Happy Birthday Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond was born January 24, 1941 in Brooklyn, NY to parents Hattie and Shlomo Diamond. His parents ran a Haberdashery on the Lower East Side where they sold slightly used ladies undergarments.
Neil attended Erasmus HS in Brooklyn. Fellow classmates included Barbra Streisand, Carole King, Al Jolson and Shecky Greene. Diamond had a successful career as a songwriter in NYC before the mafia forced him to flee to Los Angeles, where his career skyrocketed.
Shiny Shirts
Diamond was quite the showman, and captivated audiences. His shiny shirts and bouffant hair had the ladies swooning. Diamond has had a legendary career and was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, The songwriters Hall of Fame and maybe even the Baseball Hall of Fame!
Known as “The Jewish Elvis”, “The Yiddish Sinatra”, & “The Hebrew Louis Armstrong”, Diamond had 38 top ten hits and sold over 100 million records worldwide.
Diamond is a trained Mohel. Diamond studied for years under the tutelage of Rabbi Ari Fleischmann. A mohel is a Jew trained in the practice of brit milah, the “covenant of circumcision.” Neil recently performed the circumcision on David Geffen’s grandson.
Family Jewels
Neil is also a skilled fencer, and attended NYU on a fencing scholarship. He also won a Silver Medal in the Olympics. “I guess my fencing skills are what got me interested in becoming a mohel” said Neil. “My goal while fencing was to aim for the opponent’s jewels. Cheers Neil!
Related Stories: Neil Diamond Performs Circumcision!
