On the 35th anniversary of his death Thursday, Tablet magazine highlighted something about Elvis Presley that even his die-hard fans probably don’t know: he’s Jewish!
According to Talmudic law, whereby one is considered a Jew by matrilineal descent, then Elvis Aron Presley is indeed a member of the tribe by virtue of his mother.
Tablet points out that when Elvis’ eligibility to be nominated to the Jewish American Hall of Fame was highlighted along with other Jewish celebrities, the organization cited historian and biographer Elaine Dundy’s book “Elvis and Gladys” as evidence of the rock legend’s Jewish heritage: