American schooner picked them up and took them to New Orleans where Cristiana shortly died of exhaustion and fever.

Meanwhile Jean's brother Pierre, also a privateer, was busted for smuggling. The now indigent brothers briefly worked for U.S. Customs and then got back into pirating. Jean bought this blacksmith shop (built 1772) to front his evil businesses. Pierre and Jean were joined by their brothers René/Renato Béluche and Dominique You, former artillery gunner for Napoleon. They built a headquarters in Barataria Bay.

Captured Spanish vessels were maneuvered into the bay and, by 1811, Barataria was a thriving community with 32 armed warships, more ships than in the entire US navy. Businessmen from New Orleans arrived at night to buy pirates' loot. The operation was so huge, it affected the economy of the whole Gulf. "New Orleans banking declined and it was apparent that Laffite was monopolizing Louisiana's import trade and the commerce of the entire Mississippi Valley." (Jews on the Frontier)

In 1814 Great Britain dispatched an armada and 8,000 men to take Louisiana. Sure of success, they brought along a complete civil governmental staff to rule over the soon-to-be established Crown Colony. The officers offered Lafitte 30,000 pounds sterling and a commission in the British Navy if he would guide their troops through the maze of waterways to New Orleans. Lafitte had traveled the bayous for years and knew them better than anyone; he had even mapped the navigable waterways within 10,000 square miles of delta.

Lafitte pretended to accept the British offer but instead sent word to New Orleans that invasion was imminent. In exchange for a governor's pardon he and his buccaneers would help defend the city.

With more than two thousand men under his command, Lafitte could perhaps have turned back the British himself. But instead of accepting Jean's help, governor Claiborne let a Commodore Patterson attack Barataria. Patterson destroyed the settlement and stole loot worth half a million dollars, claiming it as spoils of war -- though none of it was ever seen by the government. He rounded up and imprisoned all the pirates he could find.

The governor's smugness was brief: reliable sources confirmed that the British were coming; within days their Armada arrived. Andrew Jackson, Commander in Chief of New Orleans, had almost no men or ships and so, amusingly, Claiborne was forced to free the imprisoned pirates (the "Hellish Banditi" as Jackson called them). He needed them desperately.

Jean and Pierre guided the American forces through the marshland maze. An assortment of 4,000 Tennesseans, Choctaw tribesmen, free blacks, Creoles and of course pirates defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans. Although James Madison gave presidential pardons to Jean Laffite and the buccaneers, their loot, surprisingly, was not returned. They were penniless yet again.

Some of the pirates began peaceful lives along the shores of Barataria Bay. The Lafittes, however, went back to piracy. Brother Dominique You was hired to rescue Napoleon from St. Helena and bring him to New Orleans, though Napoleon's death interfered with this plan substantially. Pierre and Jean sailed to Texas and established a colony of privateers off the coast of Galveston. Roger Kamenetz called it a "utopian pirate's den."

Later, Jean became a labor leader in St. Louis. In 1847 he met with Marx and Engels and, admiring their work, opened an escrow account in Paris to help them. There is evidence that Lafitte tried to introduce Marx to the young Abraham Lincoln.

Jean, who had substantially financed one of the earliest synagogues in Louisiana, is buried (perhaps) in a Jewish cemetery in Metairie. (More).

didjewknowwhen?

Genealogy has always been a passion of mine and is very important for Jews as a whole. I read a statistic the other day that half-Jews now out number full Jews. Dershowitz in his book "The Vanishing American Jew: In Search of Jewish Identity for the Next Century" from 1997 said by the year 2067 that there would be no secular Jews left in America. I have found at the largely Christian elementary school that my son goes to that several of the practicing Christian parents are of Jewish ancestry. I guess my point is that the Jewish history and culture is a rich one and that Jews were involved in almost every significant action that has taken place in the past 400 years. There were Jews that fought and financed the Revolutionary War in America. An English Jew that fought to the death at the Alamo. 5 Jewish Generals that served in the Civil War on the Confederate side. Half a million that served for America during WWII. Several that sailed with Columbus at one time or another and he may even have been a Jew.
So going forward I will be adding Jewish genealogical links to this site starting with this one for those who may have had family serving in the Soviet Red Army:http://www.bfcollection.net/fast/knigapamyati.html

Here is some more info on that link:

Database of Red Army Jewish Soldiers Killed in Battles or Missing in Action in World War II

