Category: Second Thoughts

Jew Ball

Jew Ball

The game of basketball was invented in 1891 by a minister, James Naismith, who believed that it would promote “muscular Christianity.” That game would be unrecognizable today with its peach baskets, players passing the ball but never dribbling (a minor adjustment never envisioned by Naismith) and final scores like 5-4. It wasn’t until Jewish immigrants [...]

November 12, 2010 | 0 Comments More
Rap-id Response

Rap-id Response

Whenever we create a Chutzpah List, inevitably there are entries that deserve to be part of it, but aren’t included because of a variety of criteria—sometimes it’s just the space, other times it’s determined by popularity or because we need to make decisions that can be best described as subjective. What’s great is that we [...]

October 4, 2010 | 0 Comments More
“You Forgot So-And-So!”

“You Forgot So-And-So!”

The “fun” aspect of putting together an article on Jewish comics for our premiere issue of Chutzpah Magazine certainly was fleeting…no sooner was the proverbial ink dry then friends and family began chiming in with the now all-too-familiar lament, “You forgot so-and-so!” In hindsight, I probably should have kept the project under wraps until the launch, but [...]

April 8, 2010 | 0 Comments More
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The game of basketball was invented in 1891 by a minister, James Naismith, who believed that it would promote “muscular Christianity.” That game would be unrecognizable today with its peach baskets, players passing the ball but never dribbling (a minor adjustment never envisioned by Naismith) and final scores like 5-4. It wasn’t until Jewish immigrants at the turn of the 20th century adopted the “ultimate city game”—and over the course of a few decades, from the ’20s to the ’50s, added innovations in play and strategy—that it went from one requiring brute strength to one that stressed skill and strategy. In their hands, basketball, first conceived as a simple, easy to play (but hard to master) game, became the crossover dribbling, three-point bombing sport that it is today.
Contrary to cultural stereotypes, early in the 20th century, most Jewish kids played basketball and played it well. The old schoolyard cliché that “any Jew great at sports was probably adopted” didn’t hold water. Those of us compelled to debunk the notion of Jews “without game” need look no further than the game of the ghettos during that golden era, when the sport was indeed considered the “Jewish game.” Because basketball requires very little in equipment at its bare root level, ghetto kids could improvise with makeshift paper balls shot through the lowest rung of the fire escape (backboards were unheard of). Leagues sponsored by YMHAs, yeshivas and synagogues flourished—in addition to the benefit of keeping kids off the corner and out of trouble, rabbis also realized that these teams served a greater purpose by ensuring that kids kept willingly coming back to shul.
Almost all Jewish neighborhoods had their own teams, rivalries were in fact fierce, and there was no question that the best ball in the era was played in New York and Philadelphia, the cities with the largest Jewish populations. For the chosen few, proficiency in shooting the rock could land one a college scholarship (often the only way a poor Jew could hope to attend) and provide a portal into middle class America. College basketball was one area of life where Jews were rarely denied the right to participate, certainly not the case in many other sports. Not surprisingly, many players stayed local, creating an era of elite college teams like City College of New York (CCNY), Long Island University (LIU), New York University and Temple. After a good college career, Jewish players on early semi-pro fives could earn as much as $5 a game, a veritable fortune back then.
During this era, so-called “Jew Ball” evolved—what was first used as a slur or, at best, a backhanded compliment, the term came to define the style of play that was later lauded as the “thinking man’s” game. Incorporating defense and constant motion with the aim of hitting the open man, it was the antithesis of the foul-plagued “football style” offense that prevailed in the early days. Indeed it was a style crucial to the later success of the college and pro game, and one that seminal coaches like Nat Holman and later his protégé Red Holzman, and later on his protégé Phil Jackson, would refine to perfection. Why, if that guy Naismith hadn’t come up with a few now-antiquated rules himself, you could almost say Jews invented modern basketball.
Just as stereotypes unfairly label today’s black players, many were foisted on the Jewish players in the ’20s and ’30s. Jew Ball provided an easy mark for journalists like Paul Gallico, the eminent sports editor of the NY Daily News who expressed the goy “excuse” in a 1930s column, stating that “the reason that basketball appeals to Hebrews is that the game places a premium on an alert scheming mind, flashy trickiness, artful dodging and general smart-aleckness.” Players who lost to all-Jewish teams whined that the shorter Jews had “God-given better balance and speed.” Genetic advantage or not, the fact is that in 1930, in the biggest college game of the year, with NYU facing CCNY (both teams were undefeated), 9 of the 10 starters were Jewish. How cool is that?
After the second World War, in an era when the hoopla of March Madness was as yet inconceivable and pro ball was still a curiosity, a handful of mostly eastern teams would battle in the once prestigious National Invitational Tournament (NIT) at Madison Square Garden in college basketball’s showcase event. NIT championship games, up until the ’50s, often included CCNY, LIU or St. John’s, schools that perennially produced some of the best and most innovative basketball in the nation and whose Jewish-laden rosters were the toast of the town. And when local Jewish fans checked their morning papers to find out how the rest of the best had fared, most looked first to see how the “Mighty Mites” of Yeshiva University had done against the other beasts of the east.
Those were the glory days for Jewish basketball, when players were still referred to as cagers (courts used to be ringed with wire or rope mesh to keep play continuous and protect players from abusive fans), when they shot and passed with two hands and when dunks were reserved for doughnuts—under the old rules, touching the rim was illegal. Sixty years before Air Jordans, $3 could get you a pair of black high-top Chuck Taylor All-Stars (and a hamburger and Coke for lunch), shorts were, well, short, and cheerleaders wore letter sweaters and ankle socks. Fans waved pennants, not Styrofoam fingers. Yes, it was a time when stars with names like Heyman, Schectman and Schayes pounded the hardwood, and the Jewish players were truly kings of the court.
By the late 1940s the heyday of the Jewish basketball star had diminished for a variety of cultural and demographic reasons, including a mass migration of middle-class Jews to the suburbs. The crushing blow was probably the point shaving scandal that rocked college basketball after the 1950 season. That many of the culprits were players from CCNY and NYU (who accepted money from gamblers to lose games on purpose or win games but by less than the point spread) proved to be a death knell for New York City college ball. But for what the game is now, we pay homage to its past with Chutzpah’s guide to Jewish basketball, A to Z.

