This hit home. I'm your typical white girl, believing myself to be quite open-minded and actively trying to confront my own biases. I am also Austrian. So until Hitler happened, our history books should have been full of Jews. Thinking back on my entire education, Jews were only mentioned in relation to WWII. This goes to show how complete this genocide was. We have all this anit-nazi laws (banning nazi symbols and gestures etc), museums to warn of the horrors and have a lot of practices in place to attone for the atrocities committed by our (great)grandparents. Yet, we do not speak about the Jews or their accomplishments throughout history or their contributions to our country. AND I've never questioned this before. If that's not antisemitist brainwashing lasting for generations, I don't know what is. Eye-opening video as always :) Thank you for educating me on my ignorance!
I’ve noticed the same in America (as far as I’m aware we don’t have as much Jewish history) We rarely talk about Jewish people other than when we talk about the holocaust. Which is a damn shame as I see it. We don’t talk about the f’ed up Jewish stereotypes that had forced themselves into out media. We don’t talk about the literal nazi that Disney hired during the WW2. WW2. How’s that not messed up? Even with catholic and Christian’s, there is so much hate towards Jews. Them not realizing that Jesus was Jewish, god went out of his way to “rescue” Jewish people. The overall faith was based and dependent on Jewish faith. I very recently just saw a video of a pastor preaching to recreate (for lack of a better explanation) the genocide that caused the hate today. Even on TikTok if you see someone complaining about racism there will be a European preaching that their glad Europe isn’t over sensitive like the US, refusing to recognize the amount of hate that Romani, Jewish, and Indian foreigners receive in the daily. The only reason there hasn’t been a mass riot yet, is because their afraid. Shit, the US has gotten so bad that peoples actually acknowledging that it’s happening, and it’s been happening. There’s an add now. We have neo nazis everywhere. It’s honestly hard seeing how shitty it’s gotten.
Lustig dass du das sagst weil die Österreichische jüdische Gemeinde, besonders in Wien, eigentlich besser organisiert ist als viele Deutsche Gemeinden. Viele meiner Freunde sind nach Österreich oder in die Schweiz ausgewandert
@@tamarleahh.2150 Ich muss ehrlich gestehen, dass ich von der jüdischen Gemeinde in Österreich erst etwas mitbekommen habe, als ich eine Zeit lang im 2. Bezirk Wiens gewohnt habe. Ich bin auf dem Land aufgewachsen. Juden waren nach meiner Erfahrung, ein Teil der Geschichten meines Großvaters und aus Geschichtsbüchern. Ich glaube, gerade in einem Land wie Österreich sagt das durchaus etwas aus - vor allem, wenn wie du sagst die jüdische Gemeinschaft hier besonders gut organisiert sei (war mir ehrlich gesagt so gar nicht bewusst). Für mich ist das einfach ein AHA-Moment bezüglich meiner eigenen Ignoranz, eben weil ich mir vor diesem Video kaum Gedanken darüber gemacht habe :)
Non-Jew here! While I don't watch a lot of shows, I have noticed both the lack of Jewish representation ANYWHERE IN GENERAL and the token "Jewish content" that is thrown in around the start of the winter season in an attempt to be inclusive (and a rather poor attempt). I live in western Canada and it really feels like Jews only exist for Hanukkah and are put back into the box with latkes(it is always latkes and NOTHING ELSE) until next year. Yeah we're taught about the general awfulness of the Holocaust but nothing else outside of it. No good, just sad bad. I am ADORING your content because it's showing me more knowledge (and good stuff!) than I've ever been shown before and making me wanna learn more!
Ethnic, not religious, Jewish person here. I’ve noticed the same. As soon as December hits it’s like people remember Jewish people have holidays too. It seems like throwing the proverbial bone so Jewish people don’t feel “left out”. 🤨 Super annoying.
@@amandadavispomeroy I'd honestly prefer people just said Merry Christmas instead of the ambiguous "holidays" since Hannukah and Christmas rarely fall in the same time anyway, and they just really mean Christmas. They can wish Jewish people a happy Hannukah if they'd like, during Hannukah.
As a goyish person, I think one thing that's been standing out to me more and more is how much the "(goyish) white savior" narrative gets pulled. I think it may be less noticeable in stories told through books, while it's often still there; but in film, it becomes so obvious not only through the story itself but through casting and directing choices. Another new-ish concept to me is the term "Shoah" instead of "Holocaust." I had an awesome conversation recently with one of my IRL Jewish friends about why "Holocaust" doesn't accurately describe, and even romanticizes, the event. I think it's so important that some Jewish people have chosen their own term for it, and I wish more goyish people knew about this name, why it's important, and whether it's okay / appropriate / wanted for goyish people to use it.
One of the things I really enjoy about "The Rabbi's Cat" is it's about brown skinned, Sephardic, MENA Jews. My mom's Jewish, I've grown up and still live in heavily Jewish areas, but media representation still leans white-coded and Ashkenazi.
And then there were all the old Jewish Hollywood actors who changed their names to conceal their Judaism at all costs, including Judy Holliday, Kirk Douglas, and John Garfield.
One thing I loved about Ms. Fisher is the glimpses into other communities, like in Raisins and Almonds. Even if we don't go back, we know that these other corners of the world exist and continue, even if we only visit once or twice. But we need more representation across the board!
Be it known: Through the Holy Spirit, God has put it on me to preach to those lost in the devil's deceit! I tell ye, truly, Jesus of Nazareth is the propitiation for the whole world's sins. He is the anointed one, for he is, Jesus Christ. God the Father has raised him from the dead; who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God! Angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father, but by him. They who believe and are baptized with the Holy Spirit shall be saved; but they who believe not shall be damned. For they who believe not on him, shall die in their sins! I tell ye now to repent of your sins, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit upon asking the Father! There are *NO* sub-divisions of Christianity. You're either a disciple of Christ or not. A Christian is someone who follows God's word, not a religion. Who obey the Father and follow his will; not man's nor their own heart's. Unless you keep Jesus' commandments, think not the Holy Spirit will dwell within you! They who heed this message and did what was stated with an open heart to God... Read the Holy Bible (KJV) daily and every time before you read, pray to the Father and ask: "Lord I ask that you give me understanding of your word, that I interpret it the way you want me to, and none of my own. I ask you in Jesus' name, amen." 1 John 2:2 KJV 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Acts 13:26-33 KJV 26 Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, *and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.* 27 *For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.* 28 And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. 29 *And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.* 30 *But God raised him from the dead:* 31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. 32 *And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,* 33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. John 14:6 KJV 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Mark 16:16 KJV 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. John 8:24 KJV 24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Acts 2:38 KJV 38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Luke 11:13 KJV 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? John 14:21-24 KJV 21 *He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.* 22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, *If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.* 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and *the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.*
Revelation 2:9 [9]I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
I’m 41 and when I was 13 I had a friend who was hesitant to tell me she was Jewish and it’s breaks my facking heart that someone would feel the need hide themselves and that this is present throughout history and today.
Book Recommendations: 1. Herman Wouk (his WWII Saga is the best known, but all of his books feature Jewish characters; my personal recommendation is The Hope) 2. Aviva vs the Dybukk by Mari Lowe 3. Jerusalem Maiden by Talia Carner 4. John Baltisberger writes Jewish horror 5. Exodus by Leon Uris
Thank you for this video! I learned so much. As a poc, your points highlighted for me just how important intersectionality is in all of this. So many of our fights overlap, particularly the fight to be represented in historical media in stories that don’t center the trauma and violence perpetrated against us. I look forward to your future videos on this topic!
I am Jewish through matrilineal descent, goyische surname notwithstanding, and the first time I experienced real unfiltered antisemitism in my early twenties I was in shock. I was picked out by a catcaller based on certain of my facial features and my stereotypically dark curls (barf) and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Needless to say every subsequent incident has had me on edge. I've grown more critical of Jewish representation in films and TV, even things I might have enjoyed at first, and...whew! The more you know, etc. As a playwright I've run into this as well: A play I wrote in conversation with The Merchant of Venice that centered the Jewish community surrounding Shylock (Shallach) and Jessica was considered but not chosen for a playwriting competition a few years ago. One of my current works in progress is based on my zayde's experiences during World War I, the interwar years, the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland, and the Japanese occupation of Shanghai (with references to the Shoah). How this latest effort of mine will be received I can't begin to guess, centering as it does a Jewish Resistance fighter who was tough and heroic through and through. (He was also very handsome [!!!], if that's of any importance.) Books, films, and TV: I'm drawing a blank but will let you know if I think of anything.
(Warning for nasty language below) My grandmother was half Ashkenazi and while I don’t look much like her, and the last practicing Jew in the family was her father, I’m proud of the connection. So when I was in high school and some redneck cousin of my friend called me a “lazy k*ke b*tch”, I knocked him on his butt right away. The school tried to pul the old “oh he doesn’t know what he’s saying, and your daughter should’ve just walked away”. My father (the one with a half-Jewish mum) looked the principal right in the eye and said “she did exactly what I told her to do if someone ever spoke to her that way. Now why don’t you call up that boy’s parents and ask them where he got that word from?”
@@o.mcneely4424 hate schools like that. He knew damn well what he was saying. He was in high school. They don’t have the luxury to shove it off and say he was just a ignorant kid.
Yasher koach! Please accept the blessings of this retired rabbi (with a degree in Apparel Design). I am such a fan and I’m kvelling from your wisdom and dedication to sharing the way it really was/is. Plus I love your hair. May you live to 120 in good health and go from strength to strength all the way. The world needs to hear your strong and vibrant voice! My fave part of the examples you shared was watching the scholarly character using his finger as a yad, reading from left to right. In my rating system, that merits a 5 “oy” review! Also, I recently read Raisins and Almonds. You might find it amusing and enjoyable. B’virkat shalom and gratitude, Rabbi Rita
there`s a german show called „charité“ that focuses on the titular hospital in berlin - it features a jewish doctor has has a great scene where he protects his newborn child from a forced baptism, and is portrayed as unambiguously correct for doing so!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for using your platform in this way. I have been talking about this FOREVER. I get so upset when nominally Jewish characters only express themselves to make a joke about how embarrassing Jewish identity is. The best example I have from the sitcom world is from Seinfeld when Jerry was dating a Jewish woman (Yay!) who kept kosher and then the punchline was that they tricked her into eating lobster and she gave up kashrut altogether. So frustrating!
Ugh! That reminds me of all of Howard in Big Bang Theory. Like every mention of his Judiasm was a stereotype and then almost inevitably enedd with something about him eating a cheeseburger
I love Spinning Silver! It is a fantasy novel whose protagonist is a Jewish woman who balances supporting her family with protecting her community from magical threats. The fantasy setting is based on central/Eastern Europe pre-1800 CE.
Seconding Spinning Silver. My headcanon is that it takes place around 1400, and in that world, the Mongol Empire lasted about a century longer, and the Colombian Exchange happened about a century earlier.
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO!!! And it definitely did not disappoint. I wish I had some good representation of Jews in historical drams, but that is sadly not the case. Jewish people have been all but erased from history. Every time I take a history class I am reminded of this. No mentions of Jewish people ever. No mentions of how our oppression literally held up the European economy. No mentions of how significant Jewish oppression was in the Middle East. And when I bring it up with the teacher they say that there just isn't enough documentation or physical evidence of Jewish people (all lies, they really just didn't want to put in the effort to research us). Once again, fantastic video!