World War II was one of the most cataclysmic event in recent Jewish history. We mourn the six million innocent victims who perished at the hands of the German Nazis and their eager collaborators throughout Europe. We are proud that Jews resisted the Nazis whenever they had a chance–whether in ghettos, in the forests as partisans, or as soldiers in the armies of the Allied Forces. It has always been common knowledge that the Jews of the Soviet Union fought bravely in the Red Army in World War II, known as The Great Patriotic War to the Soviet people. Likewise, it has been known that the Soviet government denied Jews their battle awards and blacked out information about the Jewish participation in the war against the Nazis. The information, suppressed and hidden, nevertheless survived and outlived the "Evil Empire".
When the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991, its archives became much more accessible to researchers. One project that started in the early 1990's was to compile a list, from the former Soviet Army and Navy archives, of all Jewish soldiers listed as killed or missing in action. At least half a million Jewish men and women fought in the ranks of the Red Army and the Navy. Many thousands were killed or missing and presumed dead. The work of compiling their names was done by the staff of The Central Archives of The Ministry Of Defense and The Russian State Archives of the Navy, at the request of the Russian Union of Jewish War Invalids and Veterans. The results do not list all Jews known to have died in combat. For example, my father’s cousin Iosif Feldblyum, missing in action 1943, was not listed in the database, nor were a number of his friends and classmates such as Isaak Arbisman, David Datskovsky, Mark Gammer, Grigory Filler, Iosif Kilevsky, Zinovy Zinder. There could be many reasons that files for these and many other Jewish soldiers have not been found. Nonetheless, the database contains about 100,000 names - the most complete listing today. As more records are found and are collected from private individuals, it is possible that additional volumes will be published over and above the eight books available today.
FAST Genealogy Service is offering Jewish genealogists records from this enormous collection. The copyright considerations allow us to present only the English translation of the records (see examples below). The information, including the references to the actual archival files, will undoubtedly open new research venues for many a genealogist who looks for missing links with their families in the Soviet Union of 1920's-1940's.

guesswhosthejew

Here is a fun little site I ran across during my daily Jewish web surfing. Even I missed a couple and scored in the 90s%. They say Steven Segal is not Jewish but from my research he is half Jewish.

http://www.guesswhosthejew.com/score.php

I Hart Bochner..

Well I mean I really like him and in a very hetero way from when I first noticed him in Apartment Zero. He was in Breaking Away and a few other films prior but Apartment Zero is where he really seemed like a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately he didn't go the way of a Jewish Jason Patric and instead became a director. If you are a Patric fan and like his film noir roles then I highly recommend Apartment Zero.

Interesting Jewish tidbit; in The TV Version of "The Sun Also Rises" (1984) Hart Bocher plays the lead as gentile Jake Barnes while gentile Robert Carradine plays Jew Robert Cohn. Other Jews in the film playing non Jews include Jane Seymour (Born: Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg) as Brett Ashley and Leonard Nimoy as Count Mippipopolous.

Here is his bio:

Hart Bochner is a handsome, dark-haired supporting actor who has worked in several major theatrical and television movies. He is the son of Lloyd Bochner, a film and TV actor himself, and was born in Canada. As a teenager, he made his film debut in Franklin Schaffner's 1975 film Islands in the Stream. Before deciding to become an actor like his father, Bochner earned a graduate degree in English literature at a university in San Diego. Following college, he appeared in a supporting role in the 1979 sleeper Breaking Away. It was a promising start to his career and he next went on to appear in George Cukor's final film, Rich and Famous (1981). Though he appeared in many subsequent films, Bochner unfortunately has not become a well-known cinema actor though he did turn in a memorable performance as a sleazy yuppie businessman in 1988's Die Hard. With television, he has done a little better starring in adaptations such as East of Eden, The Sun Also Rises, and most notably the TV mini-series War and Remembrance. Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

I am Iron Jew Man!

One might think since the creators of the comic Iron Man are Jewish that maybe Iron Man is as well. Walk with me here, Iron Man is very similar to the original Jewish superhero the Golem (See Jewish folklore story below). Also Producer, Director and many of the stars in the movie are Jewish or of Jewish ancestory:

From The Jewish News Weekly
Friday May 2, 2008
Celebrities by nate bloom - Downey a superhero
No question — Robert Downey Jr. is a great actor who can be absolutely riveting. That’s why I think “Iron Man” might stand out among the overabundance of big-screen adaptations of comic book heroes.
Downey stars as Tony Stark, a rich industrialist who is captured by terrorists in Afghanistan. Ordered to build a missile for them, Stark instead builds a power armor suit and escapes to America. He improves his suit to the point that he emerges as the tech superhero “Iron Man.” Gwyneth Paltrow plays Stark’s secretary. Shaun Toub, a Persian Jewish actor highly acclaimed for his role as the Iranian shopkeeper in the 2004 Oscar winner “Crash,” has a supporting role as a doctor who aids Stark.
The Iron Man character was created by Marvel Comics’ founder Stan Lee, his brother Larry Lieber (Stan Lee was born Stan Lieber) and the late graphic artist Jack Kirby.
Opening Friday, May 2, “Iron Man,” is directed by Jon Favreau (“Elf”), who is married to Dr. Joy Tillem, a Sonoma native. He says he cast Downey because of Downey’s past history of drug abuse: “The best and worst moments of Robert’s life have been in the public eye,” Favreau said. “He had to find an inner balance to overcome obstacles that went far beyond his career. That’s Tony Stark. Robert brings a depth that goes beyond a comic book character who is having trouble in high school or can’t get the girl.”
Downey, whose paternal grandfather was Jewish, wed film producer Susan Levin in 2005 in a Jewish ceremony and now describes himself as a “Jew-Bu” (a Jew who practices forms of Buddhist meditation and spirituality). He credits Levin as being critical to his personal and career recovery.

