If someone can find some sort of Jewish connection for Barak Obama they can surely find one for Sarah Palin, even the name is Jewish, well maybe not since Sarah wasn’t really Jewish in the first place. But hey if they can find out that one of Barak Obamas relatives converted to Judaism and became a black rabbi- they can surely dig up some sort of Jewish connection for Sarah Palin.
Why is it that Jews always think that someone famous must have something Jewish in them? Ever hear about how Hitler may have been Jewish? Exactly! It always seems that a bunch of nerdy Jews are sitting in a bunker somewhere trying to find even the most minute Jewish connection for famous people. Who cares? I sure as hell don’t, it wouldn’t make one difference to me if Barak Obama’s ancestors were a famous Chassidic dynasty, well maybe it would. I just don’t want the president banning anything like questionable Jewish music. Though I am sure his liberal agenda will keep my freedoms safe and allow me to do whatever it is I want, besides pray in schools or carry a gun.
If Sarah Palin were Jewish she would most likely be a Conservative woman rabbi in my opinion. She is just too powerful a women to be resigned to making kugel and writing into the Yated about the shidduch crisis. Frum women just aren’t that cool, they are rarely voted Miss anything- although there should be some sort of “Miss Borough Park” contest, maybe that’s for a another post. But this Sarah Palin is a marathon runner, kayaker and woman’s empowerment role model, did I mention that she is a hunter as well, which really isn’t a big deal because everyone hunts in Alaska, even the vegans hunt in Alaska.
I just found a post on Simply Jews asking this same question.
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I support your Miss Borough Park contest, and you would make a MARVELOUS emcee. But for now: http://site.vanitykippah.com/blog/2008/09/05/10-signs-sarah-palin-could-be-an-orthodox-jewish/
Actually I wrote the miss borough park post right after this and it should be ready for tomorrow or the next day.
Are you kidding me? She would be one of those Shluchos in some little town who runs the Chabad House, and her husband, with an iron grip. Believe you me, I know the type.
It kept driving me crazy, who does this Sarah Palin woman reminds me of through her whole speech. Well I figured it out (see link photo)
http://www.tvguide.com/images/pgimg/king-peggy-hill6.jpg
her hairdo the night of her speech was very shaitelly
Never actually heard of a hairdo being shaitelly- I’ll keep that one in mind for future posts.
Barak Obama’s connection was through his wife. So, maybe Palin’s is through her husband. Isn’t he a native Alaskan? Well, there you have it. The Eskimos are one of the ten lost tribes!
Happens to be I have met a Jewish Eskimo- his mother was Jewish and his father was Eskimo.
The lady doesn’t own a passport, definitelty not your kind of person Mr.Outdoorzy
Crazy I know, but I am convinced that Robin Williams is Jewish — even though I have no evidence of that.
Thanks for the link, and re Obama – he is definitely Jewish – I have the proof in three easy steps here:
http://simplyjews.blogspot.com/2008/09/is-barack-obama-jewish-that-too-you-bet.html
Cheers.
Hesh,
Very funny post, I was thinking the same thing as TRS. She reminds me of a Shlucha (Shliach’s wife) when they ask “can a women run something and also be a mother of five?” Well go check out a chabad house where the mother has 7 kids and she runs the day school, summer camp, high holiday programs and every other chabad event throughout the year.
just btw, rubin and trs, on COL they have an article about palin, and they say, “if she would be a chabadnik, she would definitely be a shluchah”.
LOL
Yeah, I’ve just been thinking that if she were Jewish, she’d make a terrific rebbitzen. And no, no woman with 5 children resembles a conservative rabbi.
A Jewish lady like Sarah Palin would be frum. One of those with a dozen kids and homemade challah every week. She’d give chizuk shiurim, run a women’s learning center and even keep her figure.
Actually, I have neighbors like that and don’t know how they do it.
What’s the deal with her future son in law being named Levi?? I got a little concerned until I found his last name is Johnson or something really goyish like that.
She’s pretty
See, thats the problem with you American Jews — you still have “galut” mentality that a woman who’s strong minded isn’t Orthodox material.
My mother in law is a mean shot with an Uzi, and she’s an awesome cook…
(Then again, she’s a Democrat and living in the West Bank, so go figure….)
Sara Palin is against abortion. Her fifth child has Down’s Syndrome. Perfect Jew to me.
You clearly underestimate my kugel recipe.
Interesting comments is all I can say
Hope Less: Your comment is confusing. Yes, her child has Down’s Syndrome. Even if she was pro-choice, she probably still wouldve had her baby.
