Mr Jackson had just released an album with the song They Don’t Care About Us, which included the lyrics “Jew me, sue me, everybody do me / Kick me, kike me, don’t you black or white me”.
Rabbi Hier fired off an angry letter to Mr Jackson, who replied with a profuse apology, declaring that “I am committed to tolerance, peace and love,” and promised that an explanatory note would accompany future album sales.
Mr Jackson met another notable rabbi, Shmuley Boteach, in 1999. The two became fast friends and toured together to promote the Heal the Kids campaign. The two developed a “warm relationship”, according to Rabbi Boteach.
“We used to have him over for Shabbat dinners. At one point, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was visiting and I wanted Michael to meet him.”
Mr Jackson’s entourage urged him not to meet with Mr Sharon for fear of offending some of his fans, but the stage icon ignored the advice and met with him anyway, Rabbi Boteach said.
“Suggestions that Michael was not friendly to the Jewish community are inaccurate,” Rabbi Boteach said, though he acknowledged that he had not talked to Jackson for the last few years.
In a more formal emailed statement, Rabbi Boteach wrote that “There was great beauty and gentility in Michael’s soul… I pray that Michael’s death will not be in vain, and that we see a return, even among Hollywood celebrities, to the spiritual and family values that are life sustaining.”
Close followers of Mr Jackson’s Jewish permutations had a busy year in 2005. On the one hand, a taped phone conversation revealed that he referred to two former business associates, both Jewish, as “leeches”.
On the other hand, sharp-eyed observers spotted something new after Mr Jackson emerged from a trial in Santa Maria, in which he had been acquitted of child molestation charges.
As Mr Jackson waved to his fans, clearly visible on his left wrist was a bendel, or red string, worn by Kabbalah adherents, particularly supporters of the celebrity-attracting Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles.
After the photo was published, some noted that there were two unusual white spots on the red string, and inquiries about this oddity to the Kabbalah Centre elicited no response.
However, Prof Jody Myers, author of a recent book on the Kabbalah Centre, noted that some celebrities had been known to add some glitz to the red strings with personal decorations.
These Kabbalah speculations were replaced in the past year with reports that Mr Jackson had secretly converted to Islam, following the lead of his brother Jermaine, and had chosen the new name of Mikaeel.
There is now considerable guesswork being done on whether Mr Jackson’s funeral will follow the rites of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the faith in which he was raised, or Islamic ritual, a mixture of the two, or something different.
Even after Mr Jackson’s death, the Jewish angle has been resurrected with speculation on whether custody of his two older children (and the estate they will inherit) will go to the pop star’s parents or the children’s Jewish mother.
She is Debbie Rowe, Mr Jackson’s former nurse, his wife for three years and biological mother of 12-year-old Prince Michael I and Paris Michael Katherine, 11, who under Jewish law are Jewish.
A third child, Prince Michael II, was born of a surrogate mother, whose identity has not been revealed.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff on Monday granted temporary guardianship of the three children to Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson.
Whether or not Rowe will contest this is unclear.
