Jewish Trivia

Jewish Trivia (you may or may not know - enjoy!)



The Roosevelts were Jewish Dutch, arriving in NYC in 1682



(Originally named Claes Rosenvelt before name change to Nicholas Roosevelt) Sarah Delano, FDR's mother, was descended from Sephardic Jews.



Joseph Stalin was originally named Joseph David Djugashvili (translating into "son of a Jew.") As well, all 3 of the women he married were Jewish.



Dwight Eisenhower's father was a Swedish Jew and was so identified in theWest Point Yearbook of 1915.



INTERESTING JEWISH FACTS



1. Lillian Friedman married Cruz Rivera. They named their baby Geraldo Miguel Rivera (Funny, it doesn't sound Jewish.) Since, according to Jewish law, anyone born to a Jewish mother is Jewish, Geraldo Rivera is Jewish. As were, among others: Fiorello Laguardia, Winston Churchill and Cary Grant, as explained below.



2. Fiorello Laguardia's mother's name was Jacobson. His father was not Jewish. Laguardia spoke seven languages -- including Hebrew and Yiddish - fluently.



3. Winston Churchill's mother's name was Jenny Jerome.



4. Cary Grant 's mother, Elsie, was Jewish. His father, Elias Leach, was not. Grant's original name was Archibald Alexander Leach. (Robin Leach is his first cousin).



5. Peter Sellers' mother, Margaret Marks, was Jewish. His father, Bill Sellers, was Protestant. Peter's real name is Richard Henry Sellers.



6. David Bowie's mother is Jewish, his father is not. One of Bowie's album covers discusses his Jewish ancestry. His real name: David Stenton Haywood Jones.



7. Robert DeNiro's mother is Jewish; his father is not.



8. Shari Belafonte's mother is Jewish. Her father, Harry, has a Jewish grandfather.



9. Olivia Newton John's Jewish grandfather was a Nobel Prize winning physicist.



10. Harrison Ford's mother is Russian Jewish, his father is Irish Catholic.



ALWAYS GOOD TO KNOW AND REMEMBER!



Fact: The first theater to be used solely for the showing of motion pictures was built by a Jew (Adolf Zukor).



Fact: The first full-length sound picture, The Jazz Singer was produced by the Jewish Samuel L. Goldwyn & Louis B. Mayer (MGM).



Fact: A Jew (Dr. Abraham Waksman) coined the term antibiotics.



Fact: A Polish Jew (Casimir Funk) who pioneered a new field of medical research gave us a word now common in our language -- vitamins.



Fact: The first successful operation for appendicitis was performed by a Jewish surgeon (Dr. Simon Baruch).



Fact: The doctor (Dr.. Abraham Jacobi) hailed as America 's father of pediatrics was a Jew.



Fact: Until a Jewish doctor (Dr.. Siccary) showed differently, Americans believed the tomato was poisonous.



Fact: Jewish Levi "Levi's" Strauss (inventor of jeans) is the largest clothing retailer in the world.



Fact: In 1909, four Jews were among the 60 multi-cultural signers of the call to the National Action, which resulted in the creation of the NAACP.



Fact: A Jew (Emile Berliner) is the man who developed the modern day phonograph. While Thomas Edison was working out a type of phonograph that used a cylinder as a record, Berliner invented a machine that would play a disc. The machine he patented was called the gramophone, and the famous RCA trademark is a picture of a dog listening to "his master's voice" on Berliner's device. The gramophone was superior to Edison 's machine. In short, Emile Berliner made possible the modern record industry. His company was eventually absorbed by the Victor Talking Machine Company, now known as RCA.



Fact: Jewish Louis B. Mayer (MGM) created the idea for the Oscar.



Fact: European Jews are the founding fathers of all the HollywoodStudios.



Fact: Jews comprise a mere 1/4 of 1% (13 million) of the population (6 billion).



Fact: 99% of the world is non Jewish.



Fact: Three of greatest & most influential thinkers dominating the 20th century were Jewish - Einstein, Freud, and Marx.



Fact: The most popular selling Christmas song ("White Christmas") was written by a Jew. (Irving Berlin)



Fact: Of the 660 Nobel prizes from 1901 - 1990, 160 have been won by Jews. In the end, Jews win more Nobel prizes than any other ethnicity. They win 40x more than should be expected of them, based upon their small population numbers.



Fact: A Jew (Dr. Jonas Salk) is the creator of the first Polio Vaccine.



Fact: Jews (Hayam Solomon & Isaac Moses) are responsible for creating thefirst modern banking institutions.



Fact: Jews also created the first department stores of the 19th century: The Altmans, Gimbels, Kaufmanns, Lazaruses, Magnins, Mays, Strausses became leaders of major department stores. Julius Rosenwald revolutionized the way Americans purchased goods by improving Sears Roebuck's mail order merchandising. Hart, Schaffner, Marx, Kuppenheimer and Levi Strauss became household names in men's clothing. Let's not forget EJ Korvets - Eight Jewish Korean (war) Veterans.



Fact: Jewish Marc Chagall (born Segal, Russia is one of the great 20th century painters.



Fact: English Jewish financiers such as Isaac Goldsmid, Nathan Rothschild, David Salomons, and Moses Montefiore, whose fortunes helped England become an empire.



Fact: In 1918, Detroit, a Jew (Max Goldberg) opened the "first" commercial parking lot.



Fact: In 1910, a Jew (Louis Blaustein) and his son opened the "first" gas station, eventually founding AMOCO OIL, one of the richest oil families in the world.



Fact: A Jew (Dr. Albert Sabin) developed the first "oral polio vaccine."



Fact: A Jew (Steven Spielberg) is the most successful filmmaker since the advent of film.



Fact: A Jewish poet's (Emma Lazarus) famous poem, "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses," appears as the inscription on the Statue Of Liberty.



Fact: Jewish Harry Houdini (Weiss) is the father of Magic/Illusion.



Fact: Dr. Sigmund Freud (Jew) is the father of psychiatry.



Fact: Jewish Abraham is the father of the world's 3 major religions: Judaism, Christianity & Islam (ancestors of the Hebrew & Arabic peoples). Jesus (formerly known as "sweet Jewish Jesus") is still worshipped by billions.



Fact: Jews are the oldest of any people on earth still around with their national identity and cultural heritage intact.



Fact: George & Ira Gershwin & Irving Berlin (Jews) are three of the most prolific composers of the 20th century.




Fact: Isadore & Nathan Straus (Jews) - "Abraham & Straus," eventually became sole owners of Macy's (world's largest department store) in 1896.



Fact: Dr. Paul "magic bullet" Ehrlich (Jew) - physician, Nobel Prize in 1908 for curing syphilis.



Fact: Armand Hammer (Jew) - "Arm & Hammer," physician & businessman who originated the largest trade between U. S. and Russia.



Fact: Louis Santanel (Jew) was the financier who provided the funds for Columbus' voyage to America.



Fact: Sherry Lansing (Jew) of Paramount Pictures, became the first woman president of a major Hollywood studio.



Fact: Flo Zigfield (Jew) of "Zigfield Follies," is the creator of American burlesque.