From: D. L. Ashliman's index of folklore and mythology electronic texts
The Golem - A Jewish Legend
In the town of Worms [in Germany] there once lived a pious man of the name of Bezalel to
whom a son was born on the first night of Passover. This happened in the year 5273 after the creation of the world [1579 common era], at a time when the Jews all over Europe were suffering from cruel persecutions.
The nations in whose midst the children of Israel were dwelling constantly accused them of ritual murder. The Jews, their enemies pretended, used the blood of Christian children in the preparation of their Passover bread; but the arrival of the son of Rabbi Bezalel soon proved to be the occasion of frustrating the evil intentions of two miscreants who sought to show to Christendom that the Jews were actually guilty of ritual murder.
In the night, when the wife of Rabbi Bezalel was seized with labor pains, the servants who had rushed out of the house in search of a midwife luckily prevented two men, who were just going to throw a sack containing the body of a dead child into the Jew-street, with a view to proving the murderous practice of the Jews, from carrying out their evil intention. Rabbi Bezalel then prophesied that his newborn son was destined to bring consolation to Israel and to save his people from the accusation of ritual murder.
"The name of my son in Israel," said Rabbi Bezalel "shall be Judah Arya, even as the Patriarch Jacob said when he blessed his children: 'Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up.'" (Genesis 49:9)
Rabbi Bezalel's son grew up and increased in strength and knowledge; he became a great scholar, well versed in the Holy Law, but also a master of all branches of knowledge and familiar with many foreign languages. In time he was elected Rabbi of Posen [in Poland], but later received a call to the city of Prague, where he was appointed chief judge of the Jewish community.
All his thoughts and actions were devoted to the welfare of his suffering people and his great aim in life was to clear Israel of the monstrous accusation of ritual murder which like a sword of Damocles was perpetually suspended over the head of the unhappy race. Fervently did the rabbi pray to Heaven to teach him in a vision by what means he could best bring to naught the false accusations of the miscreant priests who were spreading the cruel rumors.
And one night he heard a mysterious voice calling to him, "Make a human image of clay and thus you will succeed in frustrating the evil intentions of the enemies of Israel."
On the following morning the master called his son-in-law and his favorite pupil and acquainted them with the instruction he had received from Heaven. He also asked the two to help him in the work he was about to undertake.
"Four elements," he said, "are required for the creation of the golem or homunculus, namely, earth, water, fire and air."
"I myself," thought the holy man, "possess the power of the wind; my son-in-law embodies fire, while my favorite pupil is the symbol of water, and between the three of us we are bound to succeed in our work." He urged on his companions the necessity of great secrecy and asked them to spend seven days in preparing for the work.
On the twentieth day of the month of Adar, in the year five thousand three hundred and forty after the creation of the world, in the fourth hour after midnight, the three men betook themselves to a river on the outskirts of the city on the banks of which they found a loam pit. Here they kneaded the soft clay and fashioned the figure of a man three ells high. They fashioned the features, hands and feet, and then placed the figure of clay on its back upon the ground.
The three learned men then stood at the feet of the image which they had created and the rabbi commanded his son-in-law to walk round the figure seven times, while reciting a cabalistic formula he had himself composed. And as soon as the son-in-law had completed the seven rounds and recited the formula, the figure of clay grew red like a gleaming coal. Thereupon the rabbi commanded his pupil to perform the same action, namely, walk round the lifeless figure seven times while reciting another formula. The effect of the performance was this time an abatement of the heat. The figure grew moist and vapors emanated from it, while nails sprouted on the tips of its fingers and its head was suddenly covered with hair. The face of the figure of clay looked like that of a man of about thirty.
At last the rabbi himself walked seven times round the figure, and the three men recited the following sentence from the history of creation in Genesis: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7)
As soon as the three pious men had spoken these words, the eyes of the Golem opened and he gazed upon the rabbi and his pupils with eyes full of wonder. Rabbi Loew [also spelled Löw] thereupon spoke aloud to the man of clay and commanded him to rise from the ground. The Golem at once obeyed and stood erect on his feet. The three men then arrayed the figure in the clothes they had brought with them, clothes worn by the beadles of the synagogues, and put shoes on his feet.
And the rabbi once more addressed the newly fashioned image of clay and thus he spoke, "Know you, clod of clay, that we have fashioned you from the dust of the earth that you may protect the people of Israel against its enemies and shelter it from the misery and suffering to which our nation is subjected. Your name shall be Joseph, and you shall dwell in my courtroom and perform the work of a servant. You shall obey my commands and do all that I may require of you, go through fire, jump into water or throw yourself down from a high tower."
The Golem only nodded his head as if to give his consent to the words spoken by the rabbi. His conduct was in every respect that of a human being; he could hear and understand all that was said to him, but he lacked the power of speech. And thus it happened on that memorable night that while only three men had left the house of the rabbi, four returned home in the sixth hour after midnight.
The rabbi kept the matter secret, informing his household that on his way in the morning to the ritual bathing establishment he had met a beggar, and, finding him honest and innocent, had brought him home. He had the intention of engaging him as a servant to attend to the work in his schoolroom, but he forbade his household to make the man perform any other domestic work.
And the Golem thenceforth remained in a corner of the schoolroom, his head upon his two hands, sitting motionless. He gave the impression of a creature bereft of reason, neither understanding nor taking any notice of what was happening around him. Rabbi Loew said of him that neither fire nor water had the power of harming him, nor could any sword wound him. He had called the man of clay Joseph, in memory of Joseph Sheda mentioned in the Talmud who is said to have been half human and half spirit, and who had served the rabbis and frequently saved them from great trouble.
Rabbi Loew, the miracle worker, availed himself of the services of the Golem only on occasions when it was a question of defending his people against the blood accusations from which the Jews of Prague had to suffer greatly in those days.
Whenever the miracle-working Rabbi Loew sent out the Golem and was anxious that he should not be seen, he used to suspend on his neck an amulet written on the skin of a hart, a talisman which rendered the man of clay invisible, while he himself was able to see everything. During the week preceding the feast of Passover the Golem wandered about in the streets of the city stopping everybody who happened to be carrying some burden on his back. It frequently occurred that the bundle contained a dead child which the miscreant intended to deposit in the Jew-street; the Golem at once tied up the man and the body with a rope which he carried in his pocket, and, leading the mischief maker to the town hall, handed him over to the authorities. The Golem's power was quite supernatural and he performed many good deeds.
A day came when a law was finally promulgated declaring the blood accusation to be groundless, and the Jews breathed a sigh of relief when all further persecutions on account of alleged ritual murder were forbidden. Rabbi Loew now decided to take away the breath of life from the Golem, the figure of clay which his hands had once fashioned. He placed Joseph upon a bed and commanded his disciples once more to walk round the Golem seven times and repeat the words they had spoken when the figure was created, but this time in reverse order. When the seventh round was finished, the Golem was once more a lifeless piece of clay. They divested him of his clothes, and wrapping him in two old praying shawls, hid the clod of clay under a heap of old books in the rabbi's garret.
Rabbi Loew afterwards related many incidents connected with the creation of the Golem. When he was on the point of blowing the breath of life into the nostrils of the figure of clay he had created, two spirits had appeared to him; that of Joseph the demon and that of Jonathan the demon. He chose the former, the spirit of Joseph, because he had already revealed himself as the protector of the rabbis of the Talmud, but he could not endow the figure of clay with the power of speech because the living spirit inhabiting the Golem was only a sort of animal vitality and not a soul. He possessed only small powers of discernment, being unable to grasp anything belonging to the domain of real intelligence and higher wisdom.
And yet, although the Golem was not possessed of a soul, one could not fail to notice that on the Sabbath there was something peculiar in his bearing, for his face bore a friendlier and more amiable expression than it did on weekdays. It was afterwards related that every Friday Rabbi Loew used to remove the tablet on which he had written the Ineffable Name from under the Golem's tongue, as he was afraid lest the Sabbath should make the Golem immortal and men might be induced to worship him as an idol. The Golem had no inclinations, either good or bad. Whatever action he performed he did under compulsion and out of fear lest he should be turned again into dust and reduced to naught once more. Whatever was situated within ten ells above the ground or under it he could reach easily and nothing would stop him in the execution of anything that he had undertaken.

