Strangely, one of the most popular searches for people accessing our site is for Evgeni Malkin. For those who don't know, Malkin is a Russian hockey player who plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He is considered one of the brightest young stars in the NHL. We'd certainly be glad to have him. But is he a Jew?

It's hard to say, and maybe that's why the search is so popular. On the one hand, the Russian Jewish press has embraced him as one of their own. "Malkin" is definitely a Jewish name, so there is likely some Jewish blood in him.

On the other hand, he crosses himself.

See, that about settles it and makes it impossible to move above the "Barely a Jew" verdict. If Malkin didn't cross himself, we'd take his assumed Jewishness and run with it, commenting how glad we'd be if he took teammate Sidney Crosby into the fold. But... he crosses himself.

Now, we know that Jews crossed themselves before the whole Jesus thing. But we're not foolish enough to make THAT connection here.

Verdict: Barely a Jew.

July 20, 2007