I was kinda surprised to not see a mention of Yentl. My Mom was obsessed with this movie when I was little (I enjoyed the music but was too young to really understand the story). If you aren't familiar it's a Barbara Streisand passion project about a young woman who wants to pursue an education before that was available to women in her community. After her fathers death she disguises herself as a guy to attend a Yeshiva. It has some weird stylistic choices (Mandy Patinkin is in it and they don't have him sing! Why?! It's a musical!) I am curious to hear your thoughts. Congrats on your new apartment!
I also wonder about your thoughts on Streisand and yentl. Also on most Jewish actresses with careers have had nose jobs and other kinds of plastic surgery.
@bennyamon3043 I once got into an argument on Facebook with two other Jewish women about whether the lack of representation of curly hair or the lack of representation of unaltered aquiline noses was more oppressive to us as Jews. Never mind that perms and straighteners, while a pain in the neck, are less invasive than surgery. And also, that there's barely any way of knowing how many actresses have had nose jobs. For example, much of the movie Keeping The Faith (2000) takes place in and around a large Jewish congregation, but we never see even one woman with an un-altered nose. Even for New York City, I suspect that's a bit much.
I'm here for the costuming and *Jewish* history specifically. I subscribed after your video on antisemitism and the Hallowe'en witch costume. Since then, I've enjoyed your not Jewish specific videos, and I have absolutely treasured the ones where I have gotten to learn about Jewish history. Thank you for those especially.
I read the first Anne of Green Gables book, (I'm Jewish btw), and I have to say that in the book, the peddler's Judaism isn't even mentioned until the part where Anne reveals her dyed hair and says that the person sold the dye to her was a "German Jew" which I think is pretty obvious casual antisemitism. Anne with an E creating a friendship with the peddler and humanzing him was their way of diverting that part of the source material. Which I appreciate.
I read a bit about how the producers handled the Native representation in the series (as I have a Native friend who tells a lot about Native history and sparked my interest in it) and the producers talked about how they wanted to avoid white washing of history and wanted to tackle these points in a more accurate and humanising way. I think they did a good job with it in general (even though I can see the point about the one episode thing for Jewish representation).
Actually, in the book Anne mentions he is a German Jew because Marilla said “I told you never to let one of those Italians in the house”. So, reflecting a different type of prejudice. Anne seemed to genuinely like the peddler.
@@amyscott9381 well yes, I know that. However I feel like the inclusion of him being a German Jew in the first-place was more a subversion of "you thought it was this evil, but it's actually this other evil" after all the peddler sold her false dye and its a stereotype for Jews to be tricky with money. I feel like that would have been a better subversion if it had been someone who wasn't marginalized.
Reading that and other books from that era (like Agatha Christie’s Mysterious Affair at Styles) I’m really fascinated by the fact that German Jewish people at the time were stereotyped as being patriotic Germans and were considered suspicious and suspected German spies
@@lenah9027 The Mysterious Affair at Styles was written in 1916, the middle of WW1. I read it a few weeks ago, and felt very uncomfortable with the casual racism, but my understanding (as someone from England) from what I was taught in history at school is that the horrific persecution of Jews was not happening in Germany until the 1930s. So for Agatha Christie, at that time, the idea that a German Jew would be spying for Germany would have seemed quite reasonable.
I'm a 25 year old German, and I still remember how in school, when I was around 12 or 13, a boy from my class used the word Jew (or rather Jude, because German) as an insult. Learning about the holocaust is such a big part of education in Germany and it is instilled in us constantly how antisemitism is bad, and yet this boy saw no issue with his behaviour. Whenever someone says that antisemitism isn't an issue anymore (and boy, do we love to believe that), I think about that boy. I'm also queer and trans, and there are a lot of similar issues with representation there. There's a German movie coming out (or maybe it's already out, idk, probably) about a trans girl and her transphobic father. I saw the trailer a while ago, and my sister saw it as well. She asked me if I had seen it and expected me to be happy about the movie (because there aren't a lot of those around, especially German movies), and was suprised at my frustration. Judging from the trailer, the father seems to be the main character, so it's not the girl's story of coming out, but the father's story of learning to be less shitty. She's a side character in her own story! The girl seems to have little agency besides looking sad or scared, and the title of the movie (and ALL of the press around it!) even deadnames her. It's called Oskars Kleid (Oskar's dress). I don't plan on watching it ever, and I hate that I couldn't name any German movie (or any movie at all) with a similar story that is actually respectful to trans people like me. Sorry for the side rant, it had little to do with your video. As a goy, I never thought much about Jewish representation, and I have to admit that, before I watched this video, I was about to unsubscribe from your channel. I can't really put it into words, but I kinda felt like you were "too jewish" in a way. I mean like, too loud about it, too angry, too demanding. But when I watched this video, and could really relate to it as a queer trans person, I realized my mistake. I don't even know why I felt this way, I should know better. After all, I'm very involved in social justice and I can talk all day about things that are important to me because of my identity and those of my friends. And when I do, I'm loud and angry and demanding, and I know that that's justified and I'm pissed when people think that me being emotional about a topic that affects me personally is somehow a reason why they don't have to listen to me. So I can't for the life of me figure out why I felt this way about you. I should have known better, I'm sorry. Also sorry for writing such an essay, if you or anyone else reads this, have a nice day!
It’s awesome that you can come to this self-realization of yourself. It’s very hard a person to understand themselves and verbalize it as concisely as you have done it. Also, I agree with you a 100% about when I talk about social justice I do come across as angry but it’s impossible to not be when it’s very important and it’s highlights topics that suck and needs to be fixed.
Your mention of the peddler in Anne reminded me of Nellie Olsen's husband in the Little House on the Prairie TV series. His name was Percival Dalton, changed from Isaac Cohen, and at first they hated each other.
@caitlyncarvalho7637 Between the defectors in the book/movie and none of them being Jewish, despite Jews defecting during this period. Clancy was very misogynistic, I would not be surprised if he wasn't anti-Semitic too.
@caitlyncarvalho7637 Have you read any of his books? That will answer your question. I adore The Hunt for Red October though, the book and the movie. However, after reading numerous of his books, his beliefs about women were sadly all too plain. Please note I said 'dislike' and not hate.
Seperately, you made a lot of exellent, thoughtful points. As a writer, I think your descriptions of tokenism are particularly helpful, so thank you. In can be easy (regardless of the group being tokenised) to make anodyne nods to inclusion while avoiding making any real connection between the token character and the identity they are portraying. Your comments about the Sinderbys are a good example. I haven't seen much of Downton Abbey, but I'm aware of that subplot. I think, to people who know a little about Judiasm, you can see nods the writers tried to include, but your ideas are just as easy to include and far better representation, as well as educating to the audience -- which is, in many ways, the role of a period piece. Lots of details in period pieces are of interest to their audience because the audience is curious about the time period.
What I noticed after watching this was how badly the German approach on history lessons in schools served me when it comes to any marginalized group. At least as it was when I went to school. It was a fully disaster focused approach. We learned about the wars, the genocides, the progromes, the starvation etc. but we rarely talked about the "good times' We basically had to infere these when learning how the Nazis destroyed Jewish led universities, or about the wealth stolen or how many Jews were shocked when their neighbours suddenly stopped treating them as part of the community. So the picture these lessons painted of the jewish people in the history of my country is one of victims or sometimes survivors of atrocities thrown at them. And while this means, that its easier to understand the dynamics of marginalisatipn and crime for example, when one learns that during vast periodes of the middle ages jews were not allowed to work in most professions, sometimes not even to enter the towns, and thus many turned to crime to survive. It also means that when I were forced to write a story about jewish people in any periode of Germany, I would envision them not multidimensional, but allways through this lense. I have no idea how a "happy jewish character" would even look like in this context. I think that's a shame.
The approach in German schools (when I attended) also was incredible victim focused, with Nazis almost being some form about aliens who disappeared in 1945 again. God forbit there'd be a chance of anti-Semitism still being a thing in Germany today.
Jews contributed so much to German culture. And the Nazi era destroyed all of that. :( We as a society have lost something of our heritage, our cultural wealth. And yes, I agree we should have learned more about Jewish culture in school.
@@cleverpaws9035 it was not that it felt like Nazis disappeared, when I attended school. But I was in school in the 90's when society just had to face Nazis burning down houses with refugees in them.
@@johannageisel5390 absolutly, we lost so much in terms of culture and science due to the Nazis, but also thanks to the previouse progomes and genocides.
I can’t tell you how grateful i am to have found your channel. You are one of the few youtubers i know of who talks about being jewish and i’ve never felt so seen before. My home state is nj, and i’m sure you heard what was going on a week or so ago. My synagogue made the news multiple times. While i dont live in nj at the moment, i was still scared shitless for my family that’s still there. I felt like my worst fear was going to happen. Thankfully, it didn’t, but with antisemitism on the rise over the past few years, i’ve had more than my fair share of antisemitic experiences and close calls with antisemitic violence. It’s terrifying, and i’m just so glad you’re helping to bring awareness to it. In terms of recommendations for Jewish fiction, I don’t have much, but I thought Shira Glassman’s book The Second Mango was really sweet. It’s a whole series, but I haven’t read the rest of it yet. It’s a fantasy series, though, not historical fiction. I do have The Rabbi’s Cat, which i’ve heard is really good, but I havent read it yet. I also have a book about historical jewish fashion called The Jewish Wardrobe, which is SUPER cool and is the perfect theme for your channel 😊
@@johannageisel5390 the fbi stated that someone online had made a threat to synagogues in nj and so advised those synagogues to heighten their security. Keep in mind, synagogues nowadays already have very high security, especially since the tree of life synagogue shooting a few years ago and the texas synagogue hostage situation earlier this year. I saw photos of synagogues with policemen armed to the teeth guarding the entrances. Thankfully, the person that made the threat is in fbi custody now.
The Rabbi's Cat is so good! The characters are funny and smart and flawed. The background art is beautiful and detailed. It's a French graphic novel set in ?1930s? Algeria. IMO anybody over age 12 who likes comics should read the first volume.
I have a good story about something that took me by surprise a few weeks ago. My partner asked something about the whole witches burning children thing and the relation to blood libel. So I explained it and after that started raving a bit about your channel and things I had learned about Jewish religion, culture and history. And suddenly a friend I have known for quite a few years now opened up that he was from Jewish descendance but not considered Jewish because he got it from his father's side, not his mother's. That moment I realized I had forgotten about that group. The ones that have Jewish family and grow up with their traditions but are not considered Jewish themselves. I try to be an ally (or a decent human being) to the Jewish community so I took it as a learning point. I am now trying to figure out though if I am bad for not knowing this of my friend or good for making my friend feel like he could speak up. I probably should ask him that though.
@@laartje24 It depends on which rabbi you ask. Different types of Jews consider different things. (Source: I am also a patrilineal Jew, and I consider myself Jewish, but I know that many more orthodox Jews would disagree.)
@@johannageisel5390 that's true in Reform Judaism, but I believe you'd have to officially convert for Conservative Judaism and definitely for Orthodox Judaism. It would probably be a quicker version than if your family was gentile and you were raised gentile tho. From what I understand anyway; I'm the opposite, I'm considered a Jew by everybody due to matrilineal (as well as patrilineal) descent, but I wasn't really raised "Jewish" at all, so I'm learning about it late in life lol. So I could be wrong
I can only speak for myself but speaking as a patrilineal Jew I find expressions like “good ally” pretty cringeworthy. I don’t intend that to sound mean, btw. There’s no script to follow & no hard set of dos & don’ts, at least in my opinion. Jews have lasted as long as we have because we’re resourceful and adaptable. I can only speak for myself but I’d rather have a genuine friend than a performative ally.
