Atlantic national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg — whom this year’s Forward 50 dubbed “the elite media’s leading Judaic scribe” (much to fellow Atlantic blogger Andrew Sullivan’s delight) — has responded to his inclusion on our list of estimable individuals by starting a list of his own.

The folks on Goldberg’s list may prove to be an even more estimable bunch because, unlike the Forward 50, his list isn’t limited to the living — and it’s not limited to Jews. Indeed, there likely won’t be any Jews on his list.

Goldberg writes:

If the Forward can publish a list of the top 50 Jews, than Goldblog can publish a list of the top 50 philo-Semites. I don’t have a philosophical problem with this, by the way: I dissent from the line, first passed on to me by Frank Foer, who, tragically, is not a top-50 Jew (though his mother is!), that philo-Semites are anti-Semites who like Jews. So, a list, and one loyal readers can help me assemble.

To get things started, Goldberg has suggested the first five names. Not one of them, however, is Jon Voight, which leads me to question Goldberg’s methodology.

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