Jewish Or Not? Bobby Fischer

Kohls, Ulrich

Zentralbild/Kohls/Leske.1.11.1960.XIV. Schacholympiade 1960 in Leipzig.Im Ringmessehaus in Leipzig wird vom 16.10. bis 9.11.1960 die XIV. Schacholympiade ausgetragen. Am 28.10.1960 begannen die Kämpfe der Finalrunde..UBz: UdSSR – USA: .Weltmeister Tal – Internationaler Großmeister Fischer

Published August 9, 2021

It’s a right of Jewish passage to wonder who out there in the world is Jewish too, especially famous people like actors, singers, athletes, and even social media stars and YouTubers. It’s just something we do.

So, to better answer the question about whether that person is Jewish or not, we’re partnering with Team JONJ at Jew Or Not Jew, a website dedicated to this exact topic. The site is hilarious so please give them a read, so they’ll stay partners with us.

Bobby Fisher

By the traditional definition of Judaism, everyone who has a Jewish mother is automatically Jewish. Which is all fine and well.But should the traditional definition apply in the case of Bobby Fischer? Once a brilliant chess champion, a transcendent genius, he descended into lunacy, claiming the Holocaust never happened, vindicating September 11 attacks, and denouncing his Jewish roots, even writing to the Encyclopedia Judaica asking for his name to be taken out.

So what are we to do with this nut job? He clearly stated that he does not consider himself Jewish, so who are we to argue? Yet there she lingers, his Jewish mother…

So there you have it, our first “Barely a Jew” verdict. Why would we ever argue with a lunatic?

Verdict: Barely a Jew.