By Len Canter

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The game of basketball was invented in 1891 by a minister, James Naismith, who believed that it would promote “muscular Christianity.” That game would be unrecognizable today with its peach baskets, players passing the ball but never dribbling (a minor adjustment never envisioned by Naismith) and final scores like 5-4. It wasn’t until Jewish immigrants at the turn of the 20th century adopted the “ultimate city game”—and over the course of a few decades, from the ’20s to the ’50s, added innovations in play and strategy—that it went from one requiring brute strength to one that stressed skill and strategy. In their hands, basketball, first conceived as a simple, easy to play (but hard to master) game, became the crossover dribbling, three-point bombing sport that it is today.
Contrary to cultural stereotypes, early in the 20th century, most Jewish kids played basketball and played it well. The old schoolyard cliché that “any Jew great at sports was probably adopted” didn’t hold water. Those of us compelled to debunk the notion of Jews “without game” need look no further than the game of the ghettos during that golden era, when the sport was indeed considered the “Jewish game.” Because basketball requires very little in equipment at its bare root level, ghetto kids could improvise with makeshift paper balls shot through the lowest rung of the fire escape (backboards were unheard of). Leagues sponsored by YMHAs, yeshivas and synagogues flourished—in addition to the benefit of keeping kids off the corner and out of trouble, rabbis also realized that these teams served a greater purpose by ensuring that kids kept willingly coming back to shul.
Almost all Jewish neighborhoods had their own teams, rivalries were in fact fierce, and there was no question that the best ball in the era was played in New York and Philadelphia, the cities with the largest Jewish populations. For the chosen few, proficiency in shooting the rock could land one a college scholarship (often the only way a poor Jew could hope to attend) and provide a portal into middle class America. College basketball was one area of life where Jews were rarely denied the right to participate, certainly not the case in many other sports. Not surprisingly, many players stayed local, creating an era of elite college teams like City College of New York (CCNY), Long Island University (LIU), New York University and Temple. After a good college career, Jewish players on early semi-pro fives could earn as much as $5 a game, a veritable fortune back then.
During this era, so-called “Jew Ball” evolved—what was first used as a slur or, at best, a backhanded compliment, the term came to define the style of play that was later lauded as the “thinking man’s” game. Incorporating defense and constant motion with the aim of hitting the open man, it was the antithesis of the foul-plagued “football style” offense that prevailed in the early days. Indeed it was a style crucial to the later success of the college and pro game, and one that seminal coaches like Nat Holman and later his protégé Red Holzman, and later on his protégé Phil Jackson, would refine to perfection. Why, if that guy Naismith hadn’t come up with a few now-antiquated rules himself, you could almost say Jews invented modern basketball.
Just as stereotypes unfairly label today’s black players, many were foisted on the Jewish players in the ’20s and ’30s. Jew Ball provided an easy mark for journalists like Paul Gallico, the eminent sports editor of the NY Daily News who expressed the goy “excuse” in a 1930s column, stating that “the reason that basketball appeals to Hebrews is that the game places a premium on an alert scheming mind, flashy trickiness, artful dodging and general smart-aleckness.” Players who lost to all-Jewish teams whined that the shorter Jews had “God-given better balance and speed.” Genetic advantage or not, the fact is that in 1930, in the biggest college game of the year, with NYU facing CCNY (both teams were undefeated), 9 of the 10 starters were Jewish. How cool is that?
After the second World War, in an era when the hoopla of March Madness was as yet inconceivable and pro ball was still a curiosity, a handful of mostly eastern teams would battle in the once prestigious National Invitational Tournament (NIT) at Madison Square Garden in college basketball’s showcase event. NIT championship games, up until the ’50s, often included CCNY, LIU or St. John’s, schools that perennially produced some of the best and most innovative basketball in the nation and whose Jewish-laden rosters were the toast of the town. And when local Jewish fans checked their morning papers to find out how the rest of the best had fared, most looked first to see how the “Mighty Mites” of Yeshiva University had done against the other beasts of the east.
Those were the glory days for Jewish basketball, when players were still referred to as cagers (courts used to be ringed with wire or rope mesh to keep play continuous and protect players from abusive fans), when they shot and passed with two hands and when dunks were reserved for doughnuts—under the old rules, touching the rim was illegal. Sixty years before Air Jordans, $3 could get you a pair of black high-top Chuck Taylor All-Stars (and a hamburger and Coke for lunch), shorts were, well, short, and cheerleaders wore letter sweaters and ankle socks. Fans waved pennants, not Styrofoam fingers. Yes, it was a time when stars with names like Heyman, Schectman and Schayes pounded the hardwood, and the Jewish players were truly kings of the court.
By the late 1940s the heyday of the Jewish basketball star had diminished for a variety of cultural and demographic reasons, including a mass migration of middle-class Jews to the suburbs. The crushing blow was probably the point shaving scandal that rocked college basketball after the 1950 season. That many of the culprits were players from CCNY and NYU (who accepted money from gamblers to lose games on purpose or win games but by less than the point spread) proved to be a death knell for New York City college ball. But for what the game is now, we pay homage to its past with Chutzpah’s guide to Jewish basketball, A to Z.

By Len Canter

Start uga_filter:

The game of basketball was invented in 1891 by a minister, James Naismith, who believed that it would promote “muscular Christianity.” That game would be unrecognizable today with its peach baskets, players passing the ball but never dribbling (a minor adjustment never envisioned by Naismith) and final scores like 5-4. It wasn’t until Jewish immigrants [...]

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The game of basketball was invented in 1891 by a minister, James Naismith, who believed that it would promote “muscular Christianity.” That game would be unrecognizable today with its peach baskets, players passing the ball but never dribbling (a minor adjustment never envisioned by Naismith) and final scores like 5-4. It wasn’t until Jewish immigrants [...]

Start uga_filter:

Whenever we create a Chutzpah List, inevitably there are entries that deserve to be part of it, but aren’t included because of a variety of criteria—sometimes it’s just the space, other times it’s determined by popularity or because we need to make decisions that can be best described as subjective. What’s great is that we always hear from readers telling us where we went wrong or who we left out! This issue, we were fortunate enough to hear directly from a dude whose achievements could prompt us to change the title of our rappers and hip hop artists’ article to  “A Baker’s Dozen Who Dared.” Here he is, Etan G., in his own words.

“I just wanted to pop in and maybe throw a few factual tidbits your way that might tweak the ‘history of’ Jews involved with rap. Growing up in Baltimore, MD I never had a thought of making hip hop my career but that’s ultimately what happened. I never was a fan of the Beastie Boys. I liked that they were Jewish but a bit unhappy that they didn’t seem proud of it. Nonetheless, I was already rapping at 14 years old in my youth group. Then came 2 Live Jews which basically used all the stereotypical Jewish things and made an album out of it. It sold well. I never liked the Jewish stereotype music because I knew there was more to being Jewish than that. I had already written a couple songs for the band in our youth group.

“But in 1992 that band, Shlock Rock, asked me to write a song for their new album (say what you want about them but they STILL tour all over the world and have just under 30 albums to their credit – pretty impressive if you ask me) That song became ‘Makin’ The Motzee.’ At the time there was a group called Black Hattitude who were really good and their style was hip hop at the time and yet very Jewish but un-sterotypical. However, they chose not to pursue music as a career. By that time, I moved out to LA and while I was doing normal jobs but the music started paying, I was getting hired for a variety of gigs and the group Shlock Rock was having me go on tour with them on a regular basis. I, then, was asked to go on tour with the duo Evan and Jaron and shortly thereafter my solo album South Side of the Synagogue came out. I believe this was still before Remedy was a blip on anyones radar.

“By then I had already gotten kicked off the Chabad telethon, appeared on the Howard Stern Show, was on a game show, had toured the world, both as a solo artist and with Shlock Rock, recorded with Ice Cubes producer, as well as Macy Grays producer, for that first album (South Side of the Synagogue), had a song in a documentary, attended both the Grammy Awards and BET awards for 7 years, culminating with being on the reality show ‘No Opportunity Wasted’ on the Discovery channel. It wouldn’t be until 7 years later when I came out with my second album ‘Foundation’ with producers and musicians like Rami Jaffe (Foo Fighters, Wallflowers), Paul Shaffer (Late Show with David Letterman) and Cedric Samson and that rocked harder than the first. All the music is clean and positive and I never played the Jewish stereotype. The music appeals to all ages.

