Figure Skater’s Jewish Look
Things heated up on the ice last Sunday when Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek faced off in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, held in St. Paul. The American rivals scored equal totals of 244.77 — an event practically unheard of in the world of figure skating — but Lysacek ended up taking first place, topping Weir in a final free skate tiebreaker. It was an impressive spectacle on all counts, but The Shmooze was particularly struck by one small detail: a gold chain worn around the neck of Weir, adorned with Star of David and hamsa pendants. Nonetheless, Weir’s Jewish lineage is somewhat dubious: In 2006 he told The Washington Post that he considers himself “a little bit” Jewish. He noted that during a reading of his past lives, he learned that he was once a Jewish girl from Poland during Hitler’s reign.
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