The Australian series "A Place to Call Home." The main character is an Australian woman raised Catholic who goes to France and converts to Judaism when she falls in love with the man who becomes her first husband, a French Jew. She winds up in a concentration camp. She survives thinking her husband is dead and goes back to Australia. There are very few series about people who convert. As someone born Jewish, also of mixed background, my father was a immigrant from India, I find this fascinating. Our religion doesn't look for converts, so unfortunately it isn't often portrayed in media.
Hmm. I'm Jewish-Latina and generally am ok with non-Jews playing Jews, as long as they don't play a stereotype and don't wear prosthetics. Also, having Jewish writers/directors in charge of those stories definitely helps. I think, pretty much, anyone who looks "ambiguously Mediterranean" can be cast as Jewish, Greek, Italian, etc more or less, as somebody who is frequently mistaken for Greek/Italian. Plus, Jewish actresses like Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman have no issue finding work that pays well.
I think it is easy to look at those examples but non of them have stereotypicaly jewish Features, when you look outside of the very goy passing, how manny actors you can name that aren't mainly redacted to stereotypicaly jewish roles
Can ANY of you ”Jewish” people prove you guys are SHEMITES after all, Ashkenaz is from the bloodline of JAPHETH. The more one looks into this whole situation the more one comes to the conclusion we are being lied to. Why do you call yourselves JEWISH? Because ”Jewish” is not in the Bible, nor is ”Israeli ” as opposed to an ”Israelite”
It's sort of a period drama, but something I only learned about recently was the history behind Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. I kind of knew it had Jewish inspiration, but I watched it recently and thought "damn, there's a lot of Christian symbolism in this film for something based on a Jewish story". And then I looked further into it and oh my, there's a whole lot of history erased in that retelling. The real history with Jewish brides being murdered on the way to their weddings to prevent them from having Jewish children. The fact that these women were then buried in shallow graves. All things I just had no idea about. It was one of my favourite films growing up, and now I'm quite uncomfortable with just how Christian Tim Burton made it.
Oh my goodness I didn't know this! I used to love Tim Burton but the past few years I've started to enjoy it less and less because it's more and more obvious to me that he has an agenda. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't notice a lot of the criticisms beforehand, though I was quite young and had known nothing else but white characters. Once these criticisms were pointed out and I began unlearning a lot of stuff, and watching things with more diversity and stories that centred others important stories the more I realise that sort of stuff I used to watch is sooooo white and it feels strange to me now. I think it's boring if nothing else but honestly this is crazy that I didn't know this about the corpse bride! I feel like I've read more books that have centred Judaism in a positive way than I have watched on tv, maybe they need to do some better book adaptations!
This is an interesting and complicated video for me. So much of watching your videos and the videos of other Jewish creators here on CZcams as been an exercise in thoughtful contemplation. I'm not Jewish but that statement feels weird because one of my more prominent childhood memories in regards to Judaism is my mom noticing my brother had check out a book on Hannukah. My gut reaction was that she was about to say something wrong, like it was a book my brother shouldn't have. But that wasn't her response instead it was encouragement. That was the day me and my brothers learned we had a Jewish great-grandparent from Russia. I went from wondering if my mom was about to reveal she was secretly a bad person to wondering why she wasn't the one teaching us about Hannukah and other Jewish Traditions. Because my exposure to culture and heritage as a child was that it was important to know who we were and where we came from and it was our parents job to give us this knowledge. Why was I being told we had a Jewish relative but nothing about what that meant. The only answer I've been left with, and has somewhat been reaffirmed, is that I don't know because it was far easier to live in this country (USA) if you weren't Jewish. So that part of the family stopped being Jewish. They assimilated into Christian culture and married into Christian families and now it's a footnote. It feels like something was stollen from me but also like was never even mine to begin with.
My Jewish grandmother was disinherited and never spoken to by her family again after she married a non-Jewish Irishman. She still cooked the food but otherwise left the culture behind. My dad never learnt to cook until he was 60. When we visited granny and grandad it was at weekends, so we got classic British Sunday lunch or were taken out to restaurants. So the grandchildren didn't get any of the culture.
My great grandpa was a lithuanian jew and he, as well as his brother, were both disowned for marrying christians and I had always assumed that the jewish tradition of basing a child's heritage on the maternal line instead of the paternal one (hopefully an actually jewish person can come in and explain the details as all I have learned about jewish culture is from the internet and school and although I understand the logic behind it I don't really know how that can affect the treatment of children in mixed families) was the reason why they were disowned (basically, I thought that the parents of my great grandpa saw that as ending their family line or smth of that sort). I always knew I had a jewish ancestor but it never really had an impact on my life as our family was really far removed from that part of our heritage outside of some stories of my grandpa and his brother hiding from both the nazis and later the soviets
The Nanny, the TV show starred Fran Drescher, a Jewish woman, playing the lead main female character, Fran Fine. That's the only show I could think of where they have a lead female Jewish character.
I grew up in NY surrounded by Jewish culture. Though I am not Jewish, I absolutely swooned over Mrs. Maisel bc it was a throwback to so many tiny little things that I have never seen on screen before. I love how you have presented everything here and I agree with all of it. Antisemitism, just like racism and sexism and etc, is something that happens so often through lack of exposure between cultures/experiences and the ignorance that is bred in that environment. This was so well put across the board. Sharing it where I can.
@@Hcaz1113 Firstly, there is never a reason in the world to hate an entire culture based on a few practices that you disagree with and there is NEVER cause to question whether genocide was justifiable. Yes, I know what you are referencing and I agree that it is a practice that is outdated and should end. I will not defend it, since I have not researched anything about the history or origin of it, but it being a very old custom means it likely started for a reason that isn't dictated by modern sensibilities. Hurting children is obviously never okay. That being said, how many cultures have done things that are grotesque to children in the past and then realized that this isn't okay anymore later on? Should everyone in those cultures be murdered horribly because bad things used to be done? Should every American alive now be killed because some of them used to own slaves, plenty of which were children, and many are still disgustingly racist now and believe slavery should be reinstated? Secondly, have you checked into the origins of the practice before deciding that every Jew should die? Or have you simply made assumptions and decided that your offense matters more than the lives of millions that suffered horribly? Based on your comment, I am led to wonder if you were simply seeking a justification for bias and hatred that were underlying. Personally, I don't follow organized religion because, in my opinion, they hold to traditions with which I cannot reconcile my own morals and ethics. I also have seen too many instances where traditions (which frankly, are all made up things and for which I therefore hold no reverence) are either inappropriate and destructive (as we have been discussing) or simply outdated and not useful anymore except as something for groups to bond over. Also, religions can easily become too cult-y for me and suck people in to dangerous conditions while not being held accountable (again, as we have discussed above). However, my distaste for the dangers in religion, or disagreement with traditions and culture found therein (other examples being religions entering politics in the US while expressly forbidden in our constitution, and things in other cultures like female castration, child marriage, etc) doesn't make me judge every person within those cultures, automatically assume they are complacent and thereby complicit or believe that if atrocities were committed against those groups across the board that it could ever be deserved. Please reexamine your stance in general. Thinking more before forming an opinion will do everyone good. Also, posting on a Jewish person's channel is trolling. It is childish. It is gross behavior and a clear indication that you are in fact part of the more serious problem that was being reviewed in the original video. Try harder to be better or go away and leave people in peace.
@@Hcaz1113 Again, I know what it is. I am not defending it. Try reading it. It might help you with some personal growth. If not, here is the TL:DR version: you came here to troll or you would have chosen another video/creator. You wanted a platform and to judge others and stir the pot. You aren't interested in discourse. I never said it shouldn't be a crime but using it as justification for the brutalizing and murder of millions of people is ignorant at best. (There were also not only Jewish people killed in the Holocaust, so how is it justified then?) Do what you want but frankly, I think it is either an excuse for hatred or just you recently learning about something you don't like and wanting to be praised for your outrage. Bother finding out the origin of the practice and why it has been allowed to continue. You can try Google for that too.
There's a German show called Babylon Berlin that has some Jewish characters in it. Not many because it's set in the 1930s leading into World War II but there have been a couple in seasons one and two. And it looks like season 4 has a new Jewish character, I just haven't gotten to see it yet. Also for books, I haven't read it yet but I'm going to read 'when the angels left the old country' by Sacha Lamb. It was described to me as 'Jewish good omens'
Great video! Another great musical besides fiddler that really chronicles Jewish life is Falsettos, there’s a pro shot floating around online. It follows a queer Jewish family in the 1980s as they deal with both queer and Jewish issues, particularly a bar mitzvah in the second act on the Jewish end. It’s a great musical and will make you cry.
Not technically about historical dramas, but I am noticing something similar in the fandoms surrounding specifically superhero comics and their adaptions. The subgenre of superhero comics are inseperately linked to American Jewish people - Peter Parker aka. the original Spiderman, Clark Kent aka. Superman and Bruce Wayne aka. Batman are Jewish. So are, for example, Harley Quinn, Billy Kaplan, of course Erik Lehnsherr aka. Magneto, or Wanda Maximoff (the latter being Romani and Jewish). Steve Rogers aka. Captain America is essentially an allegory for the Golem, and his sidekick (and later, friend) Bucky Barnes is at the very least coded to be Jewish. Yet, in the film adaptions there is a trend of these iconically Jewish characters not being portrayed as Jewish at all (or, if they are, like Magneto, they are usually cast with non-Jewish actors). This reached a new kind of Bad with Wanda, aka. Scarlett Witch - the daughter of Magneto, who is canonically a survivor of the Shoah. The MCU films settled for casting a White, non-Jewish, non-Romani actress, Elizabeth Olsen, who has been criticized for using the anti-Romani slur starting with "g" multiple times. She has been using it after being informed that it is a slur too, so it's not a situation of "oh, she didn't know". Furthermore, in the MCU, Wanda and her twin brother Pietro (who, obviously, is also Romani and Jewish) willingly join HYDRA, which is a Nazi organization. This is, obviously, a horrendous choice, and it has never been fixed (in the contrary, it kind of gets worse and worse with every film featuring Wanda - with the film "Multiverse of Madness" even leaning into blood libel as a trope). Jewish Superhero Comic fans (as well as fans of the genre who aren't idiots) have been calling out both Marvel and DC as publishing houses for their repetative antisemitism and refusal to make these iconically Jewish characters actually Jewish, but there is a huge front of antisemitic Marvel and DC fans who are almost systematically trying to silence the voices of the very community that created American superhero comics in the first place.
@@cherylrosbak4092 that is absolutely fair, but I feel like it isn't reason enough to erase her Romani identity. They could have just renamed her superhero name maybe, or done something like with Zatanna (from DC, who is also Romani) and have her just go by her first name even in her hero persona. In general, the MCU handled Wanda terribly and continues to do so, and Marvel as a cooperation as well as many fans of the films continue talking down and even threatening Romani people who speak out against this injustice
@@medeaworbs6970 But in the comics Wanda is a complicated character, she can be a villain or a hero. She was first introduced as a villain to be exact, and for the twins joining Hydra in the movies I seen it as them being brainwashed.
@@GURILLAPUD whilst that is fair, it is still a really, really bad look to have Romani-Jewish characters join a Nazi organization, even if they were manipulated (which, in the MCU canon, is dubious). And the fact that the actress is an anti-Romani White woman remains an issue as well
To be fair to Dowton…Jews in early 20th century Britain absolutely played it down to the point of non existence-trying desperately to not be ‘recognized’ or bring attention to themselves. There’s….so many examples of this in actual Jewish families of the time….and…I don’t look Jewish. Would it be ok for me to play a Jewish character, or would I be called out by you that I don’t ‘look’ Jewish enough?