“When my first album came out Y-Love was still not Jewish and Matis hadn’t found himself yet. Hip Hop barely had made it to Israel then. And Remedy, well, I haven’t heard anything of his, or the Wu Tang Clan, for that matter, since that song Never Again. As for Jewmaicans, there was/is Benny Bwoy who still impresses me with his work. Being ‘The Jewish Rapper’ has been my career for over 15 years. It is a full time job. I have no other side jobs unlike some of the other names you mentioned.

“My first album came out just before the internet was huge and didn’t have the benefit of all the technology and online goodies we have now. I also recognize that I’m not as well known as some of those other guys you mentioned. Some of it was by choice and some of it was circumstance. But, for sure, don’t count me out for the future and, surely, recognize my place in the past.

“Feel free to check out any of my material on my site www.jewishrapper.com, on iTunes, www.CDBaby.com etc. I think you might enjoy! I have a computer filled with tons of lyrics and new songs for future albums. All the best and have a happy and healthy New Year!”

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Whenever we create a Chutzpah List, inevitably there are entries that deserve to be part of it, but aren’t included because of a variety of criteria—sometimes it’s just the space, other times it’s determined by popularity or because we need to make decisions that can be best described as subjective. What’s great is that we always hear from readers telling us where we went wrong or who we left out! This issue, we were fortunate enough to hear directly from a dude whose achievements could prompt us to change the title of our rappers and hip hop artists’ article to  “A Baker’s Dozen Who Dared.” Here he is, Etan G., in his own words.

“I just wanted to pop in and maybe throw a few factual tidbits your way that might tweak the ‘history of’ Jews involved with rap. Growing up in Baltimore, MD I never had a thought of making hip hop my career but that’s ultimately what happened. I never was a fan of the Beastie Boys. I liked that they were Jewish but a bit unhappy that they didn’t seem proud of it. Nonetheless, I was already rapping at 14 years old in my youth group. Then came 2 Live Jews which basically used all the stereotypical Jewish things and made an album out of it. It sold well. I never liked the Jewish stereotype music because I knew there was more to being Jewish than that. I had already written a couple songs for the band in our youth group.

“But in 1992 that band, Shlock Rock, asked me to write a song for their new album (say what you want about them but they STILL tour all over the world and have just under 30 albums to their credit – pretty impressive if you ask me) That song became ‘Makin’ The Motzee.’ At the time there was a group called Black Hattitude who were really good and their style was hip hop at the time and yet very Jewish but un-sterotypical. However, they chose not to pursue music as a career. By that time, I moved out to LA and while I was doing normal jobs but the music started paying, I was getting hired for a variety of gigs and the group Shlock Rock was having me go on tour with them on a regular basis. I, then, was asked to go on tour with the duo Evan and Jaron and shortly thereafter my solo album South Side of the Synagogue came out. I believe this was still before Remedy was a blip on anyones radar.

“By then I had already gotten kicked off the Chabad telethon, appeared on the Howard Stern Show, was on a game show, had toured the world, both as a solo artist and with Shlock Rock, recorded with Ice Cubes producer, as well as Macy Grays producer, for that first album (South Side of the Synagogue), had a song in a documentary, attended both the Grammy Awards and BET awards for 7 years, culminating with being on the reality show ‘No Opportunity Wasted’ on the Discovery channel. It wouldn’t be until 7 years later when I came out with my second album ‘Foundation’ with producers and musicians like Rami Jaffe (Foo Fighters, Wallflowers), Paul Shaffer (Late Show with David Letterman) and Cedric Samson and that rocked harder than the first. All the music is clean and positive and I never played the Jewish stereotype. The music appeals to all ages.

“When my first album came out Y-Love was still not Jewish and Matis hadn’t found himself yet. Hip Hop barely had made it to Israel then. And Remedy, well, I haven’t heard anything of his, or the Wu Tang Clan, for that matter, since that song Never Again. As for Jewmaicans, there was/is Benny Bwoy who still impresses me with his work. Being ‘The Jewish Rapper’ has been my career for over 15 years. It is a full time job. I have no other side jobs unlike some of the other names you mentioned.

“My first album came out just before the internet was huge and didn’t have the benefit of all the technology and online goodies we have now. I also recognize that I’m not as well known as some of those other guys you mentioned. Some of it was by choice and some of it was circumstance. But, for sure, don’t count me out for the future and, surely, recognize my place in the past.

“Feel free to check out any of my material on my site www.jewishrapper.com, on iTunes, www.CDBaby.com etc. I think you might enjoy! I have a computer filled with tons of lyrics and new songs for future albums. All the best and have a happy and healthy New Year!”

Start uga_filter:

Whenever we create a Chutzpah List, inevitably there are entries that deserve to be part of it, but aren’t included because of a variety of criteria—sometimes it’s just the space, other times it’s determined by popularity or because we need to make decisions that can be best described as subjective. What’s great is that we [...]

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Whenever we create a Chutzpah List, inevitably there are entries that deserve to be part of it, but aren’t included because of a variety of criteria—sometimes it’s just the space, other times it’s determined by popularity or because we need to make decisions that can be best described as subjective. What’s great is that we [...]

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The “fun” aspect of putting together an article on Jewish comics for our premiere issue of Chutzpah Magazine certainly was fleeting…no sooner was the proverbial ink dry then friends and family began chiming in with the now all-too-familiar lament, “You forgot so-and-so!” In hindsight, I probably should have kept the project under wraps until the launch, but I figured a little feedback would insure that I hadn’t committed any more really grave omissions. This had already occurred once, with the realization one morning while in the shower that I had forgotten Billy Crystal! So my panic began not because I really “forgot” anybody, but because I had to concede that my allotted space would allow for no more than 25 comedians and my master list of “must haves” had already topped 75! The familiar palpitations I had experienced as my daughter’s travel soccer coach on roster cut-down day began in earnest. The only difference was that this time I didn’t expect to have any angry comedian’s parents staring me down at the supermarket. The solution was to establish some criteria for inclusion. The first thing I decided was you couldn’t be half-Jewish, which served to immediately knockout Bill Maher and Peter Sellers, and no conversions (a sad adios to Bud Abbott)—but this amounted to barely a ripple of progress. Now to X-out about 50 more!

Sifting through a pile of lists, scraps of handwritten notes and a few hundred YouTube videos I, like an NFL referee after replay, concluded “upon further review” that the comedian had to have some stand-up background—vaudeville (hello Marx Brothers), clubs and live TV all sufficing for inclusion while clever Jewish writers (goodbye Neil Simon), radio personalities (sorry Howard Stern) and comics of the silver screen (nix to Danny Kaye) could not join my club. I’m no kid (I actually have seen nearly every comic on the list perform at their zenith on Sullivan or Carson), but I wanted to at least appear somewhat hip, so I decided to add a few moderns whose credentials seem modest at best, but who did indeed push out a few comics who lurked on the bubble (Jan Murray and Joey Bishop…we still love ya!).

