Zionist Organization of America
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) mourns the passing of legendary American actress and ardent Zionist, Elizabeth Taylor, who has passed away, aged 79. Ms. Taylor, who enjoyed a long and hugely successful career in Hollywood, was converted to Judaism in 1959 by the Rabbi Max Nussbaum, who served as National President of the ZOA from 1964 to 1966.
Among Elizabeth Taylor’s outstanding work on behalf of Israel and Jewish causes was her participating in raising $840,000 for Israel in a 1967 London gala and purchasing personally $100,000 in Israel Bonds in 1959. The same year, she cancelled a visit to Moscow after the Soviet Union lashed out at Israel after the June 1967 Six Day War.
In 1975, she was one of 60 prominent women to sign a statement to then-U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, condemning the U.N. General Assembly’s infamous Zionism-is-Racism resolution. Taylor offered herself as a hostage when 104 hostages aboard an Air France airbus were hijacked by PLO terrorists and held at Uganda’s Entebbe Airport, from which they rescued in a spectacular Israeli commando mission on July 4, 1976, America’s 200th birthday.
Taylor frequently visited Israel and met with its leadership, including Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1983. In 1987, she signed a petition seeking the release from Soviet incarceration of leading refusenik, Ida Nudel.
Elizabeth Taylor’s pro-Israel activism led to the banning of her films in several Arab countries. After purchasing $100,000 in Israel Bonds in 1959, the United Arab Republic (now Egypt) banned all her movies. Gen. Essam Elmasri, head of the Cairo regional bureau of the Israel Boycott Office, said that Miss Taylor would not be allowed to come to Egypt because she has adopted the Jewish faith and “supports Israeli causes.” Her movie, Cleopatra, was not permitted to be filmed in Egypt, but in 1964, Egypt dropped her from its blacklist when it decided that Cleopatra, which mentions Egypt 122 times, would be provide good publicity for Egypt (Ami Eden, ‘In the JTA Archive: Liz Taylor says trade me for Entebbe hostages,’ Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 23, 2011).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “Elizabeth Taylor was not only a wonderful actress but a wonderful Zionist. In the days of vicious Arab boycotts stronger than those today, she could have taken a self-interested line, as have many Jewish actors today, and failed to speak up or support Israel or, worse, engaged in anti-Israel slanders and other activities that harm Israel and aid its enemies, but she didn’t.
The ZOA is proud of its connection to Elizabeth Taylor and expresses heartfelt condolences to her family and friends at her passing. Her rabbi was Rabbi Max Nussbaum, of Temple Israel, Hollywood, who was also a past National President of ZOA. Members of Temple Israel included Al Jolson, Sammy Davis, Jr., Eddie Fisher, Eddie Cantor, George Jessel and Leonard Nimoy, among numerous other Hollywood celebrities. ”
May her soul rest in peace.
We need more like her – someone who is not intimidated by Yamit.
I read your comment again – and I still don’t blame you for not liking me, because, until I came along you were able to get away with verbal murder on this forum, especially in attacking Israel’s only ally and Christians who support Israel, including female missionaries who have been murdered, whom you seem terrified of.
I take great satisfaction in an enemy of the Israeli-American alliance not liking me, because it proves where that person stands vis a vis the security of Israel better than anything I can say.
You said almost the exact same thing about Kendra.
Oops. I didn’t know who Uccello was and the hit on the image of his work was too small for me to make out the detail (I thought it was a comic).
Cancel that transfer to the Tate.
As for Hymie, Ted, check your IP addresses. Way too much coincidence here.
Wow, Ted, thank you! big big hug.
I googled Hymie …bad word! got it wrong, Shy Guy. Not so shy when you wish to offend, though?
Why people believe that all pro-Israel must be Jews!We Italians -thank God!- are the less biased around.We praise beauty and TRUTH.
You did let me down.
As to Uccello, if you were english I would tell you go to National Gallery, there you’ll see one of the ‘Battle’.
A 1400′ master would not suit the Tate. Ignorant on top of the rest.
Would you guys stop attacking each other. This is not a blood sport. People have a right to their opinions. Attack opinions and correct facts if you will but don’t attack each other.
I happen to know Crystal and can assure you that she is a tireless worker on behalf of Israel.
Yuck! Move it to the Tate, with the rest of the rubbish. I’ll sticks with Rubens.
