More
Myth

Back, by popular demand!

Debunked strange notions people have

I nformation

about Judaism, Hebrew and Israel.

D

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSISTANT EDITOR

wring a recent visit to Israel's capital city, Tel

the Arab-Israeli conflict, in fact Mr. Jones found an accept-

Aviv, Robert Jones, who is half Jewish,

able restaurant. Or so he thought. Just as he went to open

stopped for lunch at a new deli that offered

the door, Mr. Jones saw the place offered caviar! Gasp! And

kosher-style food. He considered it for a mo-

to think he thought it was kosher!

ment, but then decided he was in the mood for some really

Tel Aviv, Israel's capital?

kosher, or glatt kosher, edibles. He turned and left.

Somebody is half-Jewish?

As he continued his journey, Mr. Jones stopped to buy

A mitzvah is a good deed?

Girl Scout cookies, impressing everyone with his mitzvah,

Wrong, on all three counts.

or good deed. But of course, that's what the Old Testament

These are just a few of the mistaken notions people hold

directs him to do.

Finally, after what seemed hundreds of years as long as

about Judaism. Now, local experts debunk those myths and

11 more.