A week later and a few dozen revisions and I had my list…it looked magnificent! In a flush of excitement, I e-mailed it to my buddy in Denver, a former newspaper editor and a keen observer of popular culture (did I mention gentile?). His instant e-mail repl? “You forgot Henny Youngman!” I could see the numbing assault ahead because people really do love “their” comics. Determined now to avoid any more changes, I dug in my heels, resisting a flurry of offered, not solicited, suggestions by pretending I wasn’t home and later claiming that the whole mess had gone off to the printer, realizing along the way that everybody I knew has their legitimate favorites and any further ruminations could never be truly objective. I knew this to be true after a friendly argument with my 17-year-old son about the merits of the Marx Brothers vs. Harold and Kumar. So maybe the list in the end just reflects my favorites, my sense of humor, my Jewish experience…well, at least it’s a start!

Please take some time to watch the sampling of clips on our website. Each comic is, as the movie trailers used to proclaim, “at the height of hilarity.” You’ll get at least a chuckle from each and a belly laugh from your favorites and realize the sheer genius of Jewish ethnic humor and how “American” it really is…even if, by the end, you realize that I “forgot” your favorite!

To appease all my critics, I offer you this amended (but certainly not complete) list of more great Jewish comics (in no particular order) that I “forgot.” And if so-and-so isn’t on the list, let me know!

Alan King

Buddy Hackett

George Burns

Andy Kaufman

Garry Shandling

Victor Borge

Bob Saget

Soupy Sales

Alan Sherman

Phil Silvers

Gilbert Gottfried

Gilda Radner

Mike Nichols

Jerry Stiller

Pee Wee Herman

Shecky Greene

Fran Drescher

Andy Samberg

Richard Belzer

Shelly Berman

Sandra Bernhard

Howie Mandel

Norm Crosby

Start uga_in_feed Ending uga_in_feed: Start uga_track_user Start uga_get_option: ignore_users uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: ignore_users (1) Start uga_get_option: max_user_level uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: max_user_level (8) Tracking user with level 0 Ending uga_track_user: 1 Calling preg_replace_callback: ]*?)href\s*=\s*['"](.*?)['"]([^>]*)>(.*?) Ending uga_filter:

The “fun” aspect of putting together an article on Jewish comics for our premiere issue of Chutzpah Magazine certainly was fleeting…no sooner was the proverbial ink dry then friends and family began chiming in with the now all-too-familiar lament, “You forgot so-and-so!” In hindsight, I probably should have kept the project under wraps until the launch, but I figured a little feedback would insure that I hadn’t committed any more really grave omissions. This had already occurred once, with the realization one morning while in the shower that I had forgotten Billy Crystal! So my panic began not because I really “forgot” anybody, but because I had to concede that my allotted space would allow for no more than 25 comedians and my master list of “must haves” had already topped 75! The familiar palpitations I had experienced as my daughter’s travel soccer coach on roster cut-down day began in earnest. The only difference was that this time I didn’t expect to have any angry comedian’s parents staring me down at the supermarket. The solution was to establish some criteria for inclusion. The first thing I decided was you couldn’t be half-Jewish, which served to immediately knockout Bill Maher and Peter Sellers, and no conversions (a sad adios to Bud Abbott)—but this amounted to barely a ripple of progress. Now to X-out about 50 more!

Sifting through a pile of lists, scraps of handwritten notes and a few hundred YouTube videos I, like an NFL referee after replay, concluded “upon further review” that the comedian had to have some stand-up background—vaudeville (hello Marx Brothers), clubs and live TV all sufficing for inclusion while clever Jewish writers (goodbye Neil Simon), radio personalities (sorry Howard Stern) and comics of the silver screen (nix to Danny Kaye) could not join my club. I’m no kid (I actually have seen nearly every comic on the list perform at their zenith on Sullivan or Carson), but I wanted to at least appear somewhat hip, so I decided to add a few moderns whose credentials seem modest at best, but who did indeed push out a few comics who lurked on the bubble (Jan Murray and Joey Bishop…we still love ya!).

A week later and a few dozen revisions and I had my list…it looked magnificent! In a flush of excitement, I e-mailed it to my buddy in Denver, a former newspaper editor and a keen observer of popular culture (did I mention gentile?). His instant e-mail repl? “You forgot Henny Youngman!” I could see the numbing assault ahead because people really do love “their” comics. Determined now to avoid any more changes, I dug in my heels, resisting a flurry of offered, not solicited, suggestions by pretending I wasn’t home and later claiming that the whole mess had gone off to the printer, realizing along the way that everybody I knew has their legitimate favorites and any further ruminations could never be truly objective. I knew this to be true after a friendly argument with my 17-year-old son about the merits of the Marx Brothers vs. Harold and Kumar. So maybe the list in the end just reflects my favorites, my sense of humor, my Jewish experience…well, at least it’s a start!

Please take some time to watch the sampling of clips on our website. Each comic is, as the movie trailers used to proclaim, “at the height of hilarity.” You’ll get at least a chuckle from each and a belly laugh from your favorites and realize the sheer genius of Jewish ethnic humor and how “American” it really is…even if, by the end, you realize that I “forgot” your favorite!

To appease all my critics, I offer you this amended (but certainly not complete) list of more great Jewish comics (in no particular order) that I “forgot.” And if so-and-so isn’t on the list, let me know!

Alan King

Buddy Hackett

George Burns

Andy Kaufman

Garry Shandling

Victor Borge

Bob Saget

Soupy Sales

Alan Sherman

Phil Silvers

Gilbert Gottfried

Gilda Radner

Mike Nichols

Jerry Stiller

Pee Wee Herman

Shecky Greene

Fran Drescher

Andy Samberg

Richard Belzer

Shelly Berman

Sandra Bernhard

Howie Mandel

Norm Crosby

Start uga_filter:

The “fun” aspect of putting together an article on Jewish comics for our premiere issue of Chutzpah Magazine certainly was fleeting…no sooner was the proverbial ink dry then friends and family began chiming in with the now all-too-familiar lament, “You forgot so-and-so!” In hindsight, I probably should have kept the project under wraps until the launch, but [...]

Start uga_in_feed Ending uga_in_feed: Start uga_track_user Start uga_get_option: ignore_users uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: ignore_users (1) Start uga_get_option: max_user_level uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: max_user_level (8) Tracking user with level 0 Ending uga_track_user: 1 Calling preg_replace_callback: ]*?)href\s*=\s*['"](.*?)['"]([^>]*)>(.*?) Ending uga_filter:

The “fun” aspect of putting together an article on Jewish comics for our premiere issue of Chutzpah Magazine certainly was fleeting…no sooner was the proverbial ink dry then friends and family began chiming in with the now all-too-familiar lament, “You forgot so-and-so!” In hindsight, I probably should have kept the project under wraps until the launch, but [...]

Start uga_filter:

August 15, 2011

I watched the eight Republican candidates debate among themselves last week.  Many of the opinion-makers of our country, early on decided to attack many of these candidates, most of whom either are themselves card-carrying members or adherents of the Tea Party as well as members of the Republican Party.  All are seeking Republican Party support while advocating Tea Party positions on major issues, e.g., reducing or eliminating entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and slashing federal government expenditures.

