ALASKAN ADVENTURE — Two weeks before Laurel and Mike Rogovein were to take a trip to Alaska, they saw a small article from JTA in The Chronicle about the new Alaska Jewish Museum & Cultural Center. When they arrived in Anchorage they delivered their copy of The Chronicle to Leslie Fried, curator at the museum. “She was delighted … and quickly took us a few steps away to the campus office, where we met Rabbi Joseph Greenberg, the director of the cultural center. He also was delighted to see that they were getting coverage so far away. After a bit we returned to the museum to view a very informative exhibit about Alaska’s contribution to Operation Flying Carpet, which flew Yemenite Jews to Israel,” Laurel wrote to us in an email.
REPENTING HIS SINS — Last weekend I saw a report that Milwaukee Brewers outfield Ryan Braun, who was suspended for 65 games by major League Baseball for breaking its performance-enhancing drugs policies, was calling Brewers season ticket holders and apologizing for his indiscretions. Remembering he was nicknamed the “Hebrew Hammer,” my first thought was this seems like he’s trying to make things right with everyone before Yom Kippur. Then I dug a little deeper. JTA reported in July that while it’s been reported that the baseball player is Jewish, Braun doesn’t consider himself to be Jewish. In fact according to that JTA story, USA Today reported about the matter on Aug. 28, 2007:
“Joe Braun was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and came to the U.S.A. at age 7. Diane was raised Catholic in Van Nuys, Calif. Ryan was not raised Jewish and never had a Bar Mitzvah …”
“ ‘He’s totally not Jewish,’ Diane says. ‘I heard some organization started called him ‘The Hebrew Hammer.’ I said, ‘Oh no.’ My mother would be rolling over in her grave if she heard that.’ ”
Braun’s Wikipedia bio (I know, are we supposed to trust that source?) has Braun saying he is Jewish and “I’m extremely proud to be a role model for young Jewish kids.” So it’s refreshing that a role model of any sort, no matter what his real religion is, is owning up to his mistakes and publically apologizing. It’s food for thought anyway.