The legend of the origins of the bagel refer to John III Sobieski as the king to whom a Jewish baker gave the very first bagel in commemoration of a military victory in 1683. The round bagels were said to resemble the stirrups of Sobieski and his mounted warriors.
AmericanEagle and Shy Guy :
One of my favorite painters is Paolo Uccello : ‘Saint George and the Draggon’ and the triptych ‘Battle of San Romano’
They must have inspired Jan Sobieski.
I like you both! 😉
A fire extinguisher from hell?
Read my comment again. You are so dense you can’t even pick up directed nuance.
!
What’s the opposite of a “MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN”?
Crystal K. says:
March 28, 2011 at 11:54 pm
Below are only three of hundreds of public information, evidential, and informed speculation about MJ. These may not be the best as I took them at random, there are tens of thousands of articles and comments on the subject on the net.
If he walks,talks and acts like a sexual freak……!
Was Michael Jackson A Pedophile?
1993 child sexual abuse accusations against Michael Jackson
“Michael Jackson Case: Dirty Laundry”
Prosecutor details prior molestation charges against Michael Jackson, wants jury to hear evidence of star’s alleged pedophilic past
Human being? So was Saddam Hussein,Hitler, Mao and Stalin Human beings. Is Charles Manson a human being? He is due to be released soon. Based on your set of conditions we should have no formed or informed opinions on anyone unless we know from direct experience with the Humanoid, that our opinions are either correct or not? You must then be one of a kind a Humanoid with no convictions or opinions unless derived from personal experience.
Do you believe OJ to be guilty or innocent? What is true is that many criminal convictions were erroneous and many acquittals in courts of law cannot not be a conclusive determinant as to whether our opinions is justified or not. When enough circumstantial evidence exists all Western criminal Justice Systems will move to convict. Having millions of dollars, the best lawyers and publicists. hundreds of millions of adoring fans makes it not only difficult but near impossible to convict in such a one sided contest.
As I recall I aced the course, and never looked back. I tend to hold with the more basic principles of human development (oxymoron) “Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” Humans behave today virtually no differently than they did thousands of years ago. Actually I am more into animal behavior and I have more Cats than I can count a dog and a horse. Animal behavior more interesting than Human behavior.
Hubris? as opposed to say Humility? I am not humble. I hate humbleness. I am not arrogant though I debate from positions I can defend. I don’t give a damn about MJ or Liz Taylor. I see the cult of personalities as a form of idolatry and part of the cultural and political distraction apparatus.
I believe in what the preponderance of substantiated information and most probable conclusions that are derived from the information available. Living in Israel does give me insight denied to the casual disinterested outsider. That said, I change my personal opinions when presented with inputs which negate or change previously held opinions. I am not dogmatic in this sense.
All Jews? Some Jews? A, Jew? What exactly do you know or believe about Jews? How many do you know and or know well? To call me a fake Jew means you have an image and opinion of what a real Jew is. Pls. advise: what is your opinion of real Jews? Achmed? How quaint, That’s the name I gave to one of my favorite cats. 😛
American Eagle and Crystal K. – have you met?
Israpundit’s first shidduch!
Crystal,
If I could make two suggestions:
a) please highlight a comment you are taking issue with and then click on the “bquote” button just above the text box. That’s what I did as you can see above to highlight your three stinging kicks to Yamit’s behind.
b) consider not showing your hand by writing, “Enough, am not going to write a single word more on that.” even if you intend this. It gives you the option of writing more, or not.
Most members of this forum are intimidated by Yamit and his bluster and bull crap. It is good to see that you are not.
Re: #26, Yamit82
Yamit wrote :
” I never said he was a bad singer and performer, all I did was characterize him according to all public evidence that was broadcast and published”.
But that’s the point, you dont really get it right : arrogantly spitting sentences, impervious to anything but your own limited views.
Your “public evidence broadcast and published” on MJ has no concrete evidence, but ‘hearsay’, gossip and slander, hence it’s inadmissible, yet believed by gullible readers who tranform and turn gossips into truths. I am not interested in MJ as an artist
-sorry but really not a ‘groupie’…- but I see him as a human being, and I find it shameful someone referring to him as a pedofile, you are offending with no proof someone you didn’t even know personally, without at least giving the benefit of the doubt.
Hubris, yes! As to dismissing two timeless masters like Jung and Fromm … no wonder that you have forgotten them, you probably didn’t perceive much and just learnt by heart in order to pass your exam – if ever.
