Jews and Money

I know I've talked about Jewish stereotypes recently but I want to talk about the stereotype of Jews and money. This comes from the notion of Jews being greedy which was perpetuated throughout history, for example, they were sometimes illustrated as demons with large noses. Why do I want to talk about this?

Well, tonight, I went out to dinner with my boyfriend. We both play the online video game called World of Warcraft. He is an expert at leveling his characters while I sometimes have a hard time finding enough time to play the game. Anyway, in jest I told him that he should market his talents on eBay, where people will pay other people to play with their character and level them up until they get to the 'fun' levels. He laughed and said he would consider. I reminded him that I deserve a cut, since it was my idea. He laughed, held my hand and said that I was such a Jew. We had a good laugh about it.

Sometimes I am worried that I am perpetuating this stereotype of Jews being greedy because whenever my friends make the joke about me being greedy, I laugh. I never try to defend the accusations. I'm not offended by these jokes, but at the same time, I am worried that my behavior may encourage them to act similarly towards other Jews. Does this affect other Jews?

Jews and Christmas

Last week I found myself watching the old Christmas episode of South Park in which the Jewish child, Kyle, feels left out while his Christian friends celebrate Christmas with their families. Meanwhile, he celebrates Chanukah with his family but it isn't as special as Christmas seems for his classmates. He sings a sad song titled "Lonely Jew". The story progresses with Mr. Hankie but that's another story. This episode brings an interesting item to the table relating to Jewish identity. First, I should mention that the character was based off one of South Park's creators, Matt Stone, who is Jewish (I'm not sure how religious he is now though). Kyle is supposed to represent his own childhood experiences as a Jewish child. I'm sure every Jewish child can agree that being Jewish during Christmas is difficult. Sure, marketing tries to make Chanukah seem like a big deal and getting presents is cool but there is the knowledge that it isn't the same as Christmas. It is hard for children to grasp their Jewish identity, because children don't want to be different and knowing that you are a different religion than your classmates can be hard. Thus, it's hard to embrace Jewish identity. Now, I'm sure it is difficult if you are living in a large Jewish community but not every Jewish child is lucky enough to grow up in such an environment.

Jews and Pop Culture

It has come to my attention that someone made a blog designed to compare the Harry Potter series to the Torah. He compares several incidents in the books that somehow relate to the stories in Judaism. At first I was very confused at how he managed to do this but then I thought about it and realized that this was someone trying to incorporate Judaism into pop culture. I think this is designed to get young people interested in Judaism by saying it relates to something popular. I wonder if there is a blog out there comparing Star Wars and Judaism (I know people have written papers that compare Star Wars and Daoism). This seems like exploiting young people but I guess if it gets them excited about their religion and makes it fun then I have no complaints. However, if you're getting into your religion simply as part of your own fascination with a favorite franchise then I feel something isn't quite right.

Then again, I loved Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc (features the Ark of the Covenant that contained the 10 commandments) that was doing the same thing so maybe I am talking out of my ass.

Star of David

Ah, the Star of David. A Jewish sign. Slap on anything and everyone will know of its Jewish origins. This symbol has become a major part in identifying Jewish objects and the Jews. For instance, it was thrown into The Unborn in ancient texts to mark that the books were Jewish. As Wikipedia will tell you, it is named after King David of ancient Israel. Its ts earliest known communal usage began in the Middle Ages[citation needed], alongside the more ancient symbol of the menorah. Geometrically it is the hexagram or two triangles on top of as the DaVinci Code will tell you otherwise.

It wasn't until he establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 when the Star of David on the Flag of Israel has also become a symbol of Israel and Jewish identity.

Everyone uses the Star of David to identify Jews. One key group to do this was Nazi Germany, by forcing all of the Jews to wear a yellow Star of David with Jude written across it.

Another interesting thing about the Star of David is its involvement with Jews for Jesus. I'll mention the church in my next post, but there was a Jews for Jesus temple near my grandmother's house that had a Star of David directly under the cross (showing the Christianity ruled over Judaism?). The Star of David is a powerful icon in Jewish identity.

Holocaust

The film medium has radically changed in the course of the last few years. First, a little history. One major holocaust film is, of course, Schindler's List. Made by Steven Spielberg in 1993, this movie told the true story of Oskar Schlinder *played by Liam Neeson),a Nazi womanizer businessman who saves the lives of over 1,100 Jews by employing them in his factory. This movie is still regarded as Spielberg's most highly acclaimed film. It was powerful, beautiful and heartbreaking. Such a great movie (which is more than we can say for his latest films, I'm looking at you Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). For years Jews were portrayed as victims in movies (see Devil's Arithmetic, and others). However, recently Holocaust films have taken a different approach. Rather than portraying Jews as victims, they are showing them to be bad asses with guns like that the one with Jewish James Bond (Defiance?). Daniel Craig plays a Jewish man who manages to squeeze past Nazis and wages a small war with them. (I haven't seen the movie so I'm using Wikipedia for this part). Pretty soon, that one guy's story about falling in love with a girl who threw apples over a wall will be made into a movie. So, the question is, are Holocaust movies okay? Is it okay to make money off an extremely sensitive moment in Jewish history? My answer is, yes. The Holocaust represents an opportunity for Jews to become united and try to spread education so it doesn't happen again. So, yes, the Holocaust is a fragment of Jewish identity.