On a side note here is a great article on whether the song "Iron Man" was inspired by the comic book of the same name.

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/03/what-does-black-sabb.html

Hogan's Jewish Heros

John Banner(Schultz), Werner Klemperer(Klink), Leon Askin(Burkhalter), Howard Caine(Hochstetter), and Robert Clary(LeBeau).

I found this trivia question on: http://confessionsofalibertine.blog-city.com/tv_trivia__hogans_heroes.htm

Yes if you go to his site you will see he supports Obama so please dont hold that against me for using his info.

Werner Klemperer, Col. Klink in TV's 'Hogan's Heroes,' Dies at 80

By Bernard Weintraub,, December 8, 2000
Werner Klemperer, an Emmy Award-winning actor in television, film and theater whose role as the bumbling Nazi Col. Wilhelm Klink on "Hogan's Heroes" dominated an eclectic career, died on Wednesday at his home in New York. He was 80.
The cause was cancer, said John A. Anderson, his manager.
A love of music dominated the life of Mr. Klemperer, the son of the conductor Otto Klemperer, who was the music director for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The younger Mr. Klemperer performed in many opera productions and, in the last two decades, served as narrator with virtually every symphony orchestra in the United States. His narration of Mozart's "Impresario" with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra was broadcast by PBS on "Live From Lincoln Center."
But what stamped his career, and made him famous, was his role in the lowbrow "Hogan's Heroes," the successful and unlikely sitcom set in a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. The show, which ran on CBS from 1965 to 1971, starred Mr. Klemperer as the monocled and inept Nazi commandant of the camp in which the American prisoners, led by Col. Robert Hogan (played by Bob Crane), actually controlled the camp.
Mr. Klemperer, whose Jewish family had escaped Germany in the 1930's for Los Angeles, found the role a double-edged sword. "He sometimes felt he was too identified with that character," his wife, Kim Hamilton Klemperer, said. "But it had such a major impact on his career. He loved it when people stopped him on the street. The fan mail he still gets is unbelievable." (The series has been rebroadcast on TV Land).
Mr. Klemperer was nominated for Emmys for each of the six years he appeared on the show, and won twice, in 1968 and 1969, in the category of best supporting actor.
What plainly dogged Mr. Klemperer was the criticism that a show based on the concept of bumbling Germans running a prisoner-of-war camp was simply not funny given the actual events of World War II.
When the idea of a movie version of "Hogan's Heroes" was discussed two years ago, and then dropped, a writer in The Boston Globe, Renee Graham, wrote: "Call this political correctness if you like, but under no circumstances should a film of `Hogan's Heroes' be made. For those who don't remember, this was the 1960's World War II comedy starring Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer and John Banner that presented the Nazis as the biggest cutups since the Keystone Kops. Let's be clear here: Nazis are never, ever funny. Ever. So it's with great joy that I report that the film version of `Hogan' is on ice, at least for now."
Such criticisms through the years bothered Mr. Klemperer. "The show was never intended to be viewed in a serious light," he said in 1999. "Whenever anyone tries to overanalyze `Hogan's Heroes' I merely tell them that it was a funny show, a wonderful show, and I'm very proud of it. And that's the end of that."
But Mr. Klemperer also had early misgivings about the series. He was offered the role as the Nazi commandant by CBS but his agent failed to tell him that it was humorous. When Mr. Klemperer learned that the show was a comedy, he said he was stunned.
"I had one qualification when I took the job: if they ever wrote a segment whereby Colonel Klink would come out the hero, I would leave the show."
Mr. Klemperer played other Germans in two of his more memorable films. He was a Nazi on trial for war atrocities in "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961) and Adolf Eichmann in "Operation Eichmann" (also 1961).

John Banner
Birth:

Jan. 28, 1910ViennaWien, Austria
Death:

Jan. 28, 1973ViennaWien, Austria
Actor. Fondly remembered for his role of 'Sergeant Schultz' in the classic 1960s television sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" (1965 - 1971). An Austrian actor of Jewish descent in his hometown of Vienna, he was forced to leave when Germany and Austria unified in 1938, at the age of 28, during the Anschluss (union) between the two countries. There are reports that he spent time in a German Concentration Camp, but these are unconfirmed. At the time of the Anschluss, he was touring Switzerland with an acting company, and with Hitler's anti-semitic policies, he decided to immigrate to the United States. Rapidly picking up English, he obtained work in the early 1940s in Hollywood, oddly enough playing Nazis or Germans in war films, often uncredited. His trim Nordic look and accent typecast him in the roles of the very villains who would murder his family that had been left behind in Austria - all of whom perished in the Holocaust. His first Hollywood role was in the 1941 film, "Accent on Love," but he more often than not was uncredited in his roles. He regularly found work in such films as "Desperate Journey" (1942), "Immortal Sergeant" (1943), "Tonight we Raid Calais" (1943), "Tangier" (1946), "Rendezvous 24" (1946), "My Girl" (1948), "King Solomon's Mines" (1950), "The Beast of Budapest" (1958), "Operation Eichmann" (1961), "The Interns" (1961), and "Bedtime Story" (1964). He would also play guest star roles on television, finding steady work in such shows as The Lone Ranger, Fireside Theatre, Hallmark Hall of Fame, Father Knows Best, and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. By 1965, he had gained an additional 100 pounds, weighing 280 pounds, and had won the role of Sergeant Georg Schultz, on the comedy series "Hogan's Heroes." In a 1965 interview with TV Guide Magazine, he viewed his Schultz role as "the representative of some kind of goodness that is in every generation." Portraying Schultz as an inept guard, he would become known for his character's ignoring of the shenanigans going on in the camp with his signature "I know nothing! I see nothing!" After "Hogan's Heroes" was cancelled in 1971, he signed on for another television sitcom, "The Chicago Teddy-Bears" (1971), set in the 1930s Chicago of Prohibition, with his character, Uncle Latzi," becoming a lovable bumbling gangster similar to the earlier Sgt. Schultz character. However, the "Chicago Teddy-Bears" flopped and was cancelled in the middle of the first season. After that, he retired to his hometown of Vienna, Austria, where he died from an abdominal hemorrhage on his 63rd birthday, in 1973. The grave shown in the photo is the original site of the Banner grave, but since grave space in Germany and Austria is tightly controlled, the space was rented to the Hübner family. The small grave sign translates as: "Here is the last resting place of the actor, John Banner, known as 'Sergeant First Class Georg Schultz' in the comedy show, 'A Cage Full of Heroes' (in English, 'Hogan's Heroes'). You have provided us with many rememberable hours; you will live forever in our hearts. We, your family, will never forget you."