More : that “public evidence broadcast and published” on which you superficially rely has a most interesting fallout: it would entail by logic that you also believe in the slanders, slurs, falsities, the litter that is vomited relentlessly by media and politicians on Israel … no logic in your denying that.
Again, I hold Jews in my highest esteem and my -logical- conclusion is that you sound a fake Jew, another ahmed? I say ‘may’… the benefit of the doubt.
Enough, am not going to write a single word more on that.
I don’t blame you – before me you get away with your real agenda.
From your response I assumed you are a MJ groupie, who believes the King of Perverts could do no wrong. Where have I erred?
In the context I expressed myself It was neither Chutzpa nor meant to be pedagogic. Tolstoy was a virulent antisemite and I recognize him as such but A great author who should be read. I never said he was a bad singer and performer, all I did was to characterize him according to all public evidence that was broadcast and published. You may disagree and believe all that was said and published is false and he was given a bum rap. That’s your prerogative.
I took psych 101, and don’t remember a damn thing except their theories have been pretty much replaced by other more modern theorists today.
Impress me with something else this doesn’t do it.
Halacha is for Jews interacting with other Jews and their ritual performances (“between a Jew and his Maker”) Where Halacha deals with gentiles it is within the context of how a Jew needs to behave to safeguard Jews and Judaism.
I don’t see where I edited or censored a Halacha? Nor have I attempted to expand or universalize Jewish law.
No mitzvah specifically prohibits lashon hara.(Maimonides); Instead, the Torah prohibits rechilut(idle gossip) and this includes the special case of lashon hara.
Nachmanides argues that our Sages regarded lashon hara as a serious sin. Too complicated to go into here but there are disagreements among the Jewish sages and commentators. In any event it only applies to Jew on Jew and not Jew to Gentile.
C’mon Crystal that’s a sophomoric statement to make and I know you can do better.
All in all I have the feeling that our argument has nothing whatsoever to do with MJ. Care to clue me in?
Have it your way.
Speaking of halacha, hilchot lashon harah don’t apply to non-Jews in any which way.
Re: # 20 wrote :
“Learn to separate the artist from the man. He was a Freak and a sexual pervert. He paid his victims to keep quiet. Yes do follow the money and finally, it is not Lashon Ha rah if it is true.”
“Separate the artist from the man”? You’re showing a deeply divisive mind.
And what a combination of chutzpah, arrogance … who are you to teach me or anybody else lessons.
As an advice, to overcome your God-forbidden hubris, I’d suggest you reading C.G.Jung, and more Erich Fromm than Freud.
Moreover, you have Halacha wrong too, ‘even if it’s true ‘, IS Loshon Hora : supreme, subtle perfection of judaic knowledge and wisdom.
The interpretation of Halacha is not ad usum delphini, as you would like it! And last, incidentally, you must have been very intimate with
M.Jackson to know that he was ‘a sexual pervert’ . It all doesn’t sound very kosher to me.
Crystal, why don’t you try to sexually harrass someone in the US and see if it is a “lucrative industry” or a criminal offense that requires you to be branded a sexual predator for the rest of your life, forced to report where you live to the police who are then required to inform all your neighbors about your presence in their neighborhood.
I don’t blame you since I am the one who blew your cover as Hamas’ favorite Israeli, assuming you are an Israeli.
When will you guys wake up and realize that all these picayune rules and regulations are meant to brainwash you and really mean bubkis.
Without tolerance, love, redemption and forgiveness, how do these rules mean anything that makes sense?
That’s all true but the burial of a non-Jew is still not a Jewish funeral any more than most kosher-style delis today are actually kosher.
Just to give you an informational link: What is an “Eruv”?
Regarding earthquakes and other life threatening situations, there is a universal Jewish law that one must do anything to escape a potentially life threatening situation unless it requires one to 1) worship false deities (“idol” worship); 2) perform sexually illicit acts; 3) murder someone (killing someone in justified self-defense is not “murder”).
You’re wrong about that, I don’t like you!
Learn to separate the artist from the man. He was a Freak and a sexual pervert. He paid his victims to keep quiet. Yes do follow the money and finally, it is not Lashon Ha rah if it is true.
Re: #14
Michael Jackson, after his death, was allegedly reported as having converted to Islam. They are apparently very keen on having a star by their moon. As to the other, more serious accusation, don’t judge or you’ll be judged, more so without any proof but gossips. This is a sin, Loshon Hora, you should know Halakha better than me. Follow the money trail. Sexual harrassment too has become an easy, lucrative industry in the U.S.