Historical fiction/fantasy book recommendation: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (and it's sequel!). It's set mostly in NYC during the 1890's, about a golem in the form of a woman and a male Jinni character (based on Bedouin folklore- kinda like a genie in a bottle) and how these two cultures of Jewish and Syrian communities interact in NYC at a time when many immigrants all came to America.
I'm part of a Viking Age reenactment group and I'm Jewish, so I wanted to see if I could figure out a Jewish impression suitable for Anglo-Scandinavian Jorvik. AFAIK there are no records of Jews in England between when the Romans left and the Norman Conquest, however there is substantial evidence of trade between Al-Andalus and England and Scandinavia. Partly inspired by your video on medieval Jewish clothes I am putting together an impression of an unmarried Jewish woman, of Andalusian origin (with connections to Radhanites) who resettled in Jorvik after travelling in her youth all the way to places like Baghdad, Constantinople and Jerusalem. My clothes will be essentially the same as Anglo-Scandinavian women's clothes, though I am using silk thread with my wool to avoid shaatnez and I particularly chose a yellow headscarf. I will also have a pendant made from a dirham (as well as having both dirhams and norse pennies in my money pouch), and I made a replica of the silk York cap, thought to have originated in Persia (and iirc a lot of Jews along the silk road were re-weaving it to a weight preferred by those in Europe). Since things like garnets would have originated in India but were imported to Western Europe, this impression will be a trader in exotic materials, particularly gemstones and semi-precious stones (e.g. quartz and amethyst, pearls, local Whitby jet, carnelian and I will also have turquoise and lapis lazuli even if they aren't known to been imported). Due to the trade connections and status as a merchant, this will be a relatively wealthy impression, so I have fancy fabrics such as silk for my cap and herringbone wool that I will dye blue for my dress. For the name I have gone with Miriam bat Sarah/Maryam bint Sarah, or Maria of Cordoba. The impression is not yet complete, I watched this while beginning the sewing on my dress funnily enough, but when it's done I'll have pictures on instagram ( der.wanderdiker.yid ) and I'll wear it to shows to get some Jewish representation for early medieval reenactment! Other members of my group (including a few other Jews) have been quite supportive about this, it's a mostly student-led reenactment group and we're also very disproportionally queer so there's no real resistance against more inclusive impressions like this. Edit: broke it into paragraphs for readability
My dad was born in 1942 and their neighbours (and my grandmother’s best friends) when he was growing up were Hungarian Jews who’d emigrated/escaped in 1938 to Australia. Through them my grandmother learned (and frequently used) quite a lot of Yiddish and that had filtered into the family - my dad, aunt, cousins and myself all have and tend to use Yiddish in amongst our everyday life. I also grew up (I’m in my thirties) with Mel Brooks movies (technically could be considered historical in the case of men in tights and Dracula dead and loving it, and Mel casts himself so it’s a Jew playing a Jewish character but I also do recognise there are a lot of stereotypes in these roles). And fiddler has long been a favourite of mine. I’m so thankful to these family friends who shared their culture with us and as a history student it encouraged me to sign up for a subject at uni about pagans, Christians and Jews from the classical period in Greece to the emperor Constantine. As a queer person I find myself frustrated that historical pieces as standard are cisgender, white and heterosexual as standard as I find it so frustrating. There has always been a plurality in history, and to pretend otherwise is smallminded. I want to see more Jews, POC and queer folk in all media, but especially in historical media. I find it troubling how this lack allows problematic people to justify their own hatred as being “true to history” because that’s all that’s portrayed.
Thank you, I always enjoy your educative videos. I've lived quite a sheltered life, have few friends and don't remember having any Jewish friends. About Miss Fisher, in the novels, some of the Jewish characters in "Raisins and Almonds" reappear in later books. It makes the stories richer to bring in past characters to have a more rounded story. And Kerry Greenwood just assumes that one retains the friends one makes when in sticky spots. Thank you again.
Yeah, that's definitely one of the show's weaknesses compared to the books. And unfortunately it's a fairly common thing when adapting a book series into an episodic tv show.
Consider yourself BLESSED. I was surrounded and isolated by them for years. Learned everything from the Inside. Worked for, lived with, surrounded. I could tell you true stories about the deeds and words of said people that would make you laugh in disbelief and then cry as you realized I haven't spoken a single lie. Then I can add the videos I've seen, like a family spitting on a church door, unaware of the security camera, and others just like it. I would trade places with you in a heartbeat, but then, I am very well equipped to "deal" in any place or situation I find myself in. Funny thing is, they are nowhere to be found now, as I asked too m any questions and commented too often when I observed misanthropic behaviors. No book will ever replace real life experience, and I am world travelled, and yes, I've been to Jerusalem too.
I love you! You combine two of my favorite things: period dress and Jewish history (Plus you look like a combination of my sister and my daughter!). Thank you so much for this video. I think it is timely and appropriate, and I hope it gets a lot of views far and wide. Thank you for braving this subject in your unique way. Book suggestions: I think you would love the Rashi's Daughters series by Maggie Anton. They are historical fiction based on Rashi's actual three daughters. They are filled with fascinating details about the lives of these women and their families, including excellent descriptions of their clothes, even to wedding finery and jewels, maternity wear, and birth control options (gasp! sh!). I also highly recommend The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant. It is historical fiction about Dinah, Jacob and Leah's unfortunate daughter, and also goes into detail about the women's daily lives and relationships. It was made into a TV miniseries in 2014. Mustn't forget The Chosen, by Chiam Potok (no, not the Jesus show, this came first). It is a coming of age story about two Jewish boys in Brooklyn, one Chasidic and one Reform, and their unusual friendship. It was made into a movie in 1981 and a stage play in 1999. As for my thoughts on movies: Dirty Dancing! Baby and her family are Jewish, as are the owner of the resort and most of the other guests, both good and bad. Baby's family seems to be secular, but the owner talks about Bubbe and Zayde starting the hotel, and how the family struggled to serve kosher food during the depression era. The TV mini series Holocaust from 1978 is excellent and is free to watch on CZcams. Young Meryl Streep is the German wife of a German Jewish artist. It starts with their wedding and follows their two families through the events in Germany and Europe in the 30s and 40s. On TV it seems there is always at least one "token Jew" (cringe) in every show. Don't forget that Ross and Monica Geller on Friends are Jewish, as is Rachel Green, hence Phoebe's questionable Chanukah song. Things that make me furious: The MCU has whitewashed several canon Jewish Marvel characters. Most notable is Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr, who received his powers when taken to a concentration camp during WWII, and who has been played by Sir Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender, neither of whom are Jewish. Then there are his children, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, aka Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver, who would also be Jewish as Magneto's children. The MCU has not only removed their Jewishness, it also took away their father and their mutant powers (giving the powers back as a result of expirimentation by Hydra) when it retconned their story to make it fit the Avengers storyline. Did you know Spiderman, Peter Parker, is coded to be Jewish in the comics? They never state it blatantly, but there are many hints. However, he has never been portrayed that way in any of the Spiderman movies. Finally, and most frustrating to me, is the recent addition, Moon Knight. Marc Spector is outright Jewish. His father is a Rabbi. So did they get any of the many wonderful Jewish actors that I'm sure are looking for work in Hollywood to play this known Jewish superhero character? Nope, they got Oscar Isaac. Okay, so he's a tiny bit Jewish on his father's side, but he certainly wasn't raised Jewish, and it only came up because of all the fans complaining about the casting. Oscar Isaac is an amazing actor and he did a terrific job playing super complex Moon Knight, but I'm still salty about it. Disney has made such a big deal about being inclusive and ethnically accurate in their projects lately that it boggles the mind for them to do this. I mean, they got an ethnically accurate girl to play Kamala Kahn/Ms. Marvel, and that had to be harder, right? Okay, that's it. I'm getting off my wobbly soap box now. Carry on. I'm looking forward to more of your fun and educational content!
A few things: Growing up my mother always told me we were jewish (even though we didn’t go to synagogue or practice the faith) so when I told my classmates they would say ‘you can’t be jewish if it’s not your religion’. This has completely skewed and shaped my constant struggle and internalised antisemitism even into adulthood. It’s so casual and even innocently said at times, but like any other identity denial it can be incredibly harmful, and then when the mass majority of representation is either as villainous stereotypes or weakened sufferers (mostly portrayed through films about the war which is a whole other frustration) it becomes representative of how you see yourself! I am dying for a happy story just living life! Secondly, Token Jewishness is such a thing particularly within the superhero universe as well (what comes to mind is recently because I’ve watched it recently is Moon Knight. Unless I had read the comics or the wiki I wouldn’t have known he was Jewish until the ONE episode where they explore his past and even then it didn’t register until he said the word “shiva”. Because yes like Snappy Dragon elegantly said, these characters are not being shown as full rounded characters who ARE Jewish, they are being shown as characters who happen to be Jewish. Also, Hollywood has such a horrible time with the Jewish mother stereotype that is infuriating and to relate to my previous point, did not help my friends as a kid to see my mother as not a stereotype just because that’s what their expectations of a Jewish mother to be like… makes a kid pretty isolated. Lastly, (Honestly there is way more but I want to live my own happy Jewish lady life 😂) Books and tv recommendations: BatWOMAN the comics not the tv series actually is a really well rounded Jewish character, and the comics are just brilliant in general. This could be done better, but in the DC Arrow tv show/comics due to characters like Felicity and in later seasons Rory aka Ragman are pretty interesting representations of different people who are jewish. I find them interesting because Rory very much grew up Jewish and knowing the Torah and a lot of even the folktales throughout jewish culture, whereas the way Felicity is portrayed she seems more like she grew knowing she is Jewish and growing up with the paranoia and pragmatism that has been interwoven into the generational trauma of her heritage. It’s interesting to be able to see the different kinds of Jewish there can be on the same screen. I can’t wait to see what other media everyone else has recommended! And thank you @SnappyDragon for this video, it is amazing and thoughtful and just thank you so much. ❤
Amen! Thank you!!! I am so sick of the villains looking Jewish :( and or Romani, or just southeastern Europe... As a kid, it was painful to always look like a villain. And it's not written about much, either the anti-semantic or the anti-Romani... (And anti southeastern European?) It is swept under the bridge. I tried to find a list of Jewish-coded villains and Romani-coded villains but I couldn't find one outside of Disney even though I noticed it everywhere. That new movie the Princess has the "dark" villain. It is everywhere! And you are so right. So many good stories are out there. I have a former coworker who's Roma's Grandma who escaped the devouring with young Jewish folks. It would be a fabulous movie! They hid in the forest together. The idiots didn't think they would work together even though the two groups have been intermixing for centuries. Oh, and did you know there were a bunch of Jewish folks from New York and Pennsylvania who fought in the American Revolution? That would be a cool movie! I think they were Italian-Jewish folks too if I remember correctly from what my dad said. And I have yet to see a positive, accurate Roma character played by a Roma person come out of Hollywood. I have only ever seen one none stereotypical positive Romani character in mainstream American media. Just one. And the actresses wasn't Roma. It is terrible. So what I am trying to say is again thank you for this.
Hi! I would like to know your opinion (if you have any) on Roberto Benigni's Life is beautiful (La vita è bella): a Shoah movie where the main character is a strong and funny father who wants to save his child from the horrors of a nazi camp by pretending that it is a sort of game. I know that it has been accused of being a "cheesy" movie, and some people tend to say that it is insofferable and even offensive, but I also noticed that those are the same people who only appreciate grim and disempathic representation of life and despise the concept of "good people with good feelings and behaviours existing". I would really love to know your opinion on this movie, and I really hope that you weren't skipping it on purpose because it is considerer universally bad or something that I didn't know (if so I am sorry for bringing it up, please ignore me and forgive the gaffe). Thank you for this video, it was extremely interesting!
