“Jewish ‘Connections’ to the Royals”

     It seems that so many people around the world appreciate the validity of some of our rituals, not the least of which the Royal Family! My thoughts are with them as they mourn the death of Prince Philip.

   Did you know that Charles, Andrew and Edward were circumcised by a mohel?

   And did you read that the mourning custom for a Royal such as Prince Philip involves Queen Elizabeth “sitting shiva” for eight days (ok, we do seven), and the family continuing through sh’loshim, 30 days! So far I haven’t been asked to officiate, but who knows?! 

   My friend, a slightly younger colleague, was invited to Princess Diana’s funeral and “unveiling” …REALLY! because, as he told me, he has the largest Diana memorabilia collection probably in the world. When Suzy and I visited him years ago we were overwhelmed by what we saw: Diana stuff – mostly chazerei, but who am I to judge? – from countries and islands, large and small.

   Speaking of Great Britain, one of our professors, Dr. Ellis Rivkin, had a theory…now I’m just the messenger, please remember that…how the sworn enemy of the USA was NOT the Soviet Union/Russia but Great Britain. I don’t recall his “proof” but one thing he did state was when the Queen visited San Diego it rained, a rare occasion in that city. As the San Diego Union-Tribune stated, “The monarch stepped off her royal blue yacht, Britannia, on a chilly morning with dismal skies and an English-like whipping wind.” Now it was February 26, 1983 but Dr. Rivkin said that Liz brought that weather with her to show the Americans in the know that the power of Great Britain reaches the USA and is manifest in the most unusual ways. Remember, I’m just the messenger…kill me not!

   Of course, we cannot forget that it was England’s King Edward I’s Edict of Expulsion in 1290 that rid the Brits of Jews UNTIL (unofficially) 1656, and officially either 1829 or 1858!! Yes, Benjamin Disraeli was elected Prime Minister in 1868 and again in 1874, but he had already converted to Anglicanism - his Yiddish accent and penchant for lox and bagels was overlooked ;-) – so all in all we were officially exiled from England for almost SIX HUNDRED YEARS!

Princess Margaret, it is said, was a vicious anti-Semite. Oh, well…as they say in another context, “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?”