I know little of Jewish law. I am under the impression that if one is a Jew he has to be buried by the next day. That is, if he is a dead Jew. If I’m wrong, what is the rule?
There is another matter I’m curious about. I’ve read about some instances when Orthodox Jews on the Sabbath will hang wire in places outside the home to enable them to move around on the Holy Day. I wonder why this is practiced. Wouldn’t it be easier to make exceptions to moving around if the matter is important? I mean, if there’s an earthquake, I’m sure the Jews would try to get out of the way, yeah?
You obviously know very little about Jewish laws. She was buried with the external trappings of some Jewish traditions.
Of course you didn’t like her. She was pro-Israel.
When Elizabeth was buried the day after she died I realized she was following Jewish laws. So she did take it seriously and had plenty of years to opt out if she so chose.
Her children never made the news for outlandish behavior so obviously she was a good mother as far as keeping them grounded. I googled the kids. The oldest son has been married to the daughter of actor Jack Palace since the 80s (Oscars for her father and his mother…), and the second son once married into the Getty family but divorced. Her daughter Liza by Mike Todd is a sculptor. A more than life-size horse in metal was shown as one of her works. She is very talented. The oldest son has had a few acting jobs, couldn’t figure out what the second son has done, but it appears her children have lived golden lives too. She also had an adopted daughter Maria.
I look forward to hearing about her will. I’m sure gobs will go to AIDS research.
I never liked her. That said,saying she was an ardent Zionist makes a mockery of the term,in the same way one would still call her Jewish.
Shy may be correct,“That being said, I wish we had more Jews like her in many other respects.”
To compare the pervert pedophile MJ, with Taylor is absurd.
This thread is an irrelevant distraction to really important issues facing us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1AE9mwEwM4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHFXG3r_0B8
Fw: # 8, Bill L.
Yes, bob’s cowardice is typical, and for a moment I forgot ..again, it’s the envy, stupid. I can see Elisabeth’s rage, she’s spitting at you,bob,
can you feel it on your face? They tried to slander Michael Jackson too, the same way… only after he had died, of course, they wouldn’t dare before. Cowardice and envy.
And what a sense of humour.
In her prime, she was one of the most beautiful women in history, and one of the self-centered – 8 marriages to 7 men – what the hell is that?!
Ted, thanks for putting up this memorial. I’ve followed her since I was a teenager. When she wore a ruffled blouse, I went out and bought one. I bought movie magazines full of pictures of her and went to all her movies. Her life was indeed golden.
She supported herself for the last twenty years with profits from her perfume empire, making many millions each year and enabling her to continue to live the lifestyle of a great movie star. She also started a jewelry company, using only the finest diamonds and gems and priced out of reach of only the lucky few. She has a new perfume, making its debut, Violet Eyes. Doesn’t appear any of her children inherited the color of her eyes.
I remember an episode in the 1960s when she and Gina Lollabrigita wore the same dress to a party. (Not quite as bad, though, when four women wore the same Oscar de la Renta dress to the Inaugural balls after Obama was elected. At least Michele Obama could go upstairs and change.) Imagine paying almost $4000 for a dress, then seeing yourself coming and going. Ah, the problems of the rich…
Elizabeth would never make a donation to Hamas, and the person above who said that should be hung upside down by his toes. I understand she was pretty sick the last couple of years, but she soldiered on, just having had her bedroom painted baby blue. Elizabeth was always fashionably late, and so she was to her own funeral, per her instructions. She is entombed at Forest Lawn not far from her good friend Michael Jackson.
Rest in Peace, Elizabeth. We will never forget you.
Yeah, “Bob,” put up or shut up: Where’s the proof, and who’s on record to affirm your “information,” please?
“…And, last year, Miss Taylor gave $1,000,000 to Hamas” ??
Is it a joke? I dont believe it, media would have reported, please explain.
In her bio the chapter on Eddie Fisher was blank. And, last year, Miss Taylor gave $1,000,000 to Hamas. She truly was the greatest.
May she rest in peace. The last of the old, far better and classier Hollywood.
In Jewish halachic terms, there was no adultery here. There were a million things wrong but not adultery.
conversion by adultery. how pious!
What a coincidence! “Converted” (nonsense!) in 1959 – the year Eddie Fischer cheated on Debbie Reynolds. Dots………
That being said, I wish we had more Jews like her in many other respects.