My home Ren Faire is an incredibly open and accepting place, with no time for bigotry and with tolerance for everything except intolerance. The character director is Jewish, and there are generally at least a few Jews on cast (not the same ones, the lineup always changes). We have, at least of late, avoided active antisemitism and anti-Jew stereotypes, so far as I can tell (do not take my word on this as absolute truth; I often don't notice things). BUT! The Jewishness of the actors never translates to Jewishness of characters, nor have there ever been any Jewish characters of any kind. Everything you said here about acting at the Dickens Fair perfectly put words to what has bothered me about that for years now. And sure, some folk will absolutely seek to make the argument that "there would be no historically accurate way to have Jewish characters in a small 1500s English village without also portraying active antisemitism". But considering that this Faire has gotten openly queerer and queerer every year, has women owning businesses and offices of power regardless of marital status (and often but not always wearing trousers) and also fighting, and casts actors of colour in pretty much whatever role without regard to what some might perceive as "historically accurate or realistic", there is no room for that argument even if it were true (which I'm not convinced it is, anyway).
i want to thank you. your videos helped me re-establish my own relationship with Judaism. my (disgusting) father kept me and my siblings cut off from my mothers' side as much as possible, which was extra easy with her Jewish aunts/uncles/piblings (i didn't even know they *were* Jewish until after I left). but watching your videos, specifically the ones that center around Judaism, felt like coming home. i had already been learning about Jewish practices, stories, issues, laws, etc. to support my friend(s), but your videos helped me realize i was supporting myself, too. thank you v
(note: I am goyish and I haven't seen this movie since I was a kid) I feel like The Prince of Egypt definitely deserves an honorable mention for the fact that is an animated movie dealing with such heavy topics. While the majority of the voice cast seem to be Goyish from looking at wikipedia, just seeing story with brown Jewish people escaping the horrors of s**very is def worth discussion. The scene I remember most impacting me was when Moses discovered what happened to the Jewish children and Seti saying "They were just sl**es" as Moses slowly backs away.
Thank you so much! This is one movie that I've willingly rewatched from my Christian childhood. It hits hard but I think it is a movie worth watching even when young.
Did you really watch it? I am a little disturbed by how many songs about killing babies there were! It even starts with a song of killing babies and then it sets the main character to be eaten by crocodiles only to be passed off as a royal baby that didn’t include a pregnancy, all after a little torture porn directed towards the supposed Jewish extras. Also, the one black actor plays Jethro, who is represented as exotic and foreign. It all sort of feels like the Christian telling of a Jewish story, and lacks nuance and culture. Now I know you didn’t see any of this when you watched this movie and thought it was good. But watch it again looking for how the treatment of Jews is portrayed in this movie, and if it might not have had to go so far while still telling the same story. I could write a whole essay on why I hate this movie, and how people who liked it must be ignorant. But you watched this video, so you must just be someone who didn’t see all this because they were looking at it differently.
@@claireleblanc5471 I did comment before watching the video. I will admit that I did watch it from a (very, unfortunately) Christian perspective. While I have no intention to watch the movie again at this time, if I do in the future I will do as you commented and see it from a different perspective. I didn't realize what race, culture, etc. That the actors were so it did not cross my mind that they had cast only one actor of color in the "exotic" role. However, I do have to point out that the story of Moses (and Jesus) starts with the killing of children and babies. Perhaps I just had a great religious studies teacher and friends who could take this movie and turn it into important conversations on the persecution of Jewish people (and later Christians, because America).I think if they had toned that down, it would have ommited a really big reason for the turning of Moses and the uprising of the Jewish people.
@@katesclabassi3857 Fun fact about the movie: in the role of Miriam(moses's mother) they realy wanted an israeli singer, and the singer they have casted turned out to do such a good job they dicided to have her do the role in every language the movie was dubbed. also, as a jewish person, i realy liked the movie. it has its problems but overall it is a good representation of the story that most of us were raised with and most other jewish people i know that watched that movie never seemed to have a problem with it representation wise. plus it's great to see representation of not white ashkenazi jews outside of israeli media. (NNES)
@@claireleblanc5471 I'm Jewish, and The Prince of Egypt is one of my favorite films. Yeah, the "killing babies" bit is horrific - but that's literally a MASSIVE part of the history/story (whichever you choose to believe) behind the book of Exodus. Antisemitism has been constant throughout history, but somehow people don't think it's something that still happens. The synagogue in Texas that had its rabbi and several members of the congregation taken hostage? That was my oldest friend's synagogue. When I turned to other friends to help release my worries about the situation, a few of them reacted with "wait, that kind of thing still happens?" The most commonly committed hate crimes in the United States are antisemitic, but the population at large //doesn't know that.// So when I see the persecution, enslavement, and essential torture of Jews in The Prince of Egypt? I appreciate that not being toned down any more than required to be considered a "children's movie." I think several of the scenes are well-written, well-acted, and impactful. And finally, at the very beginning of the film, The Prince of Egypt acknowledges that their rendition of the story is not necessarily accurate to the Torah, but that they hope the representation is respectful of what several religions and cultures across the world believe.
This is an interesting thing for me to ponder as a writer of film and television. As a cis white American woman, there is the concern that I'm "stealing" someone else's story. (This is a concern for numerous devise communities) That I don't have the knowledge or experience to tell a story accurately. If I'm a showrunner of a TV show, I feel it would be important that my writers' room have a diverse group of people so that all different aspects of the stories we want to tell are represented, but when I'm writing a pilot or a screenplay, it's just me, so I have to pay extra attention to how I go about introducing characters whose stories I might hope will get told later. I appreciate your input though, and I plan to carry it with me as I move forward writing my many scripts. Thank you.
I admit that's a worry I have when I'm working on a book. One reason why I write mostly fantasy. But still, I want to make it more diverse and spend a lot of time researching different cultures etc. so as not to fall into stereotypes.
Thank you for this important presentation. There is at least one English-speaking movie featuring a young Jewish woman facing the concerns of being Jewish in early-mid twentieth century NYC: Hester Street, starring Jewish actress Carol Kane. If you haven't seen it, it is worth watching.
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik has been a longtime favorite of mine! It was the first fantasy/fairytale retelling that I read where I truly felt like I saw myself in it. Especially when so many western fairytales and fantasy tropes lean on antisemitism, it felt like a reclamation reading Spinning Silver. It was beautiful. In both Spinning Silver and Uprooted, Naomi Novik uses a lot of Polish folklore to build her stories. It's incredibly refreshing.
@caitlyncarvalho7637 that's definitely interesting, and as a native German speaker I agree. However, I don't quite understand what this has to do with my comment?
Not jewish, but grew up with the Faraway Island series by Annika Thor which were later damatised, though I doubt it’s possible to find with english subtitles. It’s about a refugee girl from Vienna who comes to Sweden with her little sister in 1939. They’re kid’s books but I reread the first one this spring and I think they still hold up for adults. The author grew up jewish which was all I could find on google. And I think it definitely impacted me (positively I hope) given that one of the first jewish characters I consumed in media was another girl around my age who I could relate to.
This is really interesting, and something I kinda overlooked. And with what you said, it's true that a lot of Mediterraneans have features that are generally thought of as Jewish, being as my mom and I regularly are mistaken for being so (we have no Jewish ancestry that we know of), and it is still very important that Jewish characters are played by Jewish actors!
I thought jews were very dominant in hollywood for a minority group here. And yeah people who look stereotypical Jewish but aren’t. They are usually Palestinians and some italians that look it
@@MariaSanchez-kg2fl Jews were shut out of other professions so pretty much founded Hollywood to create jobs for themselves. Hence, the overrepresentation.
I really appreciate that you make content about antisemitism, it helps me be a better ally to my Jewish friends and loved ones. I grew up in a New England town, most people were Jewish, most my friends were Jewish, I was an active participant in their celebrations as they were our Chinese ones. I think we got along well because we have some shared similarities like both recent genocides such as the Holocaust and Mao. I didn’t really understand it until I left for college, when I realized how antisemitic the rest of the US is. I struggled a lot with seeing the negative portrayal Jewish people in the media and popular culture and wondering why that was so incongruent with my lived experience in the Jewish community. It also mirrored my own experience with anti Chinese and anti Asian racism, especially in the past ten years. In Germany maybe you’ve heard of this program, I think it’s called meet a Jew, where young goyim get to meet up with Jewish people, since there are so little Jews remaining in Germany that many Germans have basically no first hand experience with Jewish people, and only really know about Jewish people in the context of the Holocaust. So this program is working to humanize Jewish people, it’s really cool, I would recommend checking it out. You remind me of a sort of version of this, considering how few Jewish people there are in the US and outside the northeast, I have a feeling you may be the first/only Jewish person some of your audience members know. Love your videos I always learn so much.
It's amazing that you've never considered that you're living on formerly Native American land. What do you think happened to the tribes who lived on the land you grew up on? You're bringing your issues from other continents to the North American continent and never acknowledging the attempted genocide of Native American tribes that make your life possible and safe. Do better.
Thanks V, for sharing another super insightful rand with us! I start to understand the link between antisemitism (as an extreme version of the overall lack of inclusion in our society) and what we see in TV series and movies. In that sense, your comment about a happy Jew in a production is a strong one, for me.
Interesting video! I'd heard of the other points before, but I must admit I hadn't previously noticed non-Jewish actors being cast in Jewish roles. I'll definitely keep an eye out for that in the future. I'm not sure I'd recommend it (the first book in particular leans into American exceptionalism, there's some real "wow, this was written by a white dude" moments, and the amount of historical fact-checking involved varies depending on the author), but Eric Flint's 1632 series features several Sephardic characters. It's an alternate history where a West Virginian coal town circa 2000 lands in the middle of the Thirty Years War, and some of the first people from the past they run across are Balthazar Abrabanel, who has just been kicked out of Amsterdam's Jewish community for heresy and who is also having a heart attack, and his daughter, Rebecca. Both of them (and many of their far-flung relatives, the most important of whom is Francisco Nasi, who becomes the town-then-country's spymaster) are heavily involved in forging ties between the town and the world around it. I really enjoyed Rebecca as a character - she had a really interesting perspective on events - and also really liked that the books did not shy away from her being Jewish and how that's shaped that perspective. I also really liked one of the later books mentioning that, despite her conflicts with the Amsterdam community and being married to a gentile, Rebecca was still observant (including keeping kosher).
I don’t often watch historical fiction shows. i’m not jewish. However even within non historical fiction tv, the only main character I can remember in which their Judaism was actively apart of their character and character development was in “Andi Mack”. Also, when groups are excluded from historical fiction, It definitely sends the message that in a perfect fictive worlds, minoritized populations do not exist.
Ok I thought I was losing my mind because no one else was talking about Anne With an E!!! He's the only marginalised character who gets NO CLOSURE OR FUTURE, OF ANY KIND - he just shows up, is a Sad Downtrodden Jew, gives a child a faulty batch of hair dye, and then gets CHASED OFF THE PROPERTY by Marilla like a DOG.
