I did not knowingly meet an identifying Jew until I arrived at UCLA at age 22 but I read a lot about Jews and much of it mystified me. In particular, why were so many things identified as Jewish that did not appear to have any connection to Judaism? I couldn’t figure out why they were particular to Jews.
Let me give you an example. Around 1985, I read Larry King’s autobiography. On page 38:
“Standing in front of the apartment were Hoo-Ha’s mother and father. This was Jewish masochism. Our son has not come home. We will stand out here in the snow. We will get pneumonia. We will suffer. We will die. And he will feel it for the rest of his life.”
I couldn’t figure out how the word ‘Jewish’ got into that paragraph. What was Jewish about this behavior? I couldn’t figure out the behavior. It seemed stupid, but surely just as many Gentiles, proportionately, do things like this to induce guilt in their kids?
So I’d keep reading articles and books and watching TV and movies and listening to the radio and I kept hearing about things being more or less Jewish. Some things were called “too Jewish”? I’ve never heard of anything like that. Too Jewish? We never say too Christian or too Black or too Asian?
And then there were all the endless segments on NPR about Israel passing “Who is a Jew?” legislation and how American Jews were up in arms. I didn’t understand why this mattered. Every group has its definitions. Why is the definition of who is a Jew so important? There were never any NPR segments on who is a Seventh-Day Adventist?
In my Seventh-Day Adventist upbringing, Jews and Judaism had no significance except to pave the way for Christianity.
I couldn’t understand why Israel got so much attention in the news. It’s a tiny country. It has no natural resources. Israel’s Jews are the poorest Jews in the world. Who cares? I didn’t have strong feelings about Jews or Judaism. I saw no reason to care more about them than the Incas.
I remember one comedy bit I heard on the radio about extravagant bar mitzvas. And the Jewish families kept topping each other in their extravagance.
I didn’t get what was so funny. Lots of groups are extravagant. Even Adventists can be extravagant. Why focus on the Jews?
I kept reading stuff and hearing stuff and out of nowhere, “Jewish” would get thrown into things. Into everything but sex. I don’t recall hearing of a particularly Jewish way to make love (aside from the hoary cliche about a hole in the sheet).