Candidates like Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) have been described by some observers of the political scene as wackos or crazies.  I think those views are now changing.  I must admit here that I have used those words in describing the views of some candidates, but I won’t anymore.  The eight participants in the debate handled themselves extremely well.  While I was not persuaded by their arguments and views and remain a Democrat supporting many Democratic programs, I can well understand why they and their supporters demand changes in federal programs along the lines advocated by Tea Party philosophy.  Michele Bachmann won the Iowa straw poll, coming in one percentage point ahead of Ron Paul.  Tim Pawlenty came in third and has withdrawn from the race.

Liberal philosophy has adopted the Keynesian position that in times of recession and depression, government must prime the pump and spend its way out to achieve better times.  The Tea Party view and that of the Conservative government of David Cameron in Great Britain adheres to the old-fashioned view that my mom often expressed:  “You don’t spend money you don’t have.”  That was my view when I was mayor of New York City and in my personal life.  I have two credit cards.  I have never paid charges on either of them over and above my actual purchases.  I am one of those customers the credit card companies hate and may lose money on, if they are dependent on the usurious rates of interest they receive from those using their credit cards as access to bank loans.

When I was Mayor, I supported then and do now a GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) balanced budget imposed by the state legislature requiring New York City to limit its operating budget to what was reasonable to expect the City to receive the year of the adopted budget.  The Tea Party believes in a balanced budget for the U.S. and wants to enact it into law by the adoption of a constitutional amendment.  Liberals are horrified with the idea.  My mother would have loved it.  It seems to me to make sense, provided there is an exception when the U.S. is at war.

We were a lower-middle class family when I grew up in Brooklyn.  Perhaps even poorer than we thought.  My father made $65 a week.  Our rent in Flatbush in 1941 was $65 a month – the then accepted ratio – and my parents were able to lead a reasonably decent lifestyle, bringing up three children and sending them to college.  I believe my parents values would be described as politically liberal.  Early on in my political career, I referred to myself as a liberal with sanity.

Mr. President, the country we all love is hurting enormously, with huge unemployment.  Isn’t it possible to create work programs like the WPA (Works Progress Administration) and spend monies on infrastructure for bullet trains, repairing roads and bridges that are falling down and other truly needed capital programs by creating what we don’t have now – a separate capital budget (which states and cities have) that would permit borrowing and pay the cost of a capital item over its expected life, instead of maintaining the single unified budget which the U.S. currently has?  I am not an economist, but shouldn’t that be considered?  The need for jobs with our unemployment rate in excess of 9 percent is universally accepted.

People everywhere are asking why don’t you call the Congress back from their unearned vacations to address the huge problems now facing the nation.  You can still win back the support of the public by publicly setting forth in detail your plan to address these enormous problems.  It should be a plan fashioned not on consensus, but your plan and if your political adversaries oppose it, so be it.  Then you must go over their heads to the vast public, appealing to its common sense, asking them to support you.  Take your plan into the next election and make your proposed programs the referendum on which the public will be voting in the presidential election of 2012.

Remember what Harry Truman did in 1948 with the do nothing Congress?  While Harry Truman is my political hero, you are far more eloquent than he was.  You can bring the nation to your side if you convince people that what you are asking them to do is to join hands in self-sacrifice, sharing the nation’s burden proportionately to their economic status.  We are a generous nation, a patriotic nation, a nation like no other in our diversity.  Today, we are so divided and feel leaderless.  You can bring us together and lead us to the promised land.

Mr. President, doesn’t it appear strange to you that the war in Afghanistan has been going on for ten years and this month of August, we have already sustained 51 deaths there?  We spend billions annually on the military budget.  Indeed, our military budget is equal in the aggregate to the military budgets of the next 17 nations.  I suspect the Taliban spends less than $10 million on its military, maybe $50 million annually, and yet, they have fought us to a standstill.  Shouldn’t we be getting out this year, instead of waiting for 2014, or as appears to be the case, staying permanently in a land where the people hate us?

Mr. President, we have been in Iraq for eight years.  We have spent hundreds of billions fighting the insurgents in Iraq.  Probably over a trillion dollars for the two wars – Afghanistan and Iraq – that are bleeding us, killing and injuring our young soldiers, ripping off the billions we send to rebuild their country, while our people are suffering in an economic crisis.  Within the past week, Iraq’s premier aligned Iraq with Syria and Iran, our declared enemies.  Syria is now engaged in killing its own citizens, shooting them down in the streets of Hama and other cities.  Does it make sense that you criticize Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, and now our supposed ally, the new Iraq, is supporting the butcher of Syria?  While he is doing that, The Times reports we are negotiating with Iraq to stay past the end of this year with no date set for our leaving.

We are told Iraq needs our soldiers to protect it until Iraqi soldiers become able to do so.  Mr. President, what happened to the Iraqi soldiers’ ability?  That army eight years ago was the terror of the region.  Mr. President, our country is hurting.  Please take the actions needed to assure us someone is in charge.

Start uga_in_feed Ending uga_in_feed: Start uga_track_user Start uga_get_option: ignore_users uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: ignore_users (1) Start uga_get_option: max_user_level uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: max_user_level (8) Tracking user with level 0 Ending uga_track_user: 1 Calling preg_replace_callback: ]*?)href\s*=\s*['"](.*?)['"]([^>]*)>(.*?) Ending uga_filter:

August 15, 2011

I watched the eight Republican candidates debate among themselves last week.  Many of the opinion-makers of our country, early on decided to attack many of these candidates, most of whom either are themselves card-carrying members or adherents of the Tea Party as well as members of the Republican Party.  All are seeking Republican Party support while advocating Tea Party positions on major issues, e.g., reducing or eliminating entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and slashing federal government expenditures.

Candidates like Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) have been described by some observers of the political scene as wackos or crazies.  I think those views are now changing.  I must admit here that I have used those words in describing the views of some candidates, but I won’t anymore.  The eight participants in the debate handled themselves extremely well.  While I was not persuaded by their arguments and views and remain a Democrat supporting many Democratic programs, I can well understand why they and their supporters demand changes in federal programs along the lines advocated by Tea Party philosophy.  Michele Bachmann won the Iowa straw poll, coming in one percentage point ahead of Ron Paul.  Tim Pawlenty came in third and has withdrawn from the race.

Liberal philosophy has adopted the Keynesian position that in times of recession and depression, government must prime the pump and spend its way out to achieve better times.  The Tea Party view and that of the Conservative government of David Cameron in Great Britain adheres to the old-fashioned view that my mom often expressed:  “You don’t spend money you don’t have.”  That was my view when I was mayor of New York City and in my personal life.  I have two credit cards.  I have never paid charges on either of them over and above my actual purchases.  I am one of those customers the credit card companies hate and may lose money on, if they are dependent on the usurious rates of interest they receive from those using their credit cards as access to bank loans.

When I was Mayor, I supported then and do now a GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) balanced budget imposed by the state legislature requiring New York City to limit its operating budget to what was reasonable to expect the City to receive the year of the adopted budget.  The Tea Party believes in a balanced budget for the U.S. and wants to enact it into law by the adoption of a constitutional amendment.  Liberals are horrified with the idea.  My mother would have loved it.  It seems to me to make sense, provided there is an exception when the U.S. is at war.