Robert Clary

Date of Birth1 March 1926, Paris, France
Birth NameRobert Max Widerman
Mini Biography
Born in France, Robert Clary early suffered the pangs of war, being interned in a Nazi concentration camp as a child. After WWII he became a singing star in France, and in 1949 came to the United States to promote his career. He appeared on "The Ed Wynn Show" (1949); still learning English he performed in a French language comedy skit. His comedic skills were recognized by Broadway, where he appeared in several revues, including one which moved from theater to film, New Faces (1954). In the 1950's he was a game show regular, and then in 1965 he became Corporal Louis LeBeau in "Hogan's Heroes" (1965). Later film roles were based around WWII, such as Remembrance of Love (1982) (TV) about Holocaust survivors. More recently he returned to television series, joining "Days of Our Lives" (1965) and appearing in "The Young and the Restless" (1973).IMDb Mini Biography By: Bruce Cameron
Spouse
Natalie Cantor Metzger
(1965 - 1997) (her death)
Trivia
Son-in-law of Eddie Cantor and Ida Tobias Cantor
Has a tattoo on his left foream, "A5714," from his time in a German concentration camp during WWII.
Was the youngest of 14 children; most of whom died in the Nazi concentration camps.
Began singing professionally at the age of 12.
He moved to the US in 1949 and found work in nightclubs, then made a name for himself in the Broadway show "New Faces of 1952."
Brother-in-law of Marjorie Cantor, Edna Cantor McHugh, Marilyn Cantor Baker and Janet Cantor Gari
Best remembered by the public for his role as "Corperal LeBeau" in the television series "Hogan's Heroes" (1965).
Was portrayed by Christopher Neiman in the film Auto Focus (2002) about Hogan's Heroes co-star Bob Crane's life.

Leon Askin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leon Askin (September 18, 1907 – June 3, 2005) was an Austrian actor.
Askin was born Leon Aschkenasy into a Jewish family in Vienna, the son of Malvine (Susman) and Samuel Aschkenazy.[1] Askin already wanted to be an actor as a child. His dream came true, and in the 1930s he worked as a cabaret artist and director at the "ABC Theatre" in Vienna: in this position he also helped the career of the writer Jura Soyfer get off the ground in 1935. As a highly versatile stage actor, he was well-known as "the man of a thousand faces."
Persecuted by the Nazis, Askin escaped to the United States via France, arriving in New York in 1940 with no money and less than a basic knowledge of English. When the U.S. entered the Second World War Askin joined the U.S. Army. While serving in the military he learned that his parents had been killed at Treblinka extermination camp.
After the war, Askin went to Hollywood, invariably portraying foreign characters who speak English with a strong accent. Fans of the TV series Adventures of Superman recall his portrayals of an eastern European diamond smuggler in a black-and-white episode, and as a South American prime minister in a color episode. He gained wide recognition and popularity by appearing as the stern General Albert Burkhalter in the sitcom Hogan's Heroes in the late 1960s.
Though known to audiences primarily for his film and television work, Askin was extremely active in theater, both as an actor and a director.
As opposed to some other exiled Austrians, Askin never refused to work again in his home country. In fact, in 1994 he permanently took up residence in Vienna, where he remained active until his death, in cabaret as well as the Volksoper and Festwochen. He was awarded Vienna's Gold Medal of Honor.
Askin died on June 3, 2005 in Vienna. He was 97.