What bothers me most about the Mrs. Maisel casting is that they dyed her hair dark for it so she would "look Jewish," then most of the blonde women characters are either stated to not be Jewish or the show makes a big deal out of them being converts. Mrs. Maisel puts on a strong, stereotypical Brooklyn accent even though her character grew up in a wealthy Manhattan neighborhood, and neither of her parents have that accent. They cast a non-Jew and then used stereotypes to make her seem more Jewish. Edit: For the Ren Faire this year, I dressed as Virdimura, a 14th century Italian Jewess who was the first licensed female physician in Sicily. Some good Jewish fiction: The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish, The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott, a few books by Alice Hoffman (I think The Museum of Extraordinary Things, The Dovekeepers, The World That We Knew, and The Marriage of Opposites), The Orchard by Yochi Brandes. Chaim Potok is great for post-WWII Jewish fiction that isn't about the Shoah. There's a series called Rashi's Daughters by Maggie Anton that I haven't read yet but seems promising. I'm finishing up the manuscript for a Jewish fantasy novel that takes place in the 19th century Pale of Settlement, with a portal fantasy world based on medieval Jerusalem
The Weight of Ink is really well written, fascinating, insightful, and very human. Female character with a ton of agency - even if her circumstances are highly restrictive.
Rashi's Daughters are really enjoyable! I accidentally read them out of order, but they were really enjoyable. And I'd also recommend her Rav Hisda's Daughter books (though, the second book starts leaning into more magic stuff, which I appreciate is pulled straight from Talmud, but not my favorite representation of historical fiction with magic). So happy to find other's who have read the weight of ink! I loved it and would love to have more novels of that sort.
As a goy and a costumer, I'd love to see more representation because I know I don't know jack shit about the people, the attire, etc etc XD I loved when you did your video on the historical costuming because I'd never seen that before and it was so awesome
I'm not Jewish but I've had Jewish friends and acquaintances in the past. I remember talking to someone about a third party being half Jewish, and then Karen butts in with " Jews are a religion" . I said yes, it's called Judaism..... I had to explain to miss Karen that there are jews of different ethnicity and culture, and some jews may not be particularly religious... and may marry and have children with non jews. This is where half jews come from..... Sheesh, anyway, I appreciate your hard work Snappy Dragon.
@@deespaeth8180 I once worked with a girl who blew up at me angrily when I happened to mention in passing that Jesus was a Jew. She was very distressed by the news. Apparently, the nuns who ran her school had forgotten to teach about that bit of the story.
@@annbrookens945 so the reasoning is complete bullshit but according to christianity jewish people killed jesus and as a result christians seek revenge against jewish people
As an Israeli jew it's interesting hearing your experience. And I just realized that all the jewish historical books I've ever read were about the shoa and WW2
I would recommend the true family history _The Hare With Amber Eyes_ by Edmund de Waal. The story involves Jewish families in Paris, Vienna and Tokyo and a lot of _netsuke_ - brilliantly written.
@@pattheplanter maybe that's why I've found sooo many copies of it in Tel Aviv at used bookstores (I have it, but still haven't read it yet). Thanks for the push!
I caught that Dara Horn reference! That book is easily one of my top reads from this year followed "Jews Don't Count" by David Baddiel. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is one of my and my family's favorite shows since it came out but it's still disappointing that more Jews weren't cast in the main roles.
Have you seen the call the midwife eps dealing with Jewish communities? They also regularly bring up Yiddish Culture in early 1900s poplar. Its done SO PERFECTLY. For reading I also rec Rashi's Daughters
The Unfinished Corner is a graphic novel that does a FANTASTIC job portraying a wide variety of ways to be Jewish, has an incredibly engaging story based on Jewish folklore, and made me cry 3 separate times for different reasons each time (at least one was happy tears). Cannot recommend enough.
(Am goy) I really feel the need for films of "happy Jews" and Jewish resistance. I remember watching one of the X-Men films in the theater with one of our Jewish friends and he was exasperated with a Magneto childhood flashback (his childhood in a concentration camp). The story was also focused on Magneto living in a rural area of Poland as an adult, with beautiful ethnic art in his home. When we left the theater, our friend mentioned his frustration, knowing Magneto's history, but wanting a story with a different backstory. With all the changes with MCU timelines, we can have a Magneto born in the 1960's with different experiences about his Judaism and Polish heritage. Now I'm curious, were the Jewish characters in Seinfeld all played by Jews?
I’m really grateful for your channel because it has opened my eyes to a wider, more truthful vision of history. As a goy and former history teacher, the curriculum largely ignores the plights of marginalized groups. I’m ashamed to admit that I’m uneducated in the plight of the Jews outside basic textbook information. I’m eager to learn more so I can be a better ally and advocate. This video has given me lots to think about.
As a non-Jew, I'm sorry to say that I was unaware of how few positive portrayals of Jews are in these dramas and how many of the roles that do exist are so stereotypical or underdeveloped. I also did not realize that more Jewish characters aren't portrayed by Jewish actors and actresses. I enjoy your videos whether they are historical discussions or costuming videos. I look forward to learning more as well as seeing more of your lovely garments. I am unfamiliar with looking for Jewish characters in fiction, but will definitely keep an eye open for them in the future. I do know of a historical account written by a seventeenth century Jewish woman that I read while researching female merchants in college. It's called Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln. I learned so much about not only her career but also her family life from that book.
I'm pretty sure I've commented before mentioning this, but my matrilineal line was Jewish (...was) but, due to several things (mainly the war & america being so anti antisemetic that my maternal grandmother never ever talked to her daughter-aka my own mother-about ANYTHING to do with how she was raised, her religion, the history of how our family had rabbinic scholars back in prussia & austria, or how the other side of the family escaped the pogroms, etc) so a lot of my mum's knowledge of her jewish heritage and identity (and as family of redheads, too!!) came from some research she was able to do as an adult, by tracing last names etc but before that it was.... well... cringey as it sounds, it came from books, movies and tv. Because her mother refused to tell mum or her 4 brothers anything. I've personally been raised in New Zealand, and there isn't a lot of Jewish folks here (at least where I live... well, not anymore, at least 🥺) the only thing (barring tv and books and movies etc) that we have as a link to that part of our family history, besides DNA, has been food (though none of which have had their original names, incidentally, as that was also sanitised away as if the name of a thing wouldn't really matter at all .... //heavy sarcasm) but the whole movies and tv and books thing being someone's only exposure to (especially) jewish culture is, of course, Much Problematic!!! which my mum, luckily, recognised as she got older, and as an adult, having done more family history and gotten more answers (including about how the last names were anglicised, sigh) she has always strived to find (as a primary school librarian!) books written and illustrated by Jewish authors & artists that she used to read to me as a kid, because it's not only more accurate to use books written by people who have such heritage as their own, but because it values, elevates and gives a voice to people's lived experience and values the heritage of things they have been told and brought up with. There is nothing worse than being raised without the culture, language and teachings of your ancestors, and it can take generations to fix.... or solidify as "lost" forever, if no one takes the steps to hold onto what matters most... but with how some were treated? I can't even blame them for giving up their religion & cultural identity just to survive. It hurts, sure, but I get it. For what it's worth, I agree 100% with what you say so much, and appreciate learning even small amounts. I think that the first time I realised, as an adult, that there has been increasing and fast-growing antisemitism was when my _German_ world colleague, whilst disparaging Roma/Traveller culture (which I was horrified by, as my best friend is Romani and has had the disgusting stereotypes and g-slur used against her for literally her entire life which even still angers me like nothing else, but I digress), when I told him he couldn't stereotype people like that because it's harmful, reductive and, uh, _not fvckin true,_ said "Well, it's just like Jews being greedy, isn't it?" and it was like a bucket of ice had been dumped on me. It was one of the few times I got genuinely angry with someone, and I didn't talk to him for a week, and never thought of him the same ever again, knowing what he genuinely thought he could openly tell me as a co-european white person (my dad is swedish). I'm actually glad he told me, tbh, because knowing he thought such things, and I hadn't known.... makes me feel vaguely ill. Anyway. for what little I know of anything (and it's not a lot), thank you for continuing to talk about topics like this. I value and look forward to your thoughts and take on things. ❤
I also love the barker and Llewelyn series representations of the Jewish community of the 1880s. It’s a Sherlock Holmes style mystery series and one of the recurring characters is Israel Zangwill, a historical figure. One of the supporting characters Mac is also Jewish and it’s never mocked. And the first book follows a mystery in the Jewish community. Additionally one of the main characters ends up marrying a Jewish woman later on in the series, and she’s a fantastic character.
Yasher koach on an informative and unflinching look at Jewish representation in historical entertainment. At the end of the day, Jews like us cannot fix anti-semitism, just like people of color cannot fix racism, but what you are doing is so, so important. Thank you!
Great video, very clear. Being a fly on the wall in many online discussions, I've heard most of these points before, and try to take them to heart as a non-Jewish writer, making sure to include Jewish sensitivity readers to let me know if I'm doing it right or need adjusting.
(Goy here) Call the Midwife was a show that came to mind for me. There are multiple sub-plots over the years (while one-offs, almost all CTM episodes are one offs and very rarely is there any character follow up). Two episodes I can remember off the top of my head include an elderly couple who had survived the Shoah refusing to leave their flat which was about to be demolished, in part because one of them was dying, and in part because of past trauma regarding being kicked out of their home. The episode ends with the local Jewish community coming together for a very publicly Jewish funeral, which the Christian midwives attend respectfully. The second was much more complex in nature. An intergenerational household within the furrier trade are dealing with the pending birth of a new child, along with chronic lung issues stemming from living within the workplace. The Christian nurses didn't feel too white-saviour like because they were very much treating this family like they would any other diverse family they work with in the area (and culturally sensitive nursing and midwifery is a frequent theme in later seasons). The nurses very much worked to find the root of the family's reluctance to deal with the issues (the family patriarch learnt his craft from an extended family that are all dead, so there is a strong desire that he must pass on his skills to his son-in-law), but want to support the family, not solve the problem for them. Neither episode is perfect (in part due to the nature of a show about a Christian nursing order working in a multicultural part of London), but I didn't find either of them a poor representation.
I actually discovered a few years ago that my mom is a small part Ashkenazi Jew. (About 2-5% I think, she did one of those ancestry dna tests) It was pretty shocking to learn because what my maternal grandfather told me, my great grandparents immigrated from France and were in fact- French. Even the last name is very French, and my maternal side of the family was very proud of their French heritage. When my mother found out, she freaked out and made me promise as a kid to not tell anyone. The thing that confused me was how she was half Japanese, yet she was more ashamed of being found out as part Jewish than Asian. Though she does have much more Mediterranean features along with some stereotypical “Jewish” features, she was still ashamed to even tell anyone. She always insisted she was Japanese and French. As a kid, I didn’t even know what Judaism or being Jewish even meant until I went to college sadly. When I took Religion 101, it really did open my eyes as to why my mom refused to identify as Jewish.
I am not entirely sure a lot of Jews (I am one of them btw) would consider her to be Jewish either given that small percentage and if she has not converted formally.
@@s.e.m.7767 but lots of us would welcome her if she had interest and felt identification. Whether a rabbi would is another thing, but I don’t care about that. :)
@@paganodesignworks Yes absolutely! Just the lack of connection to the community and lack of interest would not necessarily mean that the percentage equates to being Jewish.
What a great video, thank you! I don't consume a lot of historical fiction, but I realize now I've never noticed or thought about Jewish representation in these pieces. Thank you for bringing this to light!
Thank you for an engaging and informative breakdown! I'm wondering if CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND may potentially be a good representation of Jewish identity/culture? While not the crux of the series, there are several episodes centered around the American Jewish experience, since the protagonist, Rebecca Bunch, is Jewish. Additionally, the characters of Rebecca and her mother Naomi are both portrayed by Jewish actresses, Rachel Bloom and Tovah Feldshuh. Would love to hear your thoughts!