Also, I’m (NOT) enjoying trying to explain to my kids what’s going on in the press.
I’ve explained in the past how certain groups use language in specific ways, such that words can be loaded. As an example, in the past, I’ve used “pro-life” and “pro-choice”.
This week, my teens wanted to understand why the “pro-life” folks are advocating hunting, while the “pro-choice” advocates are crawling up Mrs. Palin’s uterus and questioning her decisions.
her politics would indicate that Sarah Palin = Toby Katz
Sometimes I just love to be right…
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1018326.html
Juggling Frogs–re “Pro-Life”–As a public school graduate, I had heard rumors of weak science education at yeshivas, but if you have difficulty distiguishing between animals and human beings, the situation is worse than I’d thought.
Just as a general taxonomic rule, if it has two legs but no wings, you can’t shoot it unless it’s trying to shoot you (even in Alaska). If it has 4 legs and doesn’t have a collar, you can probably shoot it in season.
Steg–I like Sarah Palin’s politics, but I don’t like Toby Katz’s. I doubt Mrs. Katz can gut a moose, either. In fact, moose-gutting might improve Mrs. Katz’s disposition.
See Michael Wex’s “Born To Kvetch”, “Zi hot a sheitel vi a moos-het”.
You may be subject to different news (we only have the radio and internet) and it’s only the most vocal and identified of both of those groups, certainly not the majority, but still:
We’ve been subject to the noisiest people on both sides, and have had to explain why the same folk who praise her anti-abortion stand had great admiration of hunting “as a family value.” (I kid you not)
As I said, it’s part of a larger and longer conversation with my kids about the loaded power of words, not the issue of abortion rights itself. Or hunting, for that matter. Mkay?
It was just a conversation with my kids I found ironic. Not making a statement for/against any of those issues. Really.
P.S. to C. Siegel:
That rule of thumb might work in Alaska, but in Massachusetts, we aren’t legally allowed to trap and kill squirrels that were living in our attic. Or even trap and *relocate* the ones who lived outside on our property, but who were making their way into our house, gnawing through the galvanized steel window screens.
It’s also not easy to get hunting permits or gun licenses here.
People who praise hunting “as a family value” are some of the gentlest, most nature-loving people I know. Hunters were among the first conservationists in America and actually go to those G-d-forsaken places.
Also, if one doesn’t happen to be obligated by kashrut, the by-products of the sport are even edible. Which is more than I can say for soggy handballs and grotty sweatbands.
My vision is too poor for riflery, but even I can tell a human fetus from a deer at several yards.
It sounds like Massachusetts maintains the kind of gun-owenership and hunting laws as on airplanes.
We like to play checkers as a family. But I wouldn’t hold a placard for “checkers as a family value”.
The point my kids’ questions were making, was about the language usage. It’s come to a point where if one uses the words “pro-life” or “anti-abortion”, that the lines are already drawn.
I try to use these words evenly, switching off between them. But look at how worked up you’ve become already, just by my mentioning “pro-life”.
Clearly, if someone hunts, it’s not all LIFE that is to be protected at any cost. And that can be a defensible and consistent position to take. (Logical consistent distinctions can be clearly made, such as human vs. animal life (as you suggest), or the right to life unless due process takes it away, etc.)
I’m not arguing here against the ideas, but pointing out how the words are used.
I was trying to explain to my teenaged kids how to see the subtext, how words can be loaded, how to read a newspaper.
I’m going to print out this comment thread as a further example. You don’t even know my opinion on abortion rights, and you’ve assumed I have a yeshiva education.
An even-handed comment on a comedy site drew this type of reaction. That is exactly what I was trying to teach the kids – that the dictionary doesn’t give the whole definition of words. It was a lesson in rhetoric, not a discussion of law.
The airlines are more reasonable, in my opinion. I think, if there were a squirrel loose on an airplane, the passengers would be encouraged to kill it.
JF–Lighten up, already! YOU don’t even know MY position on abortion either. But I do distinguish between animal life and human or proto-human.
What does get my goat (besides my hunter friends) is the assumption that all Jews are, or ought to be, leftists. In the words of Abba Achimeir, z”l, “The only thing to the right of me is the wall”.
What are you going to kill those squirrels with on the plane? Box-cutters are obviously out, along with tweezers, nailclippers, and other instruments of violence. Maybe dental floss, it’s still allowed.
Steg,
Now that is funny.
