It all started with a tweet last week. Phoenix Suns star Amar’e Stoudemire informed his followers he was going to Israel to learn about “who we R.”

Haaretz.com, the Web site for Israeli newspaper Ha’Aretz, is now reporting that the Knicks power forward’s trip follows a recent revelation that his mother, Carrie Mae Stoudemire, is Jewish. The website sbnation.com points out “if your mother is Jewish, then you, by definition, are also Jewish.”

Stoudemire landed in Israel on Wednesday and Tweeted: “Jerusalem is a beautiful city, I’m at a cafe eating a late lunch. I’m learning Hebrew by the min. Keep up !! Shalom.”

On Monday he Tweeted, “On the flight to Israel. This is going to be a great trip. The holy land. Learn about it.” He added “ze ha’halom sheli” – Hebrew for “this is my home".

Meanwhile, it’s not clear how Amar’e came to discover his mother’s Jewish roots. What is known about Carrie Mae Stoudemire is that she’s been in and out of jail dozens of times on various drug, alcohol, and prostitution charges dating back at least seven years.

Just three months ago, she was arrested in Scottsdale, Ariz. for driving her Lincoln Navigator erratically on Shea Blvd. as her son’s team was trying to win the NBA Western Conference Championship.

According to court documents uncovered by TMZ, Mama Stoudemire was handcuffed by police after refusing to take a field-sobriety test just before a Bentley arrived on the scene. Two “incredibly tall men” got out of the car, and the officer on scene recognized one of the men as Amar’e.

Once her son was at the scene, Carrie Mae started kicking the cop car and yelled for Amar’e to “get a lawyer,” the documents say. The officers then asked Amar’e to leave the scene because he was causing his mother to “act out.”

Stoudemire complied with the officers’ orders, and his mother was then booked for speeding, failure to drive in a single lane, and operating a vehicle without a court-ordered breathalyzer ignition interlock device.

In 2006, New Times ran a feature story about Carrie Mae’s legal woes. At the time, she was facing up to four years in prison for a 2003 felony DUI conviction.