The BIG Story

r stomach troubles have
va rt tanks to the powers of Ex-
Lax, offer thanks to Israel Matz. Matz
founded the business in 1907.

carbon dioxide) in the old country,
Jewish immigrants brought the drink
when they came to the United States
at the turn of the century.

everyone he got his nick-
nam
se he graduated near the
o
' fi is class at Seward Park
(N.Y.) High School.

ng the most popular legends
4th century was that American
were one of the Ten Lost Tribes
of Israel.

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel
ly with one of his sweet-
e`&t When he learned that two Nazi
leaders were meeting next door. He
jumped up, grabbed his gun and
was ready to go finish them off, until
his friend calmed him down.

most are familiar with the
over bread and wine,
illed with other blessings,
including those to be said when wit-
nessing a rainbow, hearing thunder
and seeing 600,000 Jews in the
same place.

ve you ever wondered how -
nds his most pleasurable
ording to tradition, He has
become something of a matchmaker,
bringing future grooms and brides
together around the world.

37: , Jeval times, superstitious
r
**„
Terrormed
a curious ges-
ture in d,:gfort to ward off the evil
eye. They placed their thumbs in their
fists, which was supposed to resemble
a pregnant woman. Apparently
demons were furious at such a gesture
and would find themselves unable to
act.

you thought Reform,
go t, Negm N4e
' and Orthodox Jews
agree on anything ... They all
e t e same about "Bridget Loves
Bernie." This 1972 program was sup-
posed to be an amusing look at the
life of a Jewish-Catholic couple. Few
were amused. The Catholic communi-
ty denounced the program, and the
Jewish community — comprising
Reform, Conservative and Orthodox
representatives — initiated a drive to
get "Bridget Loves Bernie" off the air.
The campaign was so successful that
CBS canceled the show, despite the
fact that it was No. 5 in the ratings.

20)

..- Talmudic times, pomegran-

as usec to test for invisible

in

r r

Ci

madeo Mocigliani was
sewthout a red scarf tied
ut is neck.

bi Abraham Isaac Kook
), former chief rabbi of
Israe AO criticized for reaching out
to the most irreligious. He explained:
"The commandment to love each
other is more important than the com-
mandment to hate those who disobey
Jewish law."

no "Red Sea." Yet
translating error, the
i: f
r' Reed Sea, has been
misidentified for ages.

.ye ever enjoyed an egg
rust a plain old glass of
can thank East European
Jews. Accustomed to drinking a
shpritzer (filtered water mixed with

If

1/15
1999

70 Detroit Jewish News

*•Wales of the Holocaust

to of a young Jewish
re
" . y . w ose parents, in their only hope
of saving their child, gave him to
Catholic friends during the Nazi Holo-
caust. They asked that the boy remain
Jewish and said they would return
after the war. But they were mur-
dered. As it became clear that the
parents would not return, the friends
decided to raise the boy a Catholic.
They brought him to their local parish
priest and askec that the boy be bap-
tized, then explained his background.
But the priest wondered: Did the par-
ents specify that the boy should
remain a Jew? The family said yes.
The priest refused to perform a bap-
tism. Years later, the little boy is now a
man — an observant Jew. And the
priest who would not convert him?
The head of the Catholic Church,
Pope John Paul II.

t makes the moste-
quent number of appearances in the
Torah is gi
31,530 times.

—

30)„tenny.Qoodman, the King of
his union card when
S 4' t
are 12, the same year he
started playing professionally.

31) Actor Zero Mostel (born Samuel

-Yiddish author Peretz
re such a striking resem-
n ce to Lord B y y ron that people
would . literally follow him on the street,
convinced the British poet had been
reincarnated.

"Rubenstein, founder of the
r first
6rnpany, }Dosed he
rem
'" gn an old family recipe.

\

say, "Excuse me, I'm Albert Einstein.
Can you tell me where I live?"

hor Henry Roth died soon
pleting Mercy Of a Rude
his sequel to Coll It Sleep. In
a nh1erview just days before he died,
he told a reporter he was gleeful
upon seeing that the first letters of his
book's title spelled out the word mors,
which is "death" in Latin.

Jan Jimmy Durante may
Italian-Catholic, but he
sure knew his Yiddish: His nick-
name (which he came up with
Hmself) was "old schnozzola."

Schno77, of course, comes from the
Yiddish shnoits, nose.

the best way to
, the messiah, is by
onating'Aarity and sincerely repent-
ing for one% sins.

akov Yitzhak of Lublin
was a Chasidic leader
who'b eh-answered questions left by'
visitors. He was called The Seer
because he was said to be able to
tell everything about a person simply
by looking at the query.

;iGershwin never got over the
r.d he felt for one of his own
* rt'
ytics: "It's a grand and glorious feel-
ing to be living/Every day's that holi-
day they call Thanksgiving."

uth, Dinah Shore made
ou
appearances at the
Grand Old Opry.

(

To" dhis death in 1995, Jonas
o developed the polio vac-
e: was researching a vaccine for
AIDS.

,

st chapter in the Tanach

r

m 1 1 7.

Iffloudini spent many
taw„
Wing mediums, yet
4
e tbi-naines hopeful that contact
with the dead was possible, as
he wanted desperately to speak
* with his beloved mother. Before
he died, Houdini gave his wife, (<
Rosabelle, a secret phrase; should
a medium utter it, she would
know Houdini had spoken to her
from beyond the grave. The
phrase: "Rosabelle, believe.'

eli prime minister Shi-
rn Shimon Persky, is firs:,f,
cousins with actress Lauren Bacall,
born Betty Persky.

rcibr-

.ANoman George
ed enough to even