Jewish Triva

The Roosevelt's were Dutch Jews, arriving in NYC in 1682 (Originally named Claes  Rosenvelt before name change to Nicholas Roosevelt) Sarah Delano, FDR's ma, is descended from Sephardic Jews.

Stalin was originally named Joseph David Djugashvili (translating into "son of a Jew.") All 3 of his wives were Jewish.

Eisenhower's father was a Swedish Jew and identified so in the 1915 West Point Yearbook.

                                              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. so was Fiorello Laguardia, Winston Churchill and Cary Grant, as explained below.

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

3. 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' ma, Margaret Marks, was Jewish. His dad, 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. DeNiro's mother is Jewish; his father is not.

8. Shari Belafonte's mother is Jewish. Her dad, 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.

                                 Assorted facts about Jews everyone should know!

The first movie theater was built by Adolf Zukor.

The first full-length, sound picture, The Jazz Singer was produced by Sam Goldwyn & Louis Mayer (MGM).

Dr. Abraham Waksman coined the term antibiotics.

A Polish, Jew Casimir Funk pioneered a new field of medical research: vitamins.

The first successful appendicitis operation was performed by Dr. Simon Baruch.

Dr. Abraham Jacobi is hailed as America's father of pediatrics.

Until Doctor Siccary showed differently, Americans believed Tomatoes were poisonous.

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

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.

Emile Berliner developed the modern day phonograph. While 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.  Berliner made possible the modern record industry. His company was eventually absorbed by the Victor Talking Machine Company, now known as RCA.

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

European Jews are the founding fathers of all the Hollywood Studios.

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

99% of the world is non Jewish.

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

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

Of the 660 Nobel prizes from 1901 - 1990, they won 160.

In the end, Jews win more Nobel prizes than any other ethnicity. They win 40 times more than should be expected of them, based upon their small population numbers.

Dr. Jonas Salk created the first Polio Vaccine.

Hayam Solomon & Isaac Moses created the first modern, banking institution.

They founded the first department store 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).

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

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

In 1918, Detroit, Max Goldberg opened the "first" commercial parking lot.

In 1910, Louis Blaustein and his son opened the "first" gas station & eventually founded AMOCO OIL.  One of the richest oil families in the world.

Dr. Albert Sabin developed the first "oral polio vaccine."

Steven Spielberg is the most successful filmmaker since the advent of film.

Emma Lazarus famous poem,"give me your tired ..
Your poor. your huddled masses," appears as the inscription on the Statue Of Liberty.

Harry Houdini (Eric Weiss) is the father of Magic / Illusion.

Dr. Sigmund Freud fathered psychiatry.

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.

Jews are the oldest of any people still around with their national identity & cultural heritage intact.

George & Ira Gershwin & Irving Berlin are three of the most prolific composers of the 20th century.

Isadore & Nathan Straus - "Abraham & Straus," eventually owned Macy's (world's largest department store) in 1896.

Dr. Paul "magic bullet" Ehrlich - physician, Nobel Prize in 1908 for curing syphilis.

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

Louis Santanel financed Columbus' voyage to America.

Sherry Lansing of Paramount Pictures, became the first woman president of a major Hollywood studio. Flo Zigfield of "Zigfield Follies," created American burlesque.

Jews were the brains behind the Confederacy: Maj. Adolph Proskauer led the unit at Gettysburg.

Judah P. Benjamin held 4 cabinet positions: Attorney General,  2/25 to 9/17, 1861,; Secretary of War, 9/17, 1861, to 3/18 1862; acting Secretary of War,    3/18 to 23, 1862; Secretary of State, 3/18 1862, until the end of the war) and was referred to as "the brains of the confederacy."

Rabbi Max Michelbacher was a confidant and spiritual advisor to General Robert E. Lee.

Many Jews fought for the Confederacy, & the overwhelming were recent immigrants from Germany & E. Europe who felt they were fighting for Democracy. They fought far out of proportion to their numbers.