Don’t know much about your elections / politics, really too boring for me to follow as a Canadian. Funny enough, our prime minister just announced the next election which will take place in a month. No 2 years of wasted TV time on CNN, we hear more about Obama (Osama) and McCain than about our own politics. That is why I prefer the cartoon channel.
Regarding Mrs. Palin, any woman that hunts and fishes would probably get my vote, if I ever bothered voting at all.
C. Siegel,
LOL! I was trying to get *you* to lighten up! I think we’re both missing the giggles in each other’s tone, due to being limited to text.
Far be it from me to argue with someone who remembers (and has a fondness for) the proto-humans!
I’d vote for trapping the squirrels and making them listen to the safety lecture.
Speaking of assumptions, I think you’d be surprised who lives on the other side of that wall.
… or maybe we could clog the squirrels’ arteries with trans-fats. They’re allowed on planes, but banned in certain towns in MA…
JF–All I aspire to, besides living simply and hoping one day, like Pinnochio, to become a real live boy (as well as a Yehudi kasher ve-hagen) is to promote the ideal of PJ O’Rourke’s Republican Party Reptile here in Eretz Hakoydesh.
C. Siegel,
Ugh. This is why I shy away from long and involved blog comment discussions. They inevitably degenerate into book purchases. (sigh)
See ‘ya later, alligator.
JF–Say what? I was talking about a philosophy, as well as the obligation of the comic to smash old idols. Venceremos.
Of course hairstyles can be sheitely. I used to wear the top of my hair pulled back alot until people noted that it looked like a sheitel (or maybe its because I had bad hair?).
Either way: sheitely haircut = legit topic
this is hilarious! i totally agree that she’d fall under the category of “conservative rabbi” but I also think she’d bust out a huge kippah for shabbat too; not the lacey kinds but those huge ones, (you know, you’re not hats, too small for that but, well, a sephardic skullcap for women w/out the embroidery).
“Conservative rabbi?” my foot! That lady’s not pretending to be a man with a lady-like tallis and frilly kippah. She’s be a combination of Daniella Weiss and Nadia Matar!
Sarah Palin is jewish, but was converted at the age of 11.
Her great grandfather Moses Ginsberg was a fisherman, so I guess it is genetic in her family.
Sarah now is evangelical and has shunned her jewish roots.
Yes. I knew the Palin’s in idaho years back.
Mrs. Palin use to talk to me about being half Jewish and the problems it caused her husband, so she did convert, but that was years ago.
Sarah was not raised Jewish. You do not know what you are talking about.
Sarah was brought to a synagogue by her mother when she was born, but that was as far as it got.
And her great grandfather was Moshe Ginsberg, not Moses.
Technically, Sarah is half Jewish at best.
She and Lieberman would make a superb team!
No such thing as being half Jewish, can you also be half pregnant?
The only way she is Jewish if if her mother was/is, or if she had a PROPER conversion and is still practicing today.
When did people become so stupid as to not realize that JEWISH is an ethnic group AS WELL AS a religion? In other words, Sarah Palin could be a Chrsitian (by faith) AND a Jew (by blood), and probably is.
“I like Sarah Palin’s politics, but I don’t like Toby Katz’s.”
C. Siegel, in what respect do you think her politics differ from mine?
Who the heck is Toby Katz???
see Cross-Currents — group blog of Orthodox writers
http://www.cross-currents.com/
and especially see
http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/author/toby-katz/
which is all of my writings on Cross-Currents
Yes.
What is really funny is to see the religious right and their webmaster Mr.Battle create fake family trees hiding Palin’s Jewish roots.
What are they pandering to? A bunch of neo Nazi’s?
Being married to a Jewish man, I am very offended that Sarah would deny her roots!
It is so obvious that the extreme right wing is in denial about everything anyway.
Being of the “Frozen Chosen” (a Jewish Alaskan), I note that the Chabad folks in Alaska loved Sarah Palin.
And yes, she is Jewish, if you go by Orthodox standards. Specifically:
Sarah Palin’s mother (Sally Sheigam) was of Lithuanian Jewish heritage and so were both of her mothers parents (Louise Sheigam and Shmuel Sheigam). Her maternal grandfather, Schmuel Sheigam, was a Lithuanian Jew born in 1912 in Vilkaviskis, Lithuania, 91.2 miles west of Vilnius. The Sheigam family immigrated to America, via Hamburg, Germany in 1915 because of WWI. The grandmother was was originally named Gower. Her father Chuck Heath can be considered of Jewish blood because it is believed his mother, Beatrice Coleman, was of Jewish decent. Further information on Governor Palin’s ancestors can easily be found in the vital records in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives in Vilnius.
http://www.archyvai.lt/ The Archives holds birth, marriage, divorce, and death records for the Lithuanian Jewish community from 1851 until 1915 when the Jews were required to leave the country because of World War I. They are in 18th Century Cyrillic script and Yiddish Many of these records include the mother’s maiden name and town of registration.
