Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Marilyn Monroe’s Annotated Jewish Prayer Book Expected To Fetch A Fortune At Auction

A bright white prayer book, published in 1922 and owned by American bombshell Marilyn Monroe, will be sold at auction on November 12. Jonathan Greenstein, of the auction house J. Greenstein & Company, says he’s sold Sammy Davis Jr.’s menorah and Alan Dershowitz’s judaica, “But nothing like this — Marilyn Monroe’s personal siddur.”

Hubba hubba.

Monroe hitched her wagon to the Jewish star in 1956, converting when she married playwright Arthur Miller and going on to practice Judaism through the rest of her life, even after the dissolution of the marriage. The Washington Post reports that Monroe marked up her prayerbook — some pages read “omit” or “skip” in the starlet’s hand. Does that mean Marilyn Monroe didn’t say asher yatzar? You only need a few thousand bucks to find out, according to Greenstein, who estimates that it could go for a minimum of $7,000, though more seems likely — in 2010, an x-ray of Monroe’s chest sold for $45,000.

The wear and tear on the prayerbook suggests that Monroe used it regularly — she chose to convert despite lack of pressure from Miller and was open about her love of Judaism. She was drawn, her rabbi Robert E. Goldburg said, to “the rationalism of Judaism.”

Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.