We were a lower-middle class family when I grew up in Brooklyn.  Perhaps even poorer than we thought.  My father made $65 a week.  Our rent in Flatbush in 1941 was $65 a month – the then accepted ratio – and my parents were able to lead a reasonably decent lifestyle, bringing up three children and sending them to college.  I believe my parents values would be described as politically liberal.  Early on in my political career, I referred to myself as a liberal with sanity.

Mr. President, the country we all love is hurting enormously, with huge unemployment.  Isn’t it possible to create work programs like the WPA (Works Progress Administration) and spend monies on infrastructure for bullet trains, repairing roads and bridges that are falling down and other truly needed capital programs by creating what we don’t have now – a separate capital budget (which states and cities have) that would permit borrowing and pay the cost of a capital item over its expected life, instead of maintaining the single unified budget which the U.S. currently has?  I am not an economist, but shouldn’t that be considered?  The need for jobs with our unemployment rate in excess of 9 percent is universally accepted.

People everywhere are asking why don’t you call the Congress back from their unearned vacations to address the huge problems now facing the nation.  You can still win back the support of the public by publicly setting forth in detail your plan to address these enormous problems.  It should be a plan fashioned not on consensus, but your plan and if your political adversaries oppose it, so be it.  Then you must go over their heads to the vast public, appealing to its common sense, asking them to support you.  Take your plan into the next election and make your proposed programs the referendum on which the public will be voting in the presidential election of 2012.

Remember what Harry Truman did in 1948 with the do nothing Congress?  While Harry Truman is my political hero, you are far more eloquent than he was.  You can bring the nation to your side if you convince people that what you are asking them to do is to join hands in self-sacrifice, sharing the nation’s burden proportionately to their economic status.  We are a generous nation, a patriotic nation, a nation like no other in our diversity.  Today, we are so divided and feel leaderless.  You can bring us together and lead us to the promised land.

Mr. President, doesn’t it appear strange to you that the war in Afghanistan has been going on for ten years and this month of August, we have already sustained 51 deaths there?  We spend billions annually on the military budget.  Indeed, our military budget is equal in the aggregate to the military budgets of the next 17 nations.  I suspect the Taliban spends less than $10 million on its military, maybe $50 million annually, and yet, they have fought us to a standstill.  Shouldn’t we be getting out this year, instead of waiting for 2014, or as appears to be the case, staying permanently in a land where the people hate us?

Mr. President, we have been in Iraq for eight years.  We have spent hundreds of billions fighting the insurgents in Iraq.  Probably over a trillion dollars for the two wars – Afghanistan and Iraq – that are bleeding us, killing and injuring our young soldiers, ripping off the billions we send to rebuild their country, while our people are suffering in an economic crisis.  Within the past week, Iraq’s premier aligned Iraq with Syria and Iran, our declared enemies.  Syria is now engaged in killing its own citizens, shooting them down in the streets of Hama and other cities.  Does it make sense that you criticize Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, and now our supposed ally, the new Iraq, is supporting the butcher of Syria?  While he is doing that, The Times reports we are negotiating with Iraq to stay past the end of this year with no date set for our leaving.

We are told Iraq needs our soldiers to protect it until Iraqi soldiers become able to do so.  Mr. President, what happened to the Iraqi soldiers’ ability?  That army eight years ago was the terror of the region.  Mr. President, our country is hurting.  Please take the actions needed to assure us someone is in charge.

Start uga_filter:

August 15, 2011 I watched the eight Republican candidates debate among themselves last week.  Many of the opinion-makers of our country, early on decided to attack many of these candidates, most of whom either are themselves card-carrying members or adherents of the Tea Party as well as members of the Republican Party.  All are seeking [...]

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August 15, 2011 I watched the eight Republican candidates debate among themselves last week.  Many of the opinion-makers of our country, early on decided to attack many of these candidates, most of whom either are themselves card-carrying members or adherents of the Tea Party as well as members of the Republican Party.  All are seeking [...]

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The game of basketball was invented in 1891 by a minister, James Naismith, who believed that it would promote “muscular Christianity.” That game would be unrecognizable today with its peach baskets, players passing the ball but never dribbling (a minor adjustment never envisioned by Naismith) and final scores like 5-4. It wasn’t until Jewish immigrants at the turn of the 20th century adopted the “ultimate city game”—and over the course of a few decades, from the ’20s to the ’50s, added innovations in play and strategy—that it went from one requiring brute strength to one that stressed skill and strategy. In their hands, basketball, first conceived as a simple, easy to play (but hard to master) game, became the crossover dribbling, three-point bombing sport that it is today.
Contrary to cultural stereotypes, early in the 20th century, most Jewish kids played basketball and played it well. The old schoolyard cliché that “any Jew great at sports was probably adopted” didn’t hold water. Those of us compelled to debunk the notion of Jews “without game” need look no further than the game of the ghettos during that golden era, when the sport was indeed considered the “Jewish game.” Because basketball requires very little in equipment at its bare root level, ghetto kids could improvise with makeshift paper balls shot through the lowest rung of the fire escape (backboards were unheard of). Leagues sponsored by YMHAs, yeshivas and synagogues flourished—in addition to the benefit of keeping kids off the corner and out of trouble, rabbis also realized that these teams served a greater purpose by ensuring that kids kept willingly coming back to shul.
Almost all Jewish neighborhoods had their own teams, rivalries were in fact fierce, and there was no question that the best ball in the era was played in New York and Philadelphia, the cities with the largest Jewish populations. For the chosen few, proficiency in shooting the rock could land one a college scholarship (often the only way a poor Jew could hope to attend) and provide a portal into middle class America. College basketball was one area of life where Jews were rarely denied the right to participate, certainly not the case in many other sports. Not surprisingly, many players stayed local, creating an era of elite college teams like City College of New York (CCNY), Long Island University (LIU), New York University and Temple. After a good college career, Jewish players on early semi-pro fives could earn as much as $5 a game, a veritable fortune back then.
During this era, so-called “Jew Ball” evolved—what was first used as a slur or, at best, a backhanded compliment, the term came to define the style of play that was later lauded as the “thinking man’s” game. Incorporating defense and constant motion with the aim of hitting the open man, it was the antithesis of the foul-plagued “football style” offense that prevailed in the early days. Indeed it was a style crucial to the later success of the college and pro game, and one that seminal coaches like Nat Holman and later his protégé Red Holzman, and later on his protégé Phil Jackson, would refine to perfection. Why, if that guy Naismith hadn’t come up with a few now-antiquated rules himself, you could almost say Jews invented modern basketball.
Just as stereotypes unfairly label today’s black players, many were foisted on the Jewish players in the ’20s and ’30s. Jew Ball provided an easy mark for journalists like Paul Gallico, the eminent sports editor of the NY Daily News who expressed the goy “excuse” in a 1930s column, stating that “the reason that basketball appeals to Hebrews is that the game places a premium on an alert scheming mind, flashy trickiness, artful dodging and general smart-aleckness.” Players who lost to all-Jewish teams whined that the shorter Jews had “God-given better balance and speed.” Genetic advantage or not, the fact is that in 1930, in the biggest college game of the year, with NYU facing CCNY (both teams were undefeated), 9 of the 10 starters were Jewish. How cool is that?
After the second World War, in an era when the hoopla of March Madness was as yet inconceivable and pro ball was still a curiosity, a handful of mostly eastern teams would battle in the once prestigious National Invitational Tournament (NIT) at Madison Square Garden in college basketball’s showcase event. NIT championship games, up until the ’50s, often included CCNY, LIU or St. John’s, schools that perennially produced some of the best and most innovative basketball in the nation and whose Jewish-laden rosters were the toast of the town. And when local Jewish fans checked their morning papers to find out how the rest of the best had fared, most looked first to see how the “Mighty Mites” of Yeshiva University had done against the other beasts of the east.
Those were the glory days for Jewish basketball, when players were still referred to as cagers (courts used to be ringed with wire or rope mesh to keep play continuous and protect players from abusive fans), when they shot and passed with two hands and when dunks were reserved for doughnuts—under the old rules, touching the rim was illegal. Sixty years before Air Jordans, $3 could get you a pair of black high-top Chuck Taylor All-Stars (and a hamburger and Coke for lunch), shorts were, well, short, and cheerleaders wore letter sweaters and ankle socks. Fans waved pennants, not Styrofoam fingers. Yes, it was a time when stars with names like Heyman, Schectman and Schayes pounded the hardwood, and the Jewish players were truly kings of the court.
By the late 1940s the heyday of the Jewish basketball star had diminished for a variety of cultural and demographic reasons, including a mass migration of middle-class Jews to the suburbs. The crushing blow was probably the point shaving scandal that rocked college basketball after the 1950 season. That many of the culprits were players from CCNY and NYU (who accepted money from gamblers to lose games on purpose or win games but by less than the point spread) proved to be a death knell for New York City college ball. But for what the game is now, we pay homage to its past with Chutzpah’s guide to Jewish basketball, A to Z.

