A topic that really set the “Black Swan” actress off was Ukraine, the country she was born in and lived in until she was 7.
“I’ve talked about me moving to America in a hundred interviews,” she told Whitty. “It’s the most mundane subject possible, it’s like everyone’s immigrant story. It was much harder for my 13-year-old brother, it was much harder for my parents.”
Things only got worse when the reporter tried to get her thoughts on the embattled country.
“I know what your next question is so let’s just skip it,” she said later. “You’re going to ask me what I think about what’s going on now in Ukraine. Just because I lived there until I was 7 doesn’t mean I identify with Ukraine.”
Most Jews I know from Eastern Europe (except for Russian Jews), don’t identify with their home countries. Jews and goyim in Eastern Europe have had centuries of mutual loathing. Until recently, I thought this was because the goyim in Eastern Europe were particularly horrible people. Now, after reading Esau’s Tears, I’m learning to see both sides in this dispute.
Mila Kunis has been targeted in an anti-Semitic rant.
A slur was reportedly made against the 29-year-old actress – who has been dating Two And A Half Men star Ashton Kutcher for nine months – by a politician in her native Ukraine.
According to gossip website TMZ.com, Jewish organisations around the globe are furious that Igor Miroshnichenko said the Ted star was not a true Ukrainian and called her a ‘zhydovka.’
The statement translates as ‘dirty Jewess’ and is reportedly a derogatory word against Jewish people that was used during the Holocaust, TMZ said.
Protests have broken out in recent days after the Ukrainian Justice Ministry ruled that using the term to describe a Jewish person was legal, turning back a petition demanding that the offensive word be banned from the public sphere.
Mila has yet to respond to the politician’s remarks.
The successful actress opened up about her early childhood growing up in the Ukraine earlier this year.
She said: ‘My whole family was in the Holocaust. My grandparents passed and not many survived.
‘After the Holocaust, in Russia you were not allowed to be religious. So my parents raised me to know I was Jewish.
‘You know who you are inside. When I was in school you would still see anti-Semitic signs.
‘One of my friends who grew up in Russia, she was in second grade. She came home one day crying. Her mother asked why and she said on the back of her seat there was a swastika.
‘This is a country that obviously does not want you.’
Chaim Amalek writes: “I would not make much of what one politician has to say. Now, if 50,000 men go rampaging in the streets looking for people to attack as they do in Egypt, that is a different matter. Regarding hate speech, Yidden have as much of a right to stop goyim from uttering it as the goyim have to muzzle their dogs when they bark all night.”
Raš Yahnațan Nazír I’m a polish Jew, not a ukrainian or german one.
That doesn’t mean I have any feelings of Polish nationalism or pride though. Sephardim, however, are usually fiercely proud of their host countries.
16 mins · Like · 1
Alex Trivunovic I was refering to Russian Jews that i met. Many of them spoke Russian despite never having lived there. That doesn’t mean they’re Russian patriots, just thought it was interesting that they still kept the language and behaviour. More so than for example French Jews.
14 mins · Like · 2
Steven Ben-Off Abrams I am German Jewish on my mother’s side and you’d better believe German Jews “don’t identify” with Germany. My German great-great Grandparents were among the funders of the early Zionist settlements in Ottoman Palestine.
14 mins · Like · 3
Chaim Amalek Sephardim, especially from Syria, are a strange and enigmatic people.
13 mins · Unlike · 4
Alex Trivunovic Steven, have you ever been to Breuer’s synagogue in New York?
13 mins · Like
Chaim Amalek Before Hitler wrecked the place for them, the Jews of Germany were in some respects more German than the Germans. They fully supported their Fatherland. In fact, some of them, working as senior investment bankers in New York in 1914, were opposed to supporting England in its war with Germany because their hearts were with the Second Reich.
12 mins · Like · 3
Alex Trivunovic Chaim, most of them were Classical Reform Jews, who wanted Jewish observance, but as a religion, not a transnational tribe. The owners of the NYT still adhere to it, which explains their anti-zionism.
9 mins · Like · 1
Jeffrey Wendt I’ve met many Jews in New York who said their family was “Russian”.
9 mins · Like · 1
Steven Ben-Off Abrams @Alex. The one on 186th Street? I have not, but I will make a point of seeing it next time I’m in New York City
9 mins · Like · 2
Steven Ben-Off Abrams My father’s grandfather came from Lithuania. My dad’s mother was born in White Russia (now Belarus0
8 mins · Like · 1
Alex Trivunovic I think so Steven. Somewhere in Washington Heights at any rate. I read that it’s the purest Orthodox ‘Yekke’ synagogue in the world. Everything is done like it was in Frankfurt during the ghetto days. Always wanted to see it for that reason.
7 mins · Like · 2
Chaim Amalek The late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was said to be very proud of his Russian heritage.
7 mins · Like · 2
Alex Trivunovic I thought Sharon was Litvak?
6 mins · Like
Steven Ben-Off Abrams @Alex – I’d be interested in seeing it. Thanks for the suggestion. As I get older the “finding your roots” thing becomes more appealing to me than it was when I was young
4 mins · Unlike · 2
Chaim Amalek My roots are on Mars.
4 mins · Like · 2
Alex Trivunovic No problem. That’s usually how it works with the roots thing. History has always been my favourite subject, so i’m interested in everybody’s roots
3 mins · Like · 1
Christopher Donnellan It depends on the country, I think. I’ve never known Polish or Ukrainian Jews whomever called themselves ‘Polish’ or ‘Ukrainian,’ but have known Russian and German Jews who identified to some extent, with those countries.
2 mins · Edited · Like · 2
Luke Ford Jews more identify with Western countries because they admire them, while countries in Eastern Europe tend to fill Jews with disgust.
Christopher Donnellan Frankly, there is little love between Jews and Ukrainians, but otoh, isn’t it odd how many Jews, including Israelis, have been backing the regime in Kiev against the Russians?
Luke Ford It’s the greatest game of all rearranging countries to make them more user-friendly for Jews.
Christopher Donnellan Jews have a long and rich history in Poland though. 80% of Jewry lived in what was The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until the partitions of the late 18th century.
Just now · Like
Chaim Amalek There used to be lots of Hungarian Jews who identified with the Hungarian state.
Just now · Like
Alex Trivunovic Probably true, though they don’t seem to mind living there. I think Russia has the 3rd largest Jewish population in the world.
Just now · Like
Chaim Amalek We Yidden need to establish special kibbutzim in China. Just in case.
Just now · Unlike · 2
Chaim Amalek I would suggest India, but the place is irredeemably dirty.
Just now · Like