Howard Caine- Mini-Biography
Born - January 2, 1926
Died - December 28, 1993
At the age of thirteen Howard moved with his family from his home town of Nashville, Tennessee to New York City where he began studying acting. Learning to erase a Southern accent, he went on to became a master of 32 foreign and American dialects. After service in the Navy during WWII, Caine continued his studies at The School of Drama, Columbia University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. Howard was featured on Broadway in WONDERFUL TOWN, INHERIT THE WIND, LUNATICS & LOVERS and TIGER AT THE GATES. He replaced Ray Walston, as "Mr. Applegate" the star of Broadway's DAMN YANKEES. Featured in FROM THE TERRACE, PAY OR DIE, JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG, THE MAN FROM THE DINER'S CLUB, PRESSURE POINT and ALVAREZ KELLY, Howard co-starred with Godfrey Cambridge and Estelle Parsons in WATERMELON MAN. Mr. Caine played a featured role as "Lewis Morris" of New York in Jack Warner's Columbia Pictures production, "1776." He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. Howard Caine acted in over 750 live and film TV shows. He is perhaps best remembered as "Major Hochstetter" of the Gestapo on HOGAN'S HEROES, a role he played for the six year run of the series. He was featured as "Everett Scovill" (Irving Kanarek), Manson's attorney, on the CBS two-part TV Movie of the Week, HELTER SKELTER. Mr. Caine, always fascinated with the Appalachian five-string Banjo, began mastering it in the mid 1960s. Since the summer of 1970 until his untimely death in 1993, he had taken trophies at 29 prominent Banjo and Fiddle Contests in the Southland for both Best Traditional Banjo and Traditional Singing. He was also a popular "folk-singer" and appeared at a number of prominent Folk Clubs and Folk Festivals. Howard's widow communes with him spiritually yet misses his physical presence deeply. LOVE CONQUERS ALL BUT DEATH
From the Internet Movie Database - mini-biography by Actress, Valerie Webber Caine

Dennis Prager not so obsevant Jew - Update

After further research didjewknow needs to apologize to Dennis Prager for calling him an observant Jew. Apparently according to his online bio he does not follow the Jewish dietary laws. "Prager identifies himself as a Reform Jew, the most liberal of Judaism's four main denominations. Prager does not observe the Jewish Sabbath (he drives in a car on that day) or keep the Jewish dietary laws (he eats chicken with milk, which is forbidden under Jewish law). He grew up Orthodox but abandoned Orthodoxy when it conflicted with his Republican lifestyle."

Last week during Passover Mr. Prager mentioned on air that he was enjoying a Belgium waffle. Imagine my surprise as I (a Vegan) was in starvation mode without my usual daily staples such as oatmeal and rice, etc. hearing Prager (who is well known as an observant Jew) take delight in this untouchable piece of leavening. I sent him an email immediately to see if the show had some how been taped. But when he replied to it with a "Huh?" just a few hours later I realized that he was still working. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of his program but since he is all about moral clarity I would like him to please clarify especially to his Jewish listeners what the deal was.

Here is the link to the Wed April 23rd podcast when he made the offending comment. It is 13:11 into the cast.
http://dennisprager.townhall.com/MediaPlayer/AudioPlayer.aspx?ContentGuid=d034d149-3409-4408-be91-6f1e9202ae1a

Let not the world forget the name William Bernstein

A few nights ago I went our Temple and watched a screening of the 1997 documentary; "Exodus 1947" which told the story of the ship of the same name and how its' ill fated voyage from the East Coast of America to Europe with a final destination of Palestine turned the tide of world opinion and helped to create the Jewish state of Israel. Something I did not know was that William Bernstein (Pictured) an American Jew that was part of the ship's crew lost his life when he refused to give of the wheel of the Exodus 1947. English marines pumbled him with clubs into a coma which he never awoke from. He is buried, wrapped in an American flag, in Martyr's Row in Haifa cemetery. 20,000 mourners attended his Memorial service in Madison Square Park on 25th July 1947

