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Michael Douglas Campaigns Against Assimilation

michael_douglas-shimon_peres_meeting

Hollywood star gives Yom Kippur sermon advocating for ‘inclusion’ to prevent assimilation of the Jewish community.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The two very different reactions to Michael Douglas being awarded the so-called “Jewish Nobel,” the $1 million “Genesis Prize,” are emblematic of a powerful move among Jews to integrate half-Jews (like Douglas) and quarter-Jews (like Douglas’s son) into the Jewish gene pool. Some Jews embrace this move, even calling it an “anti-assimilation” strategy necessary to prevent a Jewish population implosion; while others oppose it. (ILLUSTRATION: Do these men look Jewish to you? Michael Douglas meets Shimon Peres in Israel.)

Jews have always been a hybrid race, with the essential Jewish mental traits being distilled through enforced adherence to their hate-filled, hyper-ethnocentric, anti-Gentile culture, which both encompasses and transcends their religion.

Those Jews who do not find this culture agreeable fall away and their descendants cease to be a part of Jewry. In this way, those who do remain Jews embody this mentality to a greater and greater degree with each passing generation. The trick, from the Jewish point of view, is to balance the distillation and increase of their inner “Jewishness” with enough out-marriage to keep up their numbers and their physical mimicry of their host population. (There do seem to be certain distinctly Jewish facial characteristics that go along with the Jewish mentality.)

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ACTOR Michael Douglas appears to be growing closer to Judaism, the New York Post reported Thursday, after he gave a High Holiday sermon on Yom Kippur at Temple Shaaray Tefila in upstate Bedford.

Douglas’s son Dylan celebrated his bar mitzvah at the Temple.

The actor reportedly spoke about anti-Semitism and inclusion, speaking at length about his Jewish immigrant grandfather and his father Kirk Douglas, who was born Issur Danielovitch.

Anti-Semitism was rampant in Hollywood in Kirk’s day, he said, and noted that his father had heard many comments firsthand from stars unaware of his Jewish roots.

Douglas has been growing closer to Judaism throughout the past year, and recently penned an op-ed explaining how his son’s studying for his bar mitzvah has inspired him to reconnect to the Jewish people — and even encourage Jewish marriage. Earlier this year, he visited Israel to receive the million-dollar Genesis Prize.

While Douglas himself is intermarried and only began exploring his Jewish identity recently, he has begun becoming involved in trying to keep Jews — whether halachic or not — in the fold.

“He does love the faith and the culture, and he thinks the number of Jews is declining because so many are assimilating and marrying non-Jews, him included,” a representative told the Post.

“If you turn your back on these people because your mother was not Jewish, you’re going to lose people…he’s passionate about inclusion.”

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Michael Douglas attends the Bloomberg Vanity Fair White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner after-party in Washington, D.C., April 27, 2013

The Absurdity of Giving Michael Douglas the ‘Jewish Nobel’ Prize

The actor hasn’t been outspoken about Israel or his faith, and has never sought to be a beacon of Jewish culture. So what qualifies him for the Genesis Prize?

THE FOUNDERS of the Genesis Prize, popularly known as the “Jewish Nobel,” hoped to create an award that would inspire the next generation of Jews. A secret group of nominators and a selection committee bestow the great honor — and a $1 million prize — on someone who exemplifies commitment to Jewish values and the State of Israel.

The inaugural award went to Michael Bloomberg. I wrote last year of the absurdity of giving a billionaire $1 million; of old rich white Jewish men giving other old rich white Jewish men $1 million.

Bloomberg re-gifted the money, as anything else would have been slightly odd. Though the former mayor of New York has never inspired me as a Jew, I can appreciate his very many accomplishments. He was a public servant, a globally successful businessman, an incredibly generous philanthropist. It is not unfair to say that Bloomberg is a global phenomenon. Despite the oddness of giving $1 million to a man worth more than $30 billion, I could see some semblance of logic in the choice.

This year the Genesis Prize was awarded to Michael Douglas. Be honest now: How many of you knew the Hollywood actor was Jewish?

Apparently Douglas was bestowed this honor given his commitment to Jewish values and the Jewish state. I know that his son celebrated his bar mitzvah in Israel last year. What other qualifications does he have? Looking at the announcement, his so-called involvement in Jewish cinema (he narrated the voice of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the documentary The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers) and his humanitarian work (he is a UN Messenger of Peace) seem to have made him the best candidate in entertainment for the award.