At Ellis Island Immigration Centre, the name was entered as Sheeran, a standard practice of the time when immigration officers were unable to understand non-English speaking immigrants. Sheeran is a common Irish name but members of the Sheigam family are buried in the Jewish cemetery at Budezeriai near Vilkaviskis:in Lithuania.
http://sarah-palin-2008.blogspot.com/2008/10/sarah-palin-has-jewish-ancestry.html
“Sarah Palin’s mother (Sally Sheigam) was of Lithuanian Jewish heritage and so were both of her mothers parents (Louise Sheigam and Shmuel SheigaM’ etc.
——
Actually this entire “family tree” was invented by an extreme anti-Semitic website and has no truth to it whatsoever. But there is a delightful irony in the fact that what the anti-Semites invent as a “disgrace,” the Jews embrace with pride! Yay, Sarah! You go, girl!
I can’t speak for many of my readers but let me say that if Sarah Palin was Jewish I would not be proud at all. She is one scary woman- and I wouldn’t want her on my family tree
I’d like to be her friend, not leading my country but friends would do. We could go hunting and stuff.
“She is one scary woman- and I wouldn’t want her on my family tree”
———-
This is baseless hostility. You might not agree with her political views but this degree of animosity is not warranted by anything she’s actually said or done.
Most people — even liberals who plan to vote for Obama – find Sarah Palin refreshing and likeable. She had an 80% approval rating as governor of Alaska.
And you have to admire her for keeping her baby when the majority of Downie babies these days are killed before they ever see the light of day. If for that alone, she deserves praise. Maybe she will be a role model for women facing such a choice, to show them that abortion is not the only option for a baby who is less than “perfect.”
She is Jewish (I’m Jewish too)…but HATE HER
Based on Jewish tradition that makes one Jewish if born to a mother of Jewish ethnic decent, Sarah Palin is Jewish, though she touts a mask of evangelical christianity.
Sarah Palin’s mother, Sally Sheigam, was of Lithuanian Jewish heritage and so were both of her mother’s parents, Louise Sheigam and Shmuel Sheigam Her father, Chuck Heath, also comes from Jewish blood because his mother, Beatrice Coleman, was of Jewish decent. Further information on Governor Palin’s ancestors can be found in the vital records in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives in Vilnius (http://www.archyvai.lt/archyvai/index.jsp).
The Archives holds birth, marriage, divorce, and death records for the Lithuanian Jewish community from 1851 until 1915 when the Jews were required to leave the country because of World War I. They are in 18th Century Cyrillic script and Yiddish. Many of these records include the mother’s maiden name and town of registration.
Palin’s maternal grandfather, Schmuel Sheigam, was a Lithuanian Jew, born in 1912 in Vilkaviskis, Lithuania, The Sheigams’ grandmother was a Jewess named Gower. At the Ellis Island Immigration Center, the name was entered as Sheeran, instead of Sheigam, a standard practice when immigration officers were unable to understand the pronunciation of non-English speaking immigrants. They are buried in the Jewish cemetery at Budezeriai.
Wow so she really is Jewish- and to think I was just poking fun at her.
Sarah Palin’s mother (Sally Sheigam) was of Lithuanian Jewish heritage and so were both of her mothers parents (Louise Sheigam and Shmuel SheigaM’ etc.
——
Actually this entire “family tree” was invented by an extreme anti-Semitic website and has no truth to it whatsoever. Sarah Palin has no Jewish ancestry whatsoever. But there is a delightful irony in the fact that what the anti-Semites invent as a “disgrace,” the Jews embrace with pride! Yay, Sarah! You go, girl!
Jewish…of Course. A yiddisha Kopf if I ever saw it. Her husband also is of native Alaskan ancestry.. Grandmother’s name was Ceil (spelled Seal) from the white fish clan. Great grandfather went to Alaska to trade for furs (Beaver) for the proper head ware attire also sold Levi Jeans and married Ceil White Fish. Nu, anything is possible
jews are a race, they are a semitic people, “anti-semitic” remember, just like the palistinians and arabs. They come from middle east. Would you say that arabs can be not arabs due to conversion?