Happy Birthday to Adam Sandler, who turns 45 today. Sandler doesn’t always get the respect he should as a comedian, actor and writer but I’ve always been a fan. I recently watched “Funny People” for the second time and was left impressed with Sandler’s range as an actor. Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Waterboy and Big…
Kippah. Yarmulke. Beanie. Skullcap. You can call it whatever you want, but the Jewish head covering has been in the news and in pop culture a lot lately. The New York Post reports that an Italian man is suing McKinsey & Co., the international consulting firm, claiming he was fired after repeatedly complaining to human…
Click the photo to enlarge John Edwards | Jalen Rose | Braylon Edwards (c) Rabbi Jason Miller | http://blog.rabbijason.com | Twitter: @RabbiJason | facebook.com/rabbijasonmiller
Was Amy Winehouse Jewish? Yes, she was. The singer, who was found dead today in her London home, was born in Southgate, London to Janis, a pharmacist, and Mitch, a cab driver. A 2010 article in Moment Magazine titled “Surprise, They’re Jewish,” describes Winehouse as “The 27-year old British, bee-hived vocalist and tabloid headliner is…
While I am certainly no Yiddish maven, I know enough words and phrases to know that when someone mispronounces a Yiddish word it hurts my ears. For my maternal grandmother, who is fluent in Yiddish, when someone mangles the language of our eastern-European ancestors it really hurts her ears. So, the other day when I…
In what is certainly a first, a big name celebrity says “Shabbat Shalom” in a movie. “Horrible Bosses” starring Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, and Donald Sutherland has a scene in which Jennifer Aniston exclaims, “Shabbat Shalom!” Here’s a clip: (c) Rabbi Jason Miller | http://blog.rabbijason.com | Twitter: @RabbiJason | facebook.com/rabbijasonmiller
I first read the reports last month that Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied had named their newborn son Alef. There was no confirmation of the name from Portman so I didn’t blog about it. Now, it appears that more news sources are picking up on this rumor. Israel Hayom first raised the possibility that Natalie…
Since I launched this blog in March 2003, no post has attracted as much attention as the one I titled simply: “Is Benjamin Millepied Jewish?” That post has received dozens more comments than this blog normally receives. And that simple question: “Is Benjamin Millepied Jewish?” has driven traffic to this blog in record numbers. So, now…
In February I toured the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam for the first time. It was a chilling experience. Since 7th grade, I’ve read several versions of Anne Frank’s diary. I’ve seen several versions of movies about Anne Frank. And I toured the Anne Frank exhibit at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. I…
Bob Dylan celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday. That number has great significance in Judaism. King David lived to be 70 and it is thought that 70 is the lifespan of man. This is the reason that a second bar mitzvah is observed at age 83 (70+13). Dylan, born Robert Zimmerman, is the only songwriter I…