This week, I went to a comedy show. It was advertised as funny stories about people in their twenties, and when we got there it was announced that the theme was home and family. However, during the show I noticed another theme, and my observations were confirmed during a post-show de-briefing with my friend: it seemed as though the most prevalent jokes were ones about religion, primarily Judaism. Practically all of the seven people who spoke had made a joke about Jews at one point or another during their monologues. I was slightly confused as to why, as Judaism wasn't blatantly part of the topic about which everyone was supposed to be speaking. And obviously there are a lot of funny topics one could speak about relating to ones twenties, home and family without making fun of Judaism in the process.
Jew jokes have, for some reason, become very prevalent in our culture. Last night, I was sitting around with some friends and watching Netflix (so cool, I know) and in one of the shows we watched someone mentioned, completely randomly, how he had attended another character's Bar Mitzvah, then said "L'chaim!" I again wondered about this use of Judaism in a context in which there was no overt reason to reference it, but someone chose to use it to facilitate a laugh. Why did the writer feel it necessary to bring a Bar Mitzvah into the dialogue? Weren't there other things that might have been more funny to the show's audience? This joke wasn't offensive, but, again, I was just confused about the use of Jewish concepts when there didn't seem to be a specific reason to bring Judaism into the picture. I guess one could say that about any joke, but for a culture in which the young people largely seem to be shying away from the idea of organized religion, to make numerous Jew jokes in things geared towards those people seems slightly odd.
I suppose that there is definitely a positive side to the fact that lots of people in mainstream culture enjoy laughing about Jewish-related things. Its fabulous that a writer would assume that practically everyone knows what a Bar Mitzvah is. I like the idea that modern Jews can be a natural part of society, that our customs and symbols are well-known and embraced by Jews and gentiles alike. However, sometimes hearing those jokes makes me a little uncomfortable; one girl's monologue at the comedy show revolved around how she picked up an Orthodox Jew at a bar. It was a funny story, yes, but parts of it made it seem as though her beliefs were the only ones that mattered, and his weren't valid at all. Is there a subtle line regarding jokes about religion that frequently gets crossed? I think that line is difficult to define, and varies from person to person.
A year ago, I went on a college students' retreat to Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, the theme of which was Jews in popular culture. One class that I took stands out as a particular moment of significance from that weekend, as it brought up a lot of questions and ideas about Jews in television that I've been thinking about ever since then. The class used the TV show Glee, and the Jews represented on it, as a springboard for the wider topic of how Jews are represented in culture, and whether those representations are good or bad. We discussed how, like I've mentioned above, it can be a good thing that Jews are so widely known and accepted as part of American culture. However, we asked, does this positive aspect outweigh the fact that by representing Jews in a certain way and saying certain things about them, TV writers reinforce certain stereotypes about Jews and typical ideas about what Jews do? Glee is a good example of many different stereotypes that exist about Jews: the lead, Rachel, is your "typical" short, brown-haired, big-nosed whiner who always wants to be the center of attention. Puck, the "bad boy" of the show, makes jokes about eating pork products with his family. Artie is a be-spectacled nerd whose Judaism is never discussed, and Tina's last name is Cohen-Chang but her Judaism is never brought up either. Jacob Ben-Israel, a more minor character who hosts a television show, has a "Jew-fro", a strong Hebrew name, and uses a microphone decorated with Stars of David. This exposure of Judaism to a large demographic is great, yes- but is this necessarily the best way to represent our people?
I don't really have answers to any of my questions, but I enjoy exploring these ideas. I do know that sometimes I can be over-sensitive to jokes that target me personally; maybe I am just taking all of these Jew jokes too much to heart, and I should be happy that Judaism and contemporary culture seem to go so well together. All groups are stereotyped at one point or another, so perhaps I should even be happy that mine gets so much attention. Yet I can't help but feel a twinge of confusion and frustration when I see certain stereotypes perpetuated over and over. My Judaism is special to me, and I feel like its not being fairly represented when people lump it together with Orthodoxy, or Rachel Berry.
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