His mixed faith background and his desire to give his son a bar mitzvah in Israel also seemed to excite the judges. The committee stated: “The Douglas family’s experience of connecting with its heritage and embracing it on their own terms embodies an inclusive approach for Jews of diverse backgrounds.” Given the number of mix faith couples in the Diaspora, I don’t find this particularly remarkable, but it appears that the judges do.

No matter which way I look at it, I can’t understand this decision. Michael Douglas has little to no Jewish profile. He is not outspoken about Israel or his faith, and has never sought to be a beacon of Jewish culture.

If the committee was intent on giving $1 million to someone in the entertainment industry, they could have given it to Steven Spielberg, who clearly, through both his films and his philanthropy, has made his heritage part of his success.

The committee could have pivoted from honoring mega-famous men to mega-famous women, giving consideration to Mayim Bailik, a Modern Orthodox neuroscientist and actress who now stars in “The Big Bang Theory.” Bialik has always voiced her commitment to Judaism and expressed support for Israel.

If the aim is to inspire the next generation, the foundation could have picked from a whole wealth of young actors: Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, Nick Kroll, Lena Dunham or Scarlett Johansson. All of these actors are more popular with the younger demographic that the prize hopes to inspire.

As long as the prize committee doesn’t have to clearly explain its reasoning, and the nomination process continues to be secret, the Jewish world will continue to be perplexed by this bizarre and frankly hysterical prize.

The prize would be nothing but a joke, if there were not thousands of deserving candidates out there who could do a huge amount of good with the resources and recognition that something like this would bring.

If the officials behind the Genesis Prize ever want the award to live up to its stated intentions, maybe they should look to the MacArthur Genius grants that pluck often obscure experts and give them resources and recognition to continue their groundbreaking work. Until then, at best we will continue to giggle as we learn who won the prize, or at worst, we will just ignore it.

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Source: Israel National News and Haaretz

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Will Williams
Will Williams
11 June, 2019 12:22 pm

Be honest now: How many of you knew the Hollywood actor was Jewish? — Honestly, I’ve know for at least 35 years. At least back to when I first learned that two of the lead actors in one of my favorite, movies, the Vikings (1958), “Kirk Douglas”(who grew up as Izzy Demsky) and “Tony Curtis” (née Bernard Schwartz) were Jews, not to mention the other lead, Ernest Borgnine (née Ermes Effron Borgnino) or the movie’s Jew director Richard O. Fleischer. What an odd bunch of Semites to have made a movie about very non-Semitic Norse warriors and seafaring explorers. I came to be more Jew conscious and critical of Hollywood productions ever since then, analyzing how Jewish they are, what is the real message on the screen. About the same… Read more »

Elaine
Elaine
Reply to  Will Williams
3 June, 2021 9:48 am

I knew.

cc
cc
12 June, 2019 12:49 pm

Harvard encyclopedia states clearly that Jews had a lock on Hollywood by the 2d half of the 1920s. Those people are skilled at filling a void, wherever

Gene
Gene
16 January, 2022 1:46 pm

Why not give Michael Douglas a Jewish prize? He looks Jewish and has a Jewish background and favors Judaism. His father is known to be Jewish. It’s hard to believe he had no formal background from his father, Kirk to teach the Jewishness of Hollywood, and any religious background or going to synagogue in his life. Michael doesn’t mention Catherine Jones’ religion or religious beliefs, why? She has background from a country strongly religious: Christian. It’s all a smog upon us, as the Jews talk to their own kind, just as Michael Douglas is trying to do to explain why he is not a lifelong dedicated Jew. Michael Douglas is the one who said that when he saw Catherine Zeta Jones, that he intended to marry her or set his… Read more »

Les
Les
Reply to  Gene
17 January, 2022 4:26 am

I was already aware that Michael Douglas was a Jew. His father Kirk Douglas was accused of rape by Natalie Wood. Her sister Lana Wood has stated that this claim is true. There are some people who also say Kirk Douglas murdered another actress named Jean Spangler.
https://thelifeandtimesofhollywood.com/kirk-douglas-died-at-103-he-was-a-sexual-predator-and-possible-brutal-rapist-of-natalie-wood-and-others-death-does-not-erase-crimes-douglas-should-be-studied-not-celebrated-because-he-was-a-film/