By Len Canter

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The game of basketball was invented in 1891 by a minister, James Naismith, who believed that it would promote “muscular Christianity.” That game would be unrecognizable today with its peach baskets, players passing the ball but never dribbling (a minor adjustment never envisioned by Naismith) and final scores like 5-4. It wasn’t until Jewish immigrants at the turn of the 20th century adopted the “ultimate city game”—and over the course of a few decades, from the ’20s to the ’50s, added innovations in play and strategy—that it went from one requiring brute strength to one that stressed skill and strategy. In their hands, basketball, first conceived as a simple, easy to play (but hard to master) game, became the crossover dribbling, three-point bombing sport that it is today.
Contrary to cultural stereotypes, early in the 20th century, most Jewish kids played basketball and played it well. The old schoolyard cliché that “any Jew great at sports was probably adopted” didn’t hold water. Those of us compelled to debunk the notion of Jews “without game” need look no further than the game of the ghettos during that golden era, when the sport was indeed considered the “Jewish game.” Because basketball requires very little in equipment at its bare root level, ghetto kids could improvise with makeshift paper balls shot through the lowest rung of the fire escape (backboards were unheard of). Leagues sponsored by YMHAs, yeshivas and synagogues flourished—in addition to the benefit of keeping kids off the corner and out of trouble, rabbis also realized that these teams served a greater purpose by ensuring that kids kept willingly coming back to shul.
Almost all Jewish neighborhoods had their own teams, rivalries were in fact fierce, and there was no question that the best ball in the era was played in New York and Philadelphia, the cities with the largest Jewish populations. For the chosen few, proficiency in shooting the rock could land one a college scholarship (often the only way a poor Jew could hope to attend) and provide a portal into middle class America. College basketball was one area of life where Jews were rarely denied the right to participate, certainly not the case in many other sports. Not surprisingly, many players stayed local, creating an era of elite college teams like City College of New York (CCNY), Long Island University (LIU), New York University and Temple. After a good college career, Jewish players on early semi-pro fives could earn as much as $5 a game, a veritable fortune back then.
During this era, so-called “Jew Ball” evolved—what was first used as a slur or, at best, a backhanded compliment, the term came to define the style of play that was later lauded as the “thinking man’s” game. Incorporating defense and constant motion with the aim of hitting the open man, it was the antithesis of the foul-plagued “football style” offense that prevailed in the early days. Indeed it was a style crucial to the later success of the college and pro game, and one that seminal coaches like Nat Holman and later his protégé Red Holzman, and later on his protégé Phil Jackson, would refine to perfection. Why, if that guy Naismith hadn’t come up with a few now-antiquated rules himself, you could almost say Jews invented modern basketball.
Just as stereotypes unfairly label today’s black players, many were foisted on the Jewish players in the ’20s and ’30s. Jew Ball provided an easy mark for journalists like Paul Gallico, the eminent sports editor of the NY Daily News who expressed the goy “excuse” in a 1930s column, stating that “the reason that basketball appeals to Hebrews is that the game places a premium on an alert scheming mind, flashy trickiness, artful dodging and general smart-aleckness.” Players who lost to all-Jewish teams whined that the shorter Jews had “God-given better balance and speed.” Genetic advantage or not, the fact is that in 1930, in the biggest college game of the year, with NYU facing CCNY (both teams were undefeated), 9 of the 10 starters were Jewish. How cool is that?
After the second World War, in an era when the hoopla of March Madness was as yet inconceivable and pro ball was still a curiosity, a handful of mostly eastern teams would battle in the once prestigious National Invitational Tournament (NIT) at Madison Square Garden in college basketball’s showcase event. NIT championship games, up until the ’50s, often included CCNY, LIU or St. John’s, schools that perennially produced some of the best and most innovative basketball in the nation and whose Jewish-laden rosters were the toast of the town. And when local Jewish fans checked their morning papers to find out how the rest of the best had fared, most looked first to see how the “Mighty Mites” of Yeshiva University had done against the other beasts of the east.
Those were the glory days for Jewish basketball, when players were still referred to as cagers (courts used to be ringed with wire or rope mesh to keep play continuous and protect players from abusive fans), when they shot and passed with two hands and when dunks were reserved for doughnuts—under the old rules, touching the rim was illegal. Sixty years before Air Jordans, $3 could get you a pair of black high-top Chuck Taylor All-Stars (and a hamburger and Coke for lunch), shorts were, well, short, and cheerleaders wore letter sweaters and ankle socks. Fans waved pennants, not Styrofoam fingers. Yes, it was a time when stars with names like Heyman, Schectman and Schayes pounded the hardwood, and the Jewish players were truly kings of the court.
By the late 1940s the heyday of the Jewish basketball star had diminished for a variety of cultural and demographic reasons, including a mass migration of middle-class Jews to the suburbs. The crushing blow was probably the point shaving scandal that rocked college basketball after the 1950 season. That many of the culprits were players from CCNY and NYU (who accepted money from gamblers to lose games on purpose or win games but by less than the point spread) proved to be a death knell for New York City college ball. But for what the game is now, we pay homage to its past with Chutzpah’s guide to Jewish basketball, A to Z.

By Len Canter

Start uga_filter:

The game of basketball was invented in 1891 by a minister, James Naismith, who believed that it would promote “muscular Christianity.” That game would be unrecognizable today with its peach baskets, players passing the ball but never dribbling (a minor adjustment never envisioned by Naismith) and final scores like 5-4. It wasn’t until Jewish immigrants [...]

