Life

Were Babs and Bobby Buddies?

By Daniel Treiman January 22, 2008

The New York Times has an interesting article on the recently deceased chess genius and Jewish antisemite Bobby Fischer. The Times tracks down Joseph Virovatz, a Holocaust survivor and fellow chess player who was a longtime friend of Fischer’s. In Fischer’s younger days, the two would eat Hungarian food together on the Lower East Side. Virovatz, it seems, took pity on the unhinged chess master, keeping in touch with him even as he descended into antisemitic madness.

The Times also reports that Fischer “was said to be friendly” with Barbra Streisand when they were both students at Brooklyn’s Erasmus Hall high school.

The Forward’s Nathaniel Popper explored Fischer’s strange and hateful obsession with Jews back in 2004.

UPDATE: In other Barbra Streisand-related news, JTA reports (via Maariv) that the famed songstress will be participating in Israel’s 60th birthday celebrations, as will Steven Spielberg.

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.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO