As I have been telling my audiences, there were thousands upon thousands of Jewish criminals in Sing Sing.  This surprises many - most guess that there were only a couple of hundred Jews in the famous prison between 1880 and 1950.  In my research, I counted more than 6,000 distinct Jews at the famous prison, even discounting for recidivism.   In Detroit, one elderly woman rampage, yelling, “That can’t be true!  That isn’t true.”  A few other audience members came to my rescue (not that I needed any help, mind you).

So, with the recent Bernie Madoff scandal, many (especially Jews) are in disbelief.  “But he’s Jewish!,” they cry.  In the past few decades we’ve seen many high-profile Jewish criminals and shady characters, including Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Jack Abramoff, Scooter Libby, Andy Fastow, and ex-NY Governor Eliot Spitzer.

So Bernie Madoff proves once again that, despite Judaism’s promoting very strong moral values, Jews are human and more like individuals from other ethnic groups than Jews may want to believe.

Happy Hannukah.

It has been nearly five years since I took a three hour private tour of Sing Sing Prison.  My tour guide, C.O. Andre Varin, and I had passed by the Jewish chapel on two occasions and found the door to be locked.  In the meantime, he showed me various aspects of the 550 acre campus.  Nearing the end of the tour, we once more looped by the door to the Jewish chapel.

Lo and behold!  We came across five inmates celebrating the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.  The “ring leader” invited me to join in the service after I told them that my own ancestor had done a “stretch” in the prison and that I was conducting research for a book about Jews who served time in this “Big House.”

After I recited the appropriate prayers in Hebrew from the prayer book, I was handed the etrog (lemon-like fruit) and lulav (a combination of a palm leaf and branches from other plants).  I was instructed to shake them east, west, north, and south, as well as up and down.  Quite nervous performing before these “no-goodniks,” my body shook above and beyond normal while shaking the lulav and the etrog.

What I did not realize at the time was the significance of performing this particular act at this very place at this very time.  The lulav and the etrog represent the mixing of the good and the bad and here I (goodie-two-shoes) was, mixing with a bunch of convicted felons.

Go figure.

Happy Sukkot!

So… a start. One small step. Let’s talk about your Jewish criminal friends and relatives…

Ron Kuby, host of the Doing Time show on Air America, will interview me tomorrow at 4:30 PM EST.  You can listen to the broadcast either by simply downloading the streaming audio from Air America’s website (www.airamerica.com) or by going to the website and searching for a local over-the-air radio station that carries the show (http://airamerica.com/stations).

Enjoy!

Ron