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The game of basketball was invented in 1891 by a minister, James Naismith, who believed that it would promote “muscular Christianity.” That game would be unrecognizable today with its peach baskets, players passing the ball but never dribbling (a minor adjustment never envisioned by Naismith) and final scores like 5-4. It wasn’t until Jewish immigrants [...]

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If you live in NYC you had the opportunity to taste a French macaron (as they say it) free on French Macaron Day, initiated here on Sunday March 20 by Francois Payard, one of the foremost émigré chocolatiers from the motherland. In a world where a single one of these cookies costs between $2 and $5 (and they are nowhere more overpriced than at Maison du Chocolat, albeit a bastion of silken ganache and other treats, but still…), it seemed almost worth the drive in from my hinterlands in CT…until I remembered that gas is $4 a gallon and a round trip is about 7 gallons, best case scenario.

Just to show you how reality can never keep pace with trendy, macarons are already considered passé in some dessert circles. But still many people haven’t heard of, much less tasted a macaron, so it’s understandable that the New York Times would announce the freebie in the food section last Wednesday and then report on the events in today’s paper. The reporter even took the time to explain that a macaron is not a macaroon as in Passover coconut cookie macaroon. HOWEVER, I have two salient points to make. 1. One “o” or two, these are perfect for Passover because almonds substitute for flour the same way coconut does and 2. We are privileged to include Joan Nathan’s recipes for a variety of flavors here and in the new issue of Chutzpah.

Like the chocolate-covered ganache Chanukah gelt we brought you in our last issue, you can make this on your own. Don’t worry about the cracks the Times warns of. Having had the original at Laduree in Paris and those at Pierre Herme and other Jean-come lately’s, I can assure you that yours will melt in your mouth as easily as theirs. Of course, you haven’t really lived until you’ve sat down and eaten an entire box (as I typically do after begging any family member and friend who visits Paris to bring them back to me).  If you’ve got the money for shipping, you can now get them from Florian Bellanger’s madmacnyc.com, he of Fauchon in Paris, Le Bernardin in NYC and most recently Cupcake Wars. And they’re reasonably priced. Don’t scoff at the rose flavor until you try it. Sublime!

Start uga_in_feed Ending uga_in_feed: Start uga_track_user Start uga_get_option: ignore_users uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: ignore_users (1) Start uga_get_option: max_user_level uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: max_user_level (8) Tracking user with level 0 Ending uga_track_user: 1 Calling preg_replace_callback: ]*?)href\s*=\s*['"](.*?)['"]([^>]*)>(.*?) Ending uga_filter:

If you live in NYC you had the opportunity to taste a French macaron (as they say it) free on French Macaron Day, initiated here on Sunday March 20 by Francois Payard, one of the foremost émigré chocolatiers from the motherland. In a world where a single one of these cookies costs between $2 and $5 (and they are nowhere more overpriced than at Maison du Chocolat, albeit a bastion of silken ganache and other treats, but still…), it seemed almost worth the drive in from my hinterlands in CT…until I remembered that gas is $4 a gallon and a round trip is about 7 gallons, best case scenario.

Just to show you how reality can never keep pace with trendy, macarons are already considered passé in some dessert circles. But still many people haven’t heard of, much less tasted a macaron, so it’s understandable that the New York Times would announce the freebie in the food section last Wednesday and then report on the events in today’s paper. The reporter even took the time to explain that a macaron is not a macaroon as in Passover coconut cookie macaroon. HOWEVER, I have two salient points to make. 1. One “o” or two, these are perfect for Passover because almonds substitute for flour the same way coconut does and 2. We are privileged to include Joan Nathan’s recipes for a variety of flavors here and in the new issue of Chutzpah.

Like the chocolate-covered ganache Chanukah gelt we brought you in our last issue, you can make this on your own. Don’t worry about the cracks the Times warns of. Having had the original at Laduree in Paris and those at Pierre Herme and other Jean-come lately’s, I can assure you that yours will melt in your mouth as easily as theirs. Of course, you haven’t really lived until you’ve sat down and eaten an entire box (as I typically do after begging any family member and friend who visits Paris to bring them back to me).  If you’ve got the money for shipping, you can now get them from Florian Bellanger’s madmacnyc.com, he of Fauchon in Paris, Le Bernardin in NYC and most recently Cupcake Wars. And they’re reasonably priced. Don’t scoff at the rose flavor until you try it. Sublime!

Start uga_filter:

If you live in NYC you had the opportunity to taste a French macaron (as they say it) free on French Macaron Day, initiated here on Sunday March 20 by Francois Payard, one of the foremost émigré chocolatiers from the motherland. In a world where a single one of these cookies costs between $2 and [...]

Start uga_in_feed Ending uga_in_feed: Start uga_track_user Start uga_get_option: ignore_users uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: ignore_users (1) Start uga_get_option: max_user_level uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: max_user_level (8) Tracking user with level 0 Ending uga_track_user: 1 Calling preg_replace_callback: ]*?)href\s*=\s*['"](.*?)['"]([^>]*)>(.*?) Ending uga_filter:

If you live in NYC you had the opportunity to taste a French macaron (as they say it) free on French Macaron Day, initiated here on Sunday March 20 by Francois Payard, one of the foremost émigré chocolatiers from the motherland. In a world where a single one of these cookies costs between $2 and [...]

Start uga_wp_footer_track: Start uga_get_tracker Start uga_in_feed Ending uga_in_feed: Start uga_track_user Start uga_get_option: ignore_users uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: ignore_users (1) Start uga_get_option: max_user_level uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: max_user_level (8) Tracking user with level 0 Ending uga_track_user: 1 Start uga_get_option: account_id uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: account_id (UA-15887648-1) Ending uga_get_tracker: Start uga_insert_html_once: footer, Footer hooked: HTML inserted: Location is FOOTER Inserting HTML End uga_insert_html Ending uga_wp_footer_track: Start uga_shutdown Start uga_in_feed Ending uga_in_feed: Start uga_track_user Start uga_get_option: ignore_users uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: ignore_users (1) Start uga_get_option: max_user_level uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: max_user_level (8) Tracking user with level 0 Ending uga_track_user: 1 Footer hook was executed Start uga_get_option: footer_hooked uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: footer_hooked (1) Start uga_get_option: debug uga_options: array ( 'internal_domains' => 'www.chutzpahmag.com,chutzpahmag.com', 'account_id' => 'UA-15887648-1', 'enable_tracker' => true, 'track_adm_pages' => true, 'ignore_users' => true, 'max_user_level' => '8', 'footer_hooked' => true, 'filter_content' => true, 'filter_comments' => true, 'filter_comment_authors' => true, 'track_ext_links' => true, 'prefix_ext_links' => '/outgoing/', 'track_files' => true, 'prefix_file_links' => '/downloads/', 'track_extensions' => 'gif,jpg,jpeg,bmp,png,pdf,mp3,wav,phps,zip,gz,tar,rar,jar,exe,pps,ppt,xls,doc', 'track_mail_links' => true, 'prefix_mail_links' => '/mailto/andrew@chutzpahmag.com', 'debug' => true, 'check_updates' => true, 'version_sent' => '1.6.0', 'advanced_config' => true, ) Ending uga_get_option: debug (1) -->