Jews and Stereotypes

A few weeks ago, I ordered a couple of bagels from a local bakery. My friend laughed and said "how Jewish of you". Later that same day, he started asking if I could buy him a soda since he was short. He asked to borrow some 'Jew gold' which apparently I was supposed to keep around my neck as jewelry. Jews can't seem to escape the stereotypes that surround us. For instance, we have the stereotype of the Jewish mother. The stereotype generally involves a nagging, overprotective, manipulative, controlling, smothering, and overbearing mother or wife, one who persists in interfering in her children's lives long after they have become adults. As much as I hate to say this but this is one stereotype that I am convinced is true but I digress. I'm sure we've all heard the joke of a Jewish mother saying in a New York accent for their children to wear a sweater. Then there is the notion of large noses. Does this have any genetic basis? I have no idea. I never notice Jews having big noses but maybe I’m just not paying enough attention. Anyway, Jews seem to embrace these stereotypes as part of their identity because, once again, we come to Jews uses humor as part of their identity.

Intermarriage

This is an issue I will have to face sometime in the future. My boyfriend and I are getting very serious and occasionally we'll talk about our future together (mostly being cute). However, I am from a Jewish family and he is from a Christian family. I asked him if he would convert to Judaism if we wanted to get married and he confessed that he isn't religious and doesn't see the point in converting. He said he had no problem with me raising any future children to be Jewish, but it does raise the question of how my children would identify as Jews. Would they consider themselves half-Jews? If I do marry this man, is he going to let me celebrate Jewish holidays with the children? Will he want to celebrate Christmas with them? Is he going to be uncomfortable if I wanted to circumcise any sons we may have? These are questions that are concerning me about this. Now, we aren't planning on getting married anytime soon. It's just a thought we both have. I'm also worried about my parents. Are they going to be okay with him not converting if he wants to marry me? Are my parents going to accept this? Also, his parents are devoted Christians. Are they going to be okay with me raising their grandchildren to be Jewish?

Messianic Judaism

I don't understand this at all. How can anyone be Jewish and Christian at the same time? It doesn't make any sense. A huge part of Judaism is that we are still waiting for our messiah while Christianity accepts Jesus as the messiah. How do you overcome that? Do you argue that Messianic Jews are waiting for the second coming of Jesus as their messiah? Doesn't that just make them Christian?

On their website, www.mjaa.org (Messianic Jewish Alliance of America) on Joel Chernoff's blog, he describes the correlation between Passover and Communion. "This brings me to the New Covenant Passover. Did you know that the Christian Communion, that is celebrated at various times throughout the year, depending on what denomination and church you are associated with, is actually a Passover celebration. In other words the Last Supper was a Passover meal." I guess this makes sense and he is really trying to argue the connection between Judaism and Christianity. I suppose that they are worshiping the same G-d essentially so I guess it's harmless. I still find it confusing but, whatever.

African American Jews

Several years ago, we had a black rabbi visit my temple. He came to discuss race and religion within Judaism. His name escapes me at the moment. Anyway, he said that he was raised in a Catholic home where he was told to not read the Bible and to listen to the pastor. When he went to college, he decided to read the Bible and he discovered that "there were a lot of Jews in the Bible". Apparently, his pastor never mentioned that. Eventually, this African American man started studying Judaism and converted after college. A few years later, he married an African American woman who was willing to convert to Judaism. He described the obstacles facing a man who is African American and Jewish. For one, "he is a KKK's worst nightmare" and additionally, his children were accepting of two powerful ethnic groups. He went on to describe their temple at home. The demographics of this temple is mostly white. He said that he is sometimes worried that the white children in the temple will feel weird about being in class with African American Jews but that wasn't the case.

African American Jews are starting to become a larger part of the Jewish community. Additionally, it helps to have an African American president with a wife who has a cousin who is a rabbi. (Sorry if this post is odd, but I'm tired and not exactly sure what to say)

Jews and Israel

I've been working on the paper for class all of this week. Basically, my paper is based off a JTA article which reports a speech Obama did on March 26th to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty. He announced that peace was possible in the middle east between the Arabs and the Israelis. My paper serves to question why the president feels a need to use Israel as part of his foreign policy. My proposal is that he uses Israel as a way to connect to the Jewish people. Jews identify with Israel. Now, I tried to explain this to my boyfriend but he didn't understand. He doesn't understand how a group of people can feel so attached to a small patch of land that is merely the size of New Jersey. I tried to explain but I don't think I could explain it. I tried to explain the historic significance of Israel. Is it because of the history? I also tried to explain the religious significance to my boyfriend. I told him about the temple and the western wall but he still didn't understand. Is it because of our religion? What connects Jews to Israel?

Birthright definitely tries to explain that Israel is an important part of Judaism with their program to send young Jews to Israel. Complete with attractive Israeli troops. Why is Israel Jewish? What makes Israel Jewish? I don't know anymore.

Jewish Studies

For the purposes of the Jewish Studies, I examined Indiana Unversity’s major in Jewish Studies. According to the College of Arts and Sciences catalog, “The Jewish Studies Program has as its objective the study of Jewish civilization from antiquity to the present and its interaction with and impact on world civilization. There is broad agreement that the various facets of Jewish culture-literature, history, religion, philosophy, languages, and other constituent features of Judaism-comprise one of the richest complexes within the whole of recorded cultural history.”
The description also goes on to describe the various departments within the College of Arts and Sciences which identifies Jewish Studies as history, religion, literature, political science etc. According to the standards created by IU, a student wishing to major in Jewish Studies needs the following:

2 semesters of Hebrew
Intro to Judaism or Jewish History: Bible to Spanish Expansion
Jewish History: Spanish Expansion to Modern
A specialization in Literature, History or Religion

This means that the university divides ‘Jewish Studies’ into language, religion, history and literature. Additionally, the school offers classes with Jewish topics in the folklore, philosophy, political science, anthropology etc. Additionally, the language of the Jewish people extends into Germanic and Slavic language.