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The Scroll

Our Greatest Conquests

(They converted)

By Marc Tracy|December 7, 2010 10:00 AM|19comments
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DiCaprio and Refaeli courtside last April.(Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Word is Leonardo DiCaprio is considering converting in order to marry longtime girlfriend Bar Refaeli, the Israeli supermodel. If this all goes down, Leo would represent one of our people’s greatest coups.

Which got me thinking: Who are our people’s greatest coups? (That is, who converted for marriage-related reasons. Sorry, Sammy Davis, Jr.)

A preliminary list:

10. Elizabeth Banks
9. John King
8. Geraldine Brooks
7. Françoise Mouly
6. Rod Carew*
5. Jamaica Kincaid
4. Elizabeth Taylor
3. Leonardo DiCaprio*
2. Ruth
1. Marilyn Monroe

*Didn’t actually convert.
**Tentative.

Is Leo Now a Convert to the Idea of Marriage? [Daily Mail]
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  • Liebo

    I want my High Holiday seats to be near their seats.

  • Lawrence

    I’d convert to Christianity for her. Just kidding.

  • Ellen Umansky

    How could you forget Ivanka?

  • Lisa Kaiser

    Ruth should be numero uno. Marilyn Monroe is of course famous, but am uncertain what she brought to the table of Judaism besides fame and stunning figure!

  • shualah elisheva

    agree with ms. umansky. ivanka ought to be on this list somewhere.

  • DRW

    Jacqueline Du Pre (assist to Daniel Barenboim).

  • HWB

    Agreed. Ivanka should be on this list and Ruth shouldn’t.

    If you’re going to include Leo based on speculation that he might convert, then you should also include Chelsea- though she was of course born with a Yiddishe neshamah.

  • HWB

    A few more to consider:

    Campbell Brown
    Tom Arnold
    Kate Capshaw
    Isla Fisher
    Connie Chung

  • ts

    Not sure we should brag about Connie Chung.

  • dani levi

    Jacqueline Du Pre was for more than Barenboim’s assistant, she was one of the worlds great cellists.

  • Linda Schiffer

    What difference does it make WHY people convert! (Not a question). The point is, they do convert and many remain faithful to that conversion. What did Marilyn bring to the Jewish Table? A pathos that embodied all of Diaspora. A lost and wandering soul. Tom Arnold? ZIP! Kate Capshaw married Spielberg and kept a modern Jewish home and raised modern Jewish children. IF Leonardo does convert, it will be because he believes in it and not just because of Bar. A marvelous asset.

    So the famous knock on our door and we open our hearts to them. How about the average ordinary people who convert simply because they feel the passion, heart and soul of being Jewish. We might be the minority in numbers but we are the majority in Humanity, in spite of press and Christian opinion.

  • Yonah Fredman

    Walter Sobchak. Okay, he’s a fictional character, but played by John Goodman in “The Big Lebowski” he remained faithful to the heritage of his ex wife, and “didn’t roll on Shabbos.”

  • Bennett Muraskin

    Ruth didn’t “convert.” She just joined the Jewish people out of pure love. No mikvah, no ceremony, no course of study, no disavowal of her non-Jewish roots, no examination by a board of rabbis etc.

  • Susan Averbach

    Ditto to Bennett Muraskin. Ruth just announced to Naomi: “For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.” No conversion, and no discrimination against Ruth. She is treated kindly by all when she arrives in Bethlehem. . .a vast contrast to Ezra who banishes all the “foreign” wives.

  • Sderot

    Why should Ivanka Trump be mentioned? Unlike the majority of people on the list, Ivanka has made a mockery of (Orthodox) Judaism. Ivanka doesn’t even pretend to be observant. She dresses like a stripper, violates the Sabbath and isn’t kosher. Ivanka’s quickie “conversion” was a joke and everyone knows it. She’s about as Jewish as the Pope.

  • http://zev57@aol.com Bill Levy

    How assasine to care who converts. Wde lost the chance to be the dominant religion thousands of years ago when we denied Judaism to the goyim until Paul of Tarus was smart enough, a Jewish cup, to convert them and look what happened to us.

    The Samaritans who numbered in the thousands wanted to convert and we said no. I tell gentiles that Jews are going to convert them if they want to convert us. The World Council of Churches which includes the Presbyterians (USA) is anti-Jew and I wrote the and told them that they have all been converted to Judasim and the prayer which converted them is irrevocable. I did the same thing to Billy Graham and the letters I got from his organization are priceless.

    In Gainesville, FL home of University of Florida a menorah was vandalized. We should catch them and scare the hell out of them so they’ll never attack a Jew again.

    Hope everyone had a good Hannukah

    Bill Levy zev57@aol.com

  • Cynthia

    John Goodman did actually convert to Judaism. So sorry his character died on Treme–he was very Jewish in that role.

  • EdwinS

    Bill Levy, it would really be good if you could post the letters you rec’d from Billy Grahams organization – I would love to read ‘em!!!!!!!

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Our Greatest Conquests

(They converted)