Editor’s Note: We print three installments of “Jewish Trivia Quiz” this week, including those we missed during San Diego Jewish World‘s vacation period.
MELVILLE, New York — Jeopardy continues to make the news. Host Alex Trebek and his wife recently gave an interview to Michael Strahan about his struggle with pancreatic cancer. One of last week’s episodes has raised some controversy when a contestant’s answer of Palestine as the location of the Church of the Nativity was not accepted (with Israel being given as the correct answer). And the show is generating huge ratings with its Greatest of All Time tournament between Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings, and James Holzhauer, with the winner to be determined this week. Over the years there have been many Jeopardy questions with a Jewish theme. In 2015, returning champion Choyon Manjrekar won a match despite his wrong answer to the question “A Christian hymn and a Jewish holiday hymn are both titled this, also the name of a 2009 Tony-nominated musical.” What was his funny/controversial wrong answer that went viral at the time?
A. Jesus Christ Superstar.
B. American Idiot.
C. Kinky Boots.
D. The Book of Mormon.
E. I Can Get It For You Wholesale.
Link to answer:
Tony Award-winner Jerry Herman, composer of Mame, Hello, Dolly! and La Cage aux Folles, died last week. His first Broadway score was for the musical Milk and Honey, which told the story of Jewish widows traveling to Israel with hopes of finding husbands. Among the stars of Milk and Honey was Yiddish theatre legend Molly Picon, who had first appeared on stage in 1904 at the age of 6. When Milk and Honey was in previews in New Haven, Picon got a rousing round of applause following her rendition of the song Hymn to Hymie. The show’s director, Albert Marre, then suggested to Jerry Herman that they add Picon’s “trademark move” at the end of that song. Herman questioned what the move had to do with the song, to which Marre replied, “We’re a musical comedy, we can do what we want.” What was the 64-year-old Picon’s “move” that Marre and Herman added to the show?
A. She launched into a Tza’ad Temani, the traditional Yemenite dance steps often performed at Sephardic weddings.
B. She started shimmying and shaking her arms in the air, a dance move that she first performed in the 1936 movie Yidl Mitn Fidl. In the movie, Picon and her father are traveling musicians in Poland, and she dresses as a boy for safety, which becomes complicated when she falls in love with another of the musicians and performs that dance move. Picon’s dance was later copied by Jerome Robbins for Tevye’s If I Were a Rich Man choreography in Fiddler on the Roof.
C. Picon, who was the daughter of Polish immigrants, danced the Mazurka, which is a traditional up-tempo Polish dance common among Ashkenazic Jews.
D. Picon revived her famous “patsh-tants” moves that she first performed in the film Mamele in 1938. Patsh-tants means clap dance, and refers to a style of dancing with hand clapping that was common at Jewish weddings in Eastern Europe.
E. She did a somersault, a move she had done since she was a rambunctious young girl dancing around her living room.
Link to answer:
There are still many unanswered questions remaining as to the role that Rudy Giuliani played in the efforts by President Trump to have Ukraine investigate Joe Biden’s son Hunter, Joe Biden himself, and Hillary Clinton. It is known that Giuliani had ties to Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who were indicted for conspiring to violate the ban on foreign donations in connection with United States elections. Parnas and Fruman also introduced Giuliani to a Ukrainian rabbi, Rabbi Moshe Azman, who bestowed what title on the man who was once known as “America’s Mayor?”
A. Rabbi Azman gave Giuliani the title of “Honorary Chief Rabbi of Ukraine” and presented him with a mezuzah.
B. Rabbi Azman gave Giuliani the title of “Rudy, Melech Yisrael” and gave him a yarmulke with a map of Israel and a map of Ukraine linked by a Jewish star.
C. Rabbi Azman gave Giuliani the title of “Honorary Mayor of Anatevka” and awarded him a key to the city.
D. Rabbi Azman gave Giuliani the title of “The Righteous Gentile of Ukraine” and planted a tree in his honor in front of the Great Choral Synagogue of Kiev.
E. Rabbi Azman gave Giuliani the title of “More of a Jew Than George Soros” and circumcised him.
Link to answer:
http://rrrjewishtrivia.com/answers-2020/rudy-giuliani-answer.html
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Mark D. Zimmerman is the author of a series of Jewish trivia books, under the title RASHI, RAMBAM and RAMALAMADINGDONG: A Quizbook of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun