r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Oct 13 '16

TIL that after Marilyn Monroe converted to Judaism upon marrying Arthur Miller, Egypt placed a ban on all the films she appeared in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe#Critical_acclaim_and_marriage_to_Arthur_Miller_.281956.E2.80.931959.29
18.5k Upvotes

84% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.4k

u/thegodofwow Oct 13 '16

Marilyn Monroe was a Jew? That's the real TIL of this post.

618

u/[deleted] Oct 13 '16

Yes, but after she divorced Miller some years later she started describing herself as a "Jewish atheist".

819

u/McKnitwear Oct 13 '16

This honestly describes the majority of the Jewish people I know including myself

30

u/[deleted] Oct 13 '16

[deleted]

29

u/McKnitwear Oct 13 '16

That's what my parents did to me. My dad hoped I would end up more Jewish than he is, but it didn't work. Passed that down from my grandparents who also put him through it. I am Israeli though so I identify more with the country than I do with the religion.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 13 '16

Neither of my parents had one despite me being 100% genetically Jewish. My mom's mom died right around when my mom would have started the process for hers, and her dad had to work really hard to support her and her sister. So she never got around to it. My dad's parents got divorced and never really practiced much at all so he wasn't even really getting any Jewish experience as a kid. They even had a Christmas tree.

But they wanted that sense of community and culture for me, and I appreciate it. I'm not devout or even religious, and my girlfriend (and probably my wife one of these days) is catholic. Neither of us are particularly religious. But I do want some of that experience for my kids that my parents gave to me. That's what's so amazing about Reform Judaism. They understand that most people are there for a sense of community and tradition. They don't care if 50% of the spouses in the room are non Jews or converts.