He, Too, Was A Jew ! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jonas Salk

Salk enrolled in City College at the age of fifteen and turned his attention to science and medicine. He later studied at N.Y.U.(New York University) medical school and spent eight years of pursuing a vaccine for polio. When he thought he had found it, he tested it on himself and his children.

As it was successful, he announced its release in 1955. He subsequently received many awards, among them the Congressional Medal Of Honor for distinguished achievement. He also worked as a consultant for WHO (World Health Organisation), and later set up the Salk Institute for cancer research in La Jolla, CA.

Answer: Bernard Baruch

Baruch moved with his family to New York when he was ten years old. He attended City College, and later became an apprentice without salary in a Wall Street firm.
He studied and became an authority on precious metals and elements. At the age of 22 he was earning $3.00/week, and by age 32 he was worth $3 million. Under President Wilson, Baruch became chairman of the new Commission on Raw Materials, Minerals and Metals. Also active in civic and charitable causes, he became chairman of the War Industries Board and represented Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference in 1917.

Answer: True

Born in New York in 1935, Sandy won a basketball scholarship from the University of Cincinnati and originally planned to study architecture. When he joined a baseball team, he was switched to pitching because his batting was not considered very good. He very quickly came to the notice of scouts as his pitching was excellent, striking out many players - 54 in 32 initial innings.

After pressure from the big New York teams, Sandy chose the Dodgers. By 1961 he had struck out 269 hitters, and in 1963 received the National League's MVP Award, the Cy Young Award and the Babe Ruth Award.

He pitched a total of four no-hit games in his career.

Answer: Artur Rubinstein

Artur Rubinstein (1887-1982) was born in Lodz, Poland. He first performed with the Berlin Philharmonic when he was thirteen. He quickly became famous and was considered among the best at playing Chopin, although he carried a huge repertoire of music in his head. Any time that he played in Israel he refused to accept payment for his performances. In his prime, when he gave 150 or more concerts a year, much of his proceeds went to charitable causes. Always an outspoken opponent against oppression, he often declared how proud he was to be a Jew. He was honored with the establishment of the Artur Rubinstein Chair in Musicology, set up at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Prokofiev was a Russian composer. Rachmaninoff and Paderewski were both pianists and composers.

Answer: Herman Wouk

Wouk was born in New York in 1915. He wrote for radio for six years, and later served four years in the Pacific during WWII in the Navy. He is best remembered for "The Caine Mutiny", "Marjorie Morningstar" and "The Winds Of War". Wouk also wrote "This Is My God" in which he described his Jewish faith.

He was a strong supporter of Jewish causes, and established a student scholarship at Bar-Ilan University in Israel in memory of his grandfather, Rabbi Mendel Leib Levine.

Answer: True

Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, in 1879, and did not like the regimented type of study imposed at the time, which made his teachers think he was backward. He excelled in science, and graduated from the Zurich Polytechnic Institute at 21. In 1905 he published a paper on relativity, and in 1921 was awarded the Nobel prize in physics.
Einstein was in the US when the Nazis came to power and did not return to Germany, where he was ridiculed and vilified and his work was branded as "Jewish Physics". He spent the years from 1933 till his death at the (then) recently founded Insitute for Advanced Studies (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey.
In 1939 Einstein and Leo Szilard advised President Roosevelt that Germany had the knowledge and expertise to develop atomic weapons and by implication suggested that the U.S. do the same. Despite this, he was concerned about the uses of atomic weapons. (Contrary to a widespread misconception, he himself did not work on the Manhattan Project).
He was offered the presidency of the State of Israel following the death of its first president. Einstein declined as he did not feel qualified. He died in 1955.

Answer: Gave up their life jackets

It was after 1 a.m. in February off the coast of Greenland, and the four were about to board lifeboats when they saw that young soldiers were frantically searching in the dark for life jackets. Without a word, the four chaplains took off their jackets and gave them to soldiers; the four stood together with arms interlocked as the lifeboats pulled away.

Their names were Father John Washington, a Catholic priest, Rabbi Alexander Goode, Rev. Clark Poling, a Dutch Reform minister, and Rev. George Fox, a Methodist minister.

The men stayed and prayed with the over 600 others on the damaged ship until it disappeared beneath the sea. Their selfless act was commemorated by a memorial fountain in National Memorial Park, Falls Church, VA., and by a postage stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

Answer: Alan King

Alan grew up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn in a Jewish neighborhood. He stated, "Later, when I matured and lived away from home, I understood I could not escape my heritage. By then I didn't want to ... Being a Jew has given me a sense of identity and of being." He believed that it was both charity and humor that have sustained the Jewish people. Alan's first gig was in the Catskills, as a drummer for a band; he had a chance to provide some fillers for the audience between numbers and a natural comedian was born. His weekly paycheck then was $10.00.

Answer: Mark Spitz

Mark and his family spent some years in Hawaii, where he had the ideal environment for swimming. On return to California, he had professional instruction, and in 1967 was named Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine. He broke five world records that year and won five gold medals in the Pan-American games in Canada.
Spitz won two gold medals at the Mexican Olympics in 1968, and four in Israel at the 'Maccabiah' in 1969. In the 1972 Munich Olympics, he won seven gold medals, then a world record, and was named Male Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press.
Mark was saddened by the murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich games, and turned his interests to furthering the needs and causes of Israel.

Answer: Hyman G. Rickover

Rickover came to Chicago with his family when he was six, and grew up in meager circumstances. A family friend, Adolph Sabath, sponsored Rickover's appointment to Annapolis Naval Academy, for which Rickover studied arduously, as this was a golden opportunity.

He made his way through the ranks, work always coming first, and dedicated his life to the Navy. He was also a very strong proponent for the U.S. using atomic power, and was a promoter of the U.S.S. Nautilus. He was given the rank of Admiral and remained an active supporter of modern naval defense for the U.S. Rickover converted to Christianity (Episcopal Church) in 1931.

He was a master electrician and served in the Navy for a record 63 years, earning many awards and medals. He died in 1986.