What’s in a (Jewish) Name? &c.

On a case in Australia; a gold statue in Miami; a much-ejected manager; and more

(Photo by Liam Patrick, ABC News)

The government of Australia has established a commission on antisemitism. Its name is the “Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.” It was a good idea, this commission. The necessity of it, of course, is tragic, and infuriating.

A great deal of testimony has come out of this commission. I fastened on this:

A Jewish employee known only as ABM has told the Royal Commission she was asked to use a different, less obviously Jewish name at work over fears her “identifiably Jewish” name could upset a stakeholder.

I have quoted this news report. To hear and see this woman’s testimony, go here.

Frankly, I’m at a loss for words—which is a bad condition for a writer. How outrageous, how humiliating, how degrading, how wrong, to be asked to change your name, because it is “identifiably Jewish” and would upset a “stakeholder.”

To hell with the stakeholder, I would say. (There, I’ve recovered my words.)

In America, is it still advisable to change your name? In the 20th century, many Jews (and others) did. Maybe I could concentrate on two fields: comedy and opera.

Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky. Mel Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky. Jackie Mason, Yacov Maza. Joan Rivers, Joan Molinsky.

That’s just four. Let’s do four opera singers.

Richard Tucker was Rubin Ticker. Jan Peerce was Pinkhes Perelmuth. Robert Merrill, Moishe Miller. Beverly Sills, Belle Silverman.

Here’s a bonus: Roberta Peters, Roberta Peterman. (That one was very close.)

This is a rich subject, names and name-changes. Might make a decent book, you know?

***

Putin’s Russia was supposed to conquer Ukraine in about three days. Four years later, Putin was reduced to asking President Trump to ask Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, not to rain on his parade. That is, not to rain on Putin’s May 9 parade in Moscow.

Huh.

Zelensky let that parade go on unmolested—and got a prisoner exchange for it.

Putin quickly went back to work. Here is a headline from May 12: “Russian strike kills 6 in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, wounds infant who loses leg.” (For the article, go here.)

Russia cannot lose this war soon enough—for Ukraine’s sake, for Russians’ sake, for the sake of all of us.

***

Yaroslav Trofimov, the chief foreign-affairs correspondent of the Wall Street Journal, had an interesting analysis: “Putin’s Strongman Image Is Fading as Ukraine Brings War Home to Russia.” On reading it, I had several thoughts, one of which was this: If I had my way, Russians would oppose Putin because he is a murderous, monstrous dictator. But if failing to conquer a neighbor is what it takes …

The world, much of it, likes a strongman, a “strong horse”—“might makes right.” What a curse, you know?

***

You may have seen video of a ceremony at Doral, the golf resort in Miami—owned by Trump. It was a religious ceremony. A giant gold statue of Trump was being unveiled. Trump was not at the ceremony in person, but he called in.

I know many people who bristle when others claim that Trumpism is a cult. But can they really blame those doing the claiming?

***

At the White House, a reporter questioned Trump on the cost of his new ballroom. The president said to her, “I doubled the size of it, you dumb person. It’s double the size. You are not a smart person.”

The Daily Wire, circulating the video, apparently got a kick out of Trump’s performance: “😂😂😂.”

Does America at large get a kick out of our “new normal”? Well, I don’t see that they—we—are reacting against it.

***

Regular readers have heard me say, “The Right needs to recover a proper sense of patriotism.” “The Right needs to recover a proper sense of manliness.” On the second subject, let me offer this:

Sebastian Gorka, the senior counterterrorism director at the National Security Council, on Wednesday called critics of the Iran war “testicularly challenged,” accusing those who believe the conflict is unjustified of taking a “low-T approach to threats to the United States.”

I have quoted the opening paragraph of this news article.

What is a man? What is manliness? Well, there are many good books on this subject, beginning with the Bible (and ending with it, I’d say).

***

Bobby Cox, the baseball manager, has died at 84. For his obituary in the New York Times, go here. The obit notes that he “set a record for an arcane statistic, having been ejected from 162 games.” It occurred to me: that’s the number of games in a season. (The exact number.)

In second place is John McGraw, with 121 ejections. Earl Weaver, that famous hothead, was ejected from only 96—but Bobby Cox managed in almost 2,000 more games than Earl …

***

Let’s do a little language. Markwayne Mullin, the secretary of homeland security, was talking to Fox News. He said, “He’s the strongest leader of your and I’s time. Period.”

Period. (That’s what people say when they don’t want to be challenged.) The secretary was talking about Trump, needless to say.

What might he have said besides “your and I’s time”? Well, a number of things: including “our time,” “your time and mine,” and “yours and my time.”

(Bill Buckley would have despaired, while thinking, “Despair is a sin.”)

***

On social media, I saw something I loved, and you might enjoy it too. A tweeter said, “My mom was in post-op at Barnes-Jewish Hospital,” in St. Louis, “and when she came out of anesthesia, they asked her if she knew where she was.”

She said, “Barnes & Noble.” The nurse said, “Close enough.”

***

Friends, I am writing you from Copenhagen, where I have attended the Copenhagen Democracy Summit, which I will be writing about shortly (though at length). I should have a Copenhagen journal, too—I mean, about the city, democracy aside (not that you can really put democracy aside).

Meantime, I’d like to give you a little Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish storyteller. On Sunday morning, I snapped a picture of him in Central Park. Within a day, I had snapped him in Copenhagen.

So, first New York, then Copenhagen:

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and Happy Hump Day. Do people still refer to Wednesday as that? I’m never entirely sure whether my words and phrases are outdated (though it’s a safe bet they are).