Exodus 1947 was a ship carrying Jewish emigrants, that left France on July 11, 1947, with the intent of taking its passengers to Palestine, then controlled by the British. Most of the emigrants were Holocaust survivor refugees, who had no legal immigration certificates to Palestine. Following wide media coverage, the British Royal Navy seized the ship, and deported all its passengers back to Europe.
Early history
The ship was built in 1928 by Pussey and Jones Corp., Wilmington, Delaware, for the Baltimore Steam Packet Co.. Initially named President Warfield, it was intended to carry freight and passengers. On 12 June 1942 the ship was acquired by the War Shipping Administration, converted to transport and on 21 September transferred to the United Kingdom. After return to the US, it was commissioned by the US Navy as USS President Warfield (IX-169) on 21 May 1944. On 11 October 1945 President Warfield was removed from the Naval Vessel Register and on 14 November returned to the War Shipping Administration.[1]
Voyage history
On 9 November 1946 the ship was purchased from the War Shipping Administration by Potomac Shipwrecking Co. of Washington, D.C., eventually ending up with Hamossad Le'aliyah Bet — the underground Jewish organization in Palestine intent on helping underground Jewish immigrants enter Palestine. It was renamed Exodus 1947 after the biblical Jewish exodus from Egypt to Canaan.
The ship, with Yossi Harel (Hamburger) in command, sailed with 4,515 passengers from a small port outside Marseille on July 11, 1947, and arrived at Palestine shores on July 18. The British Royal Navy trailed the ship from very early in its voyage, and finally boarded it some 20 nautical miles (40 km) from shore. The boarding was challenged by the passengers (the ship was in international waters where the Royal Navy had no jurisdiction), and so the British soldiers used force. Three shipmates, including 1st mate William Bernstein, a U.S. sailor from San Francisco, died as a result of bludgeoning and several dozen others were injured before the ship was taken over.
Due to the high profile of the Exodus 1947 emigration ship, it was decided by the British government that the emigrants were to be deported back to France. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin suggested this, and the request was relayed to General Sir Alan Cunningham, High Commissioner for Palestine,[2] who agreed with the plan after consulting the Navy.[3] Before then, captured immigrants were placed in internment camps on Cyprus. This new policy was meant to be a signal to both the Jewish community and the European countries which assisted immigration that whatever they sent to Palestine would be sent back to them.
Not only should it clearly establish the principle of REFOULEMENT as applies to a complete shipload of immigrants, but it will be most discouraging to the organisers of this traffic if the immigrants... end up by returning whence they came.[2]
The British sailed the commandeered ship into Haifa port, where its passengers were transferred to three more seaworthy deportation ships. The event was witnessed by members of UNSCOP. These ships, and the President Warfield, left Haifa harbour on July 19 for Port-de-Bouc. Foreign Secretary Bevin insisted that the French get their ship back as well as its passengers.[2]
When the deportation ships arrived at Port-de-Bouc near Marseilles on August 2, the emigrants refused to disembark, and the French refused to cooperate with British attempts at forced disembarkation. Realizing that they were not bound for Cyprus, the emigrants conducted a 24-hour hunger strike, refusing to cooperate with the British authorities.
While this was going on two British sergeants were hanged by the Irgun in retaliation for the British execution by hanging of a number of Irgun activists. The executed Irgun members were minor activists with no crimminal record with the exception of Dov Gruner.[4] That night an anti-Jewish riot broke out in Liverpool in which Jewish-owned shops were smashed and there were random attacks on Jews. Over the next few evenings attacks spread from Liverpool to Manchester and London with the authorities forced to place police guards in Jewish areas across Britain. Within a few days The Times reported that attacks on Jews were now taking place in daylight as well as at night. The Mayor of Liverpool appealed for calm, claiming that "not only property owned by Jews is being damaged...".[5]
During this time, media coverage of the human ordeal intensified and the British became pressed to find a solution. The matter also got the attention of the UNSCOP members who had been deliberating in Geneva. After three weeks, during which the prisoners on the ships held steady in difficult conditions rejecting offers of alternative destinations, the ships were sailed to Hamburg, Germany, which was then in the British occupation zone and where the emigrants could be forced off the ships and back to DP camps in Lübeck-Pöppendorf. Although most of the women and children disembarked voluntarily, the men had to be carried off by force.
Within a year, over half of the original Exodus 1947 passengers had made another attempt at emigrating to Palestine and were detained without trial in prison camps on Cyprus. Britain continued to hold the prisoners in Cyprus until January 1949 when it formally recognized the State of Israel and all surviving passengers made aliyah.
Historical importance
The ship's ordeals were widely covered by international media, and caused the British government much public embarrassment, especially after the refugees were forced to disembark in Germany. It is said that the events convinced the US government that the British mandate of Palestine was incapable of handling the Jewish refugees problem, and that a United Nations-brokered solution needed to be found. The US government then intensified its pressures on the British government to return its mandate to the UN, and the British in turn were willing to accept this.
The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) also covered the events. Some of its members were even present at Haifa port when the emigrants were removed from their ship onto the deportation ships, and later commented that this strong image helped them press for an immediate solution for Jewish immigration and the question of Palestine.
Cultural impact
In 1958, the book Exodus by Leon Uris, based partly on the story of the ship, was published, though the ship Exodus in the book is not the same but a smaller one and the "real" Exodus has been renamed.
In 1960, the film Exodus directed by Otto Preminger and starring Paul Newman, based on the above novel, was screened. It was filmed mostly in Israel and increased Israel's popularity worldwide.
In 1997, the documentary film, Exodus 1947, directed by Elizabeth Rodgers and Robby Henson and narrated by Morley Safer, was broadcast nationally in the USA on PBS television.

On the south side of chicago are the baddest Jews of all