Monday, July 06, 2009

Michael's Messages

"Jew me, sue me.....kick me, kike me...."
Lyrics from a 1995 Michael Jackson song

"They're like leeches....the Jews do it on purpose..."
Recorded phone message from Jackson, 2005

These quotations, coupled with the report from Panorama magazine that Jackson had followed the lead of his brother Jermaine and converted to Islam, would seem to indicate that the late singer was essentially hostile to Jews and Judaism.

Yet, equally credible reports indicate that he was a frequent Sabbath guest at the home of Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who toured with Michael Jackson in 1999 and brought him along to the Carlebach Shul in Manhattan that year. (1) I do not understand the connection between the two men, who had very different outlooks. Perhaps Jackson then felt a need for a rabbi in his life, and Boteach felt the need for a rich homosexual pedophile in his. Go figure!

Most bizarre of the connections between Michael Jackson and the Jewish people is that his second wife Debbie Jean Rowe (Mrs Jackson 1996-1999), the mother of his two older children (Michael Joseph and Paris Michael Katharine), is Jewish ! According to Jewish law, the children are Jewish too, although they may not know it. (2) All three of Jackson's children have been placed with his mother (in accordance with his will), but Rowe may contest the placement in court. Most courts side with the surviving parent in cases like this, such as that of Elian Gonzales. (3)

Although I enjoyed some of Michael's earlier recordings, his later work left me cold, and I am not among the many fans who mourn his passing. He will be remembered both as an innovator in pop music (and dance) and as a very disturbed man who could not establish long-term relationships with other people; the relationship with his pet monkey Bubbles outlasted both of his marriages combined. He was apparently uncomfortable with his identity as an adult black male, and tried to flee from it.

He suffered from insomnia, and reportedly sought drugs that would put him to sleep. Like O J Simpson, he beat the criminal charges against him, despite being guilty. At least Michael Jackson never killed anyone, except maybe himself.
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(1) Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) 6/30/09 .

(2) Former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright did not learn she was Jewish until she was middle-aged. Her parents lied to her about being Catholic.

(3) The Cuban boy's mother drowned en route to the US, and custody was awarded to his father, who had remained in Cuba.

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