Revlon

06/20/2022

A. Perelman employs a private chef to cook all his meals, and he paid for the chef, who is not Jewish, to live in Israel and France for a year studying with kosher chefs and learning all the rules of kashrut.

B. Perelman had a private synagogue built in the garden space between his two back-to-back Upper East Side townhouses.

C. Some makeup, in particular lipstick, is not kosher for Passover as there are some ingredients which are chametz, and might be ingested. Perelman paid to have a small lab set up in one of Revlon’s manufacturing facilities specifically to make lipstick for his wife with products that are all certified kosher for Passover.

D. Perelman paid to have a Torah scroll written by a scribe in Jerusalem, which he dedicated to his parents, Ruth and Raymond Perelman. The scroll, which is guarded and maintained by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation (official overseers of the Wall) is only brought out two or three times a year when Perelman comes to say Shabbat prayers at the Western Wall.

E. Sometimes when Perelman travels to his home in the Hamptons, or to Miami or other destinations, he’ll take a group of at least nine Lubavitch rabbinical students with him to be sure he has a minyan for services.

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡

Britney Spears

06/13/2022

A. The tattoo says אין סוף, Ein Sof, which means “the Infinite,” which is a name that Kabbalists use to refer to God.

B. The tattoo says יצחק, Yitchak, which is the Hebrew name of Isaac Cohen, the Jewish model she was dating at the time.

C. The tattoo was supposed to read שלום, Shalom, meaning peace. She says she chose this tattoo to help her focus on inner peace as she struggled with her many public legal and health issues. But in fact, the tattoo actually reads שלוס, Shalos, because the tattoo artist incorrectly inked the letter ס, Samech, instead of the similar looking correct letter, ם, Mem Sofit.

D. The tattoo reads המש, the Hebrew letters Hey, Mem, Shin, which she says means “healing” (though that is not accurate).

E. The tattoo reads אופס אעשיתי את זה שוב, Oops, Asiti et zeh shuv, which means “Oops, I did it again.”

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡

Jerry Nadler & Carolyn Maloney

06/07/2022

A. Barney Crabgrass.

B. Barney Green Beans.

C. Grassroots.

D. Mr. Green Jeans.

E. Barney Rubble.

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡

Don McLean

05/30/2022

A. In the late 1970’s, McLean was in a long-term relationship with Orly Sarfati, an Israeli army sergeant. Said McLean later, “We had a great time together. I knew her family, and I enjoyed her and the country very much.”

B. At the behest of Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek, McLean appeared in a promotional film about the city for which he wrote a song titled Jerusalem. Among the lyrics are the lines “Jerusalem is old, Jerusalem is new./Jerusalem can hold, Moslem, Christian, Jew.”

C. McLean’s Jewish former wife of 27 years, Patrisha McLean, obtained a restraining order against the singer in 2016 after she accused him of trying to strangle her. She also claimed that he abused her in many other ways, including calling her a “hebe,” a claim which he denied.

D. McLean included the song By the Waters of Babylon (written by Philip Hayes) on his album American Pie, and he regularly performed the song when touring. Among the lyrics are the lines “By the waters, the waters of Babylon/We sat down and wept, and wept for thee, Zion.”

E. Prior to writing the song Dreidel, McLean toyed with other Jewish themes to the same tune. Among the lyrics he wrote but never released were:

I feel like a matzah ball, a kneidel./I'm boiling in the soup, sitting in the ladle.

I feel like a slab of meat, a pastrami./I ate the whole thing, my gut's a tsunami.

I feel like an old grandma, or a bubby./I’m eating lots of kugel, I'm feeling chubby.

I feel like a fried potato, a latke./I need to chill out, gotta get me vodka.

I feel like a duck foie gras, or chopped liver./I’m floating in the sun on the Jordan River.

I feel like a giant meal, or a seder./I’ve eaten all the food in the refrigerator.

I feel like a holy book, or a Torah./Except the chapter on Sodom and Gomorrah.

Feel free to write your own…

or

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