Hope it's ok to share my thoughts on this (I should maybe get out of the comments after this too lol). In some ways, I love how Jewish it is, and that a lot of it comes from Rachel's actual Judaism, but in others, I feel like a lot of the Jewish stuff comes off as being disparaging in a lot of ways. like ugh Judaism is so oppressive and whiny and booooring. I will say though, even if she's not Jewish, Patti LuPone as a reform rabbi was literal perfect casting. I think Rachel also has another song that was very christmas is better, hanukkah sucks, and stuff like that makes me a bit sad, because it's pop culture that isn't highlighting what's good and beautiful about our traditions.
@@Ashley_tipsyshades I appreciate you sharing this, Ashley! I am not Jewish, so I value your perspective; it genuinely helps me approach our media with greater sensitivity and awareness.
RE: Mrs. Maisel - when I was on TT, there was one creator who I loved to watch her content - Milli not so Vanilli - and she pointed out that the woman playing Mrs. Maisel also put on an accent for the role, and was so disappointed when she pointed that out along with the fact that the actress isn't actually Jewish. There was actually a book that was part of my freshman English curriculum in high school titled Snow in August. It centers around a friendship a Catholic boy creates with a Rabbi, and how it changes the boys perspective on a lot of things. I don't want to give spoilers, but your mention of the golem reminded me of it.
I appreciate your video today, and your regular content as well. Within our local SCA, we have a number of individuals who work to be historically accurate Jews, and it isn't always easy. I've often shared your videos with them. What did you think of Unorthodox? I know it isn't a period piece, but I found it very interesting.
It's not only in historical fiction, I've also seen it in modern stories and portrayals. These can fall into different categories as well. 1) The comedic one, the Jew whose religion and culture only comes up as a joke. Think Howard from the Big Bang Theory. 2) The only Jewish character, whose only trait is being Jewish. Think the Roz from "Don't Ever Change" episode of House, were her beliefs in her faith almost prevented her from having her surgery. 3) The random Jewish background character. They grab a character that isn't as prominent, meaning a background character that might have a small scene or a few lines here or there and make them Jewish. They did this on ANT Farm, and I can't even recall his name. 4) They mention it once or twice that they are Jewish, but it doesn't EVER really impact anything about the character or story. Think Ron from Kim Possible, or Sam from Danny Phantom. 5) The one that isn't really Jewish, even when they say they are. Meaning, they claim to be Jewish, might do one or two things relating to the faith or culture, but nothing really else. Think Puck and Rachel from Glee, or Ross, Monica, and (apparently) Rachel from FRIENDS. I would have loved to see a character whose faith was important to them, but wasn't all that they were. Felicity from Arrow is actually a good example, she's Jewish and proud of it, yet it isn't all that she is. She will talk about practices or elements when they come up, and she doesn't let others talk down about it.
I’m late to the conversation, but the Golem and the Jinni is an awesome historical fantasy about a golem and a jinni who meet in 19th century NYC and form a friendship. It’s my favorite stand alone novel. Period!
Thank you so much for bringing this up! I've watched plenty of these shows and completely overlooked a lot of their deeper messages. My mother's family is mostly Jewish, but she and her siblings were not brought up in the community, nor were any of my closest cousins or myself. Your videos have been really interesting and enlightening to watch as someone surrounded by plenty of Jews, who feels connected but also very separated from the culture. Please keep doing what you're doing, it's so amazing!
I highly recommend "The Golem and the Jinni" by Helene Wecker... as the title suggests the two main characters are supernatural creatures whose tale intertwines as they each navigate their (immigrant) communities of New York in the late 1800s.
This book scared the hell out of me when I first read it in the 1980s. "The Tribe" by Bari (Prosterman) Wood. The Kindle version is not formatted well and the re-issued novel is expensive. Go for a used copy of the 1981 paperback.
Thank you for putting in all this effort to educate us, V! I hadn’t watched any of these, but it’s good to be better informed for critically looking at the shows I do watch.
Crazy ex-girlfriend has a main very jewish character played by a formidable jewish actress ! The show is a must if you like quirky-cringe-wholesome drama-comedy. Also the songs are very catchy. I watched it three times and listen to/sing the soundtrack often.
There is a Jewish actress here in the UK claiming that only Jewish people should play Jewish roles. If that is the case, do most people agree that non-Jewish roles cannot be played then by Jewish actors/actresses? I believe acting should stand on it's own and not be confined to religious persuasion of any kind.
have you seen the movie hester street? it's a period movie based on a novel about recent jewish immigrants in new york turn of the century it's really wonderful and feels so unique its made by jews stars jews and a good chunk of the dialogue is in yiddish highly recommend!!
Loved this! Thanks for lending your voice to this important conversation. I definitely wanna recommend Jojo Rabbit if you haven’t seen it yet - the main character is a goy, yes, but the Jewish character is my all time favorite representation, especially of Jews during the Holocaust. It’s directed by Taika Waititi who is Jewish, and he plays an extremely silly imaginary friend version of H*tler, which is so cathartic and funny. Also recommend Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik - fantasy but period and doesn’t shy away from historical antisemitism but is also not ONLY about that.
I always thought that there is nothing that H*tler would hate more than him being played in a cinematic blockbuster comedy, by a brown Jewish guy. THAT is a cathartic thought.
Thank you so much for covering this! I often struggle to express the complex breadth of reasons representation in tv and cinema matters. Particularly when a problematic token is the only depiction you get to see... yeah. This applies in many ways not just to Jewish representation, but also disabilities, lgbt (all three of which I fall into) as well other ethnic groups. It is so needed to see more people from more groups discussing this and how it effects them.
Tysm for giving good examples, it’s helpful since I can’t always discern for myself yet! I really appreciate your videos because I love learning about people and history regardless, but it’s especially important to me because I was probably even more miseducated on Jewish history, people, and Judaism from growing up (kinda fundamentalist) christian Even though I was forced to leave “my” church because of how they mistreated me I feel personally responsible for the many kinds of harm they and churches like them cause and I want to be better at addressing it (in myself and others). It’s also such a shame to have spent so much time reading Jewish scriptures and have so little understanding! For all the important reasons and also because I owe so much gratitude to you collectively for some of the few positive parts of how I grew up
This hit home. I'm your typical white girl, believing myself to be quite open-minded and actively trying to confront my own biases. I am also Austrian. So until Hitler happened, our history books should have been full of Jews. Thinking back on my entire education, Jews were only mentioned in relation to WWII. This goes to show how complete this genocide was. We have all this anit-nazi laws (banning nazi symbols and gestures etc), museums to warn of the horrors and have a lot of practices in place to attone for the atrocities committed by our (great)grandparents. Yet, we do not speak about the Jews or their accomplishments throughout history or their contributions to our country. AND I've never questioned this before. If that's not antisemitist brainwashing lasting for generations, I don't know what is.
Eye-opening video as always :) Thank you for educating me on my ignorance!
I’ve noticed the same in America (as far as I’m aware we don’t have as much Jewish history)
We rarely talk about Jewish people other than when we talk about the holocaust. Which is a damn shame as I see it. We don’t talk about the f’ed up Jewish stereotypes that had forced themselves into out media. We don’t talk about the literal nazi that Disney hired during the WW2. WW2. How’s that not messed up?
Even with catholic and Christian’s, there is so much hate towards Jews. Them not realizing that Jesus was Jewish, god went out of his way to “rescue” Jewish people. The overall faith was based and dependent on Jewish faith.
I very recently just saw a video of a pastor preaching to recreate (for lack of a better explanation) the genocide that caused the hate today.
Even on TikTok if you see someone complaining about racism there will be a European preaching that their glad Europe isn’t over sensitive like the US, refusing to recognize the amount of hate that Romani, Jewish, and Indian foreigners receive in the daily. The only reason there hasn’t been a mass riot yet, is because their afraid.
Shit, the US has gotten so bad that peoples actually acknowledging that it’s happening, and it’s been happening. There’s an add now. We have neo nazis everywhere. It’s honestly hard seeing how shitty it’s gotten.
They did a good job gaslighting and brainwashing you!
Lustig dass du das sagst weil die Österreichische jüdische Gemeinde, besonders in Wien, eigentlich besser organisiert ist als viele Deutsche Gemeinden. Viele meiner Freunde sind nach Österreich oder in die Schweiz ausgewandert
@@tamarleahh.2150 Ich muss ehrlich gestehen, dass ich von der jüdischen Gemeinde in Österreich erst etwas mitbekommen habe, als ich eine Zeit lang im 2. Bezirk Wiens gewohnt habe. Ich bin auf dem Land aufgewachsen. Juden waren nach meiner Erfahrung, ein Teil der Geschichten meines Großvaters und aus Geschichtsbüchern. Ich glaube, gerade in einem Land wie Österreich sagt das durchaus etwas aus - vor allem, wenn wie du sagst die jüdische Gemeinschaft hier besonders gut organisiert sei (war mir ehrlich gesagt so gar nicht bewusst).
Für mich ist das einfach ein AHA-Moment bezüglich meiner eigenen Ignoranz, eben weil ich mir vor diesem Video kaum Gedanken darüber gemacht habe :)
Non-Jew here! While I don't watch a lot of shows, I have noticed both the lack of Jewish representation ANYWHERE IN GENERAL and the token "Jewish content" that is thrown in around the start of the winter season in an attempt to be inclusive (and a rather poor attempt). I live in western Canada and it really feels like Jews only exist for Hanukkah and are put back into the box with latkes(it is always latkes and NOTHING ELSE) until next year. Yeah we're taught about the general awfulness of the Holocaust but nothing else outside of it. No good, just sad bad. I am ADORING your content because it's showing me more knowledge (and good stuff!) than I've ever been shown before and making me wanna learn more!
Ethnic, not religious, Jewish person here. I’ve noticed the same. As soon as December hits it’s like people remember Jewish people have holidays too. It seems like throwing the proverbial bone so Jewish people don’t feel “left out”. 🤨 Super annoying.
@@amandadavispomeroy I'd honestly prefer people just said Merry Christmas instead of the ambiguous "holidays" since Hannukah and Christmas rarely fall in the same time anyway, and they just really mean Christmas. They can wish Jewish people a happy Hannukah if they'd like, during Hannukah.
@@Blue74 I agree on all points!
Yeahhh I swear to god we have i other holidays and Hanukkah is not Jewish Christmas
Catholics only exist during Christmas, Lent & Easter what’s new.?
As a goyish person, I think one thing that's been standing out to me more and more is how much the "(goyish) white savior" narrative gets pulled. I think it may be less noticeable in stories told through books, while it's often still there; but in film, it becomes so obvious not only through the story itself but through casting and directing choices.
Another new-ish concept to me is the term "Shoah" instead of "Holocaust." I had an awesome conversation recently with one of my IRL Jewish friends about why "Holocaust" doesn't accurately describe, and even romanticizes, the event. I think it's so important that some Jewish people have chosen their own term for it, and I wish more goyish people knew about this name, why it's important, and whether it's okay / appropriate / wanted for goyish people to use it.
One of the things I really enjoy about "The Rabbi's Cat" is it's about brown skinned, Sephardic, MENA Jews. My mom's Jewish, I've grown up and still live in heavily Jewish areas, but media representation still leans white-coded and Ashkenazi.
If your mum's Jewish- so are you. Matrilineal descent rules
And then there were all the old Jewish Hollywood actors who changed their names to conceal their Judaism at all costs, including Judy Holliday, Kirk Douglas, and John Garfield.
One thing I loved about Ms. Fisher is the glimpses into other communities, like in Raisins and Almonds. Even if we don't go back, we know that these other corners of the world exist and continue, even if we only visit once or twice. But we need more representation across the board!
Be it known:
Through the Holy Spirit, God has put it on me to preach to those lost in the devil's deceit!
I tell ye, truly, Jesus of Nazareth is the propitiation for the whole world's sins. He is the anointed one, for he is, Jesus Christ. God the Father has raised him from the dead; who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God! Angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father, but by him. They who believe and are baptized with the Holy Spirit shall be saved; but they who believe not shall be damned. For they who believe not on him, shall die in their sins!
I tell ye now to repent of your sins, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit upon asking the Father!
There are *NO* sub-divisions of Christianity. You're either a disciple of Christ or not. A Christian is someone who follows God's word, not a religion. Who obey the Father and follow his will; not man's nor their own heart's. Unless you keep Jesus' commandments, think not the Holy Spirit will dwell within you!
They who heed this message and did what was stated with an open heart to God...
Read the Holy Bible (KJV) daily and every time before you read, pray to the Father and ask:
"Lord I ask that you give me understanding of your word, that I interpret it the way you want me to, and none of my own. I ask you in Jesus' name, amen."
1 John 2:2 KJV
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Acts 13:26-33 KJV
26 Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, *and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.*
27 *For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.*
28 And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.
29 *And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.*
30 *But God raised him from the dead:*
31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.
32 *And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,*
33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
John 14:6 KJV
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Mark 16:16 KJV
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
John 8:24 KJV
24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
Acts 2:38 KJV
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Luke 11:13 KJV
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
John 14:21-24 KJV
21 *He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.*
22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, *If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.*
24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and *the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.*
Revelation 2:9
[9]I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
I was a little disappointed that the episode didn't feature an actual performance of the song.
I’m 41 and when I was 13 I had a friend who was hesitant to tell me she was Jewish and it’s breaks my facking heart that someone would feel the need hide themselves and that this is present throughout history and today.
Yes because sadly Christianity is accepted but other groups are usually discriminated.
@@FirstnameLastname-my7bz Not everyone practices what they preach, and you know that. If they did, maybe we'd see fewer people hiding their Judaism.
@@MariaSanchez-kg2fl Lmao. Islam?
When I was 10, my friend told me that her mother being gay was the same as being Jewish. It was a big secret and I wasn't supposed to tell anyone.
@@onegirlarmy4401 this makes me so sad
Book Recommendations:
1. Herman Wouk (his WWII Saga is the best known, but all of his books feature Jewish characters; my personal recommendation is The Hope)
2. Aviva vs the Dybukk by Mari Lowe
3. Jerusalem Maiden by Talia Carner
4. John Baltisberger writes Jewish horror
5. Exodus by Leon Uris
Thank you for this video! I learned so much. As a poc, your points highlighted for me just how important intersectionality is in all of this. So many of our fights overlap, particularly the fight to be represented in historical media in stories that don’t center the trauma and violence perpetrated against us. I look forward to your future videos on this topic!
I am Jewish through matrilineal descent, goyische surname notwithstanding, and the first time I experienced real unfiltered antisemitism in my early twenties I was in shock. I was picked out by a catcaller based on certain of my facial features and my stereotypically dark curls (barf) and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Needless to say every subsequent incident has had me on edge.
I've grown more critical of Jewish representation in films and TV, even things I might have enjoyed at first, and...whew! The more you know, etc. As a playwright I've run into this as well: A play I wrote in conversation with The Merchant of Venice that centered the Jewish community surrounding Shylock (Shallach) and Jessica was considered but not chosen for a playwriting competition a few years ago. One of my current works in progress is based on my zayde's experiences during World War I, the interwar years, the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland, and the Japanese occupation of Shanghai (with references to the Shoah). How this latest effort of mine will be received I can't begin to guess, centering as it does a Jewish Resistance fighter who was tough and heroic through and through. (He was also very handsome [!!!], if that's of any importance.)
Books, films, and TV: I'm drawing a blank but will let you know if I think of anything.
(Warning for nasty language below)
My grandmother was half Ashkenazi and while I don’t look much like her, and the last practicing Jew in the family was her father, I’m proud of the connection. So when I was in high school and some redneck cousin of my friend called me a “lazy k*ke b*tch”, I knocked him on his butt right away. The school tried to pul the old “oh he doesn’t know what he’s saying, and your daughter should’ve just walked away”. My father (the one with a half-Jewish mum) looked the principal right in the eye and said “she did exactly what I told her to do if someone ever spoke to her that way. Now why don’t you call up that boy’s parents and ask them where he got that word from?”
@@o.mcneely4424 hate schools like that. He knew damn well what he was saying. He was in high school. They don’t have the luxury to shove it off and say he was just a ignorant kid.
Yasher koach! Please accept the blessings of this retired rabbi (with a degree in Apparel Design). I am such a fan and I’m kvelling from your wisdom and dedication to sharing the way it really was/is. Plus I love your hair. May you live to 120 in good health and go from strength to strength all the way. The world needs to hear your strong and vibrant voice! My fave part of the examples you shared was watching the scholarly character using his finger as a yad, reading from left to right. In my rating system, that merits a 5 “oy” review! Also, I recently read Raisins and Almonds. You might find it amusing and enjoyable. B’virkat shalom and gratitude, Rabbi Rita
there`s a german show called „charité“ that focuses on the titular hospital in berlin - it features a jewish doctor has has a great scene where he protects his newborn child from a forced baptism, and is portrayed as unambiguously correct for doing so!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for using your platform in this way. I have been talking about this FOREVER. I get so upset when nominally Jewish characters only express themselves to make a joke about how embarrassing Jewish identity is. The best example I have from the sitcom world is from Seinfeld when Jerry was dating a Jewish woman (Yay!) who kept kosher and then the punchline was that they tricked her into eating lobster and she gave up kashrut altogether. So frustrating!
Ugh! That reminds me of all of Howard in Big Bang Theory. Like every mention of his Judiasm was a stereotype and then almost inevitably enedd with something about him eating a cheeseburger
Really!? Ick! I'm glad I was never a Seinfeld fan then.
@@colindunnigan8621 I was just about to write the same thing.. Yet another reason not to watch Seinfeld
On the sit-com note, was 'The Nanny' good Jewish representation?
I love Spinning Silver! It is a fantasy novel whose protagonist is a Jewish woman who balances supporting her family with protecting her community from magical threats. The fantasy setting is based on central/Eastern Europe pre-1800 CE.
Ooh, I love historical fantasy. I'm trash for all fantasy, but historical fantasy is one of my favorites. Gonna have to check that one out
Put it in my library queue
Seconding Spinning Silver. My headcanon is that it takes place around 1400, and in that world, the Mongol Empire lasted about a century longer, and the Colombian Exchange happened about a century earlier.
I’m definitely gonna put this on my book list
I just starting reading it, and I’m finding it a compelling story so far!
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO!!! And it definitely did not disappoint. I wish I had some good representation of Jews in historical drams, but that is sadly not the case. Jewish people have been all but erased from history. Every time I take a history class I am reminded of this. No mentions of Jewish people ever. No mentions of how our oppression literally held up the European economy. No mentions of how significant Jewish oppression was in the Middle East. And when I bring it up with the teacher they say that there just isn't enough documentation or physical evidence of Jewish people (all lies, they really just didn't want to put in the effort to research us).
Once again, fantastic video!
I was kinda surprised to not see a mention of Yentl. My Mom was obsessed with this movie when I was little (I enjoyed the music but was too young to really understand the story). If you aren't familiar it's a Barbara Streisand passion project about a young woman who wants to pursue an education before that was available to women in her community. After her fathers death she disguises herself as a guy to attend a Yeshiva. It has some weird stylistic choices (Mandy Patinkin is in it and they don't have him sing! Why?! It's a musical!) I am curious to hear your thoughts.
Congrats on your new apartment!
I also wonder about your thoughts on Streisand and yentl. Also on most Jewish actresses with careers have had nose jobs and other kinds of plastic surgery.
@bennyamon3043 I once got into an argument on Facebook with two other Jewish women about whether the lack of representation of curly hair or the lack of representation of unaltered aquiline noses was more oppressive to us as Jews. Never mind that perms and straighteners, while a pain in the neck, are less invasive than surgery. And also, that there's barely any way of knowing how many actresses have had nose jobs. For example, much of the movie Keeping The Faith (2000) takes place in and around a large Jewish congregation, but we never see even one woman with an un-altered nose. Even for New York City, I suspect that's a bit much.
It's not so accurate but it's somewhat fun
I'm here for the costuming and *Jewish* history specifically. I subscribed after your video on antisemitism and the Hallowe'en witch costume. Since then, I've enjoyed your not Jewish specific videos, and I have absolutely treasured the ones where I have gotten to learn about Jewish history. Thank you for those especially.
It really bothers me how under represented Jews are in media and entertainment. Thanks for bring light to this issue SnappyDragon!
I've been looking forward to this video- your teasers via the shorts worked really well.
I read the first Anne of Green Gables book, (I'm Jewish btw), and I have to say that in the book, the peddler's Judaism isn't even mentioned until the part where Anne reveals her dyed hair and says that the person sold the dye to her was a "German Jew" which I think is pretty obvious casual antisemitism. Anne with an E creating a friendship with the peddler and humanzing him was their way of diverting that part of the source material. Which I appreciate.
I read a bit about how the producers handled the Native representation in the series (as I have a Native friend who tells a lot about Native history and sparked my interest in it) and the producers talked about how they wanted to avoid white washing of history and wanted to tackle these points in a more accurate and humanising way. I think they did a good job with it in general (even though I can see the point about the one episode thing for Jewish representation).
Actually, in the book Anne mentions he is a German Jew because Marilla said “I told you never to let one of those Italians in the house”. So, reflecting a different type of prejudice. Anne seemed to genuinely like the peddler.
@@amyscott9381 well yes, I know that. However I feel like the inclusion of him being a German Jew in the first-place was more a subversion of "you thought it was this evil, but it's actually this other evil" after all the peddler sold her false dye and its a stereotype for Jews to be tricky with money. I feel like that would have been a better subversion if it had been someone who wasn't marginalized.
Reading that and other books from that era (like Agatha Christie’s Mysterious Affair at Styles) I’m really fascinated by the fact that German Jewish people at the time were stereotyped as being patriotic Germans and were considered suspicious and suspected German spies
@@lenah9027 The Mysterious Affair at Styles was written in 1916, the middle of WW1. I read it a few weeks ago, and felt very uncomfortable with the casual racism, but my understanding (as someone from England) from what I was taught in history at school is that the horrific persecution of Jews was not happening in Germany until the 1930s. So for Agatha Christie, at that time, the idea that a German Jew would be spying for Germany would have seemed quite reasonable.
I'm a 25 year old German, and I still remember how in school, when I was around 12 or 13, a boy from my class used the word Jew (or rather Jude, because German) as an insult. Learning about the holocaust is such a big part of education in Germany and it is instilled in us constantly how antisemitism is bad, and yet this boy saw no issue with his behaviour. Whenever someone says that antisemitism isn't an issue anymore (and boy, do we love to believe that), I think about that boy.
I'm also queer and trans, and there are a lot of similar issues with representation there. There's a German movie coming out (or maybe it's already out, idk, probably) about a trans girl and her transphobic father. I saw the trailer a while ago, and my sister saw it as well. She asked me if I had seen it and expected me to be happy about the movie (because there aren't a lot of those around, especially German movies), and was suprised at my frustration. Judging from the trailer, the father seems to be the main character, so it's not the girl's story of coming out, but the father's story of learning to be less shitty. She's a side character in her own story! The girl seems to have little agency besides looking sad or scared, and the title of the movie (and ALL of the press around it!) even deadnames her. It's called Oskars Kleid (Oskar's dress). I don't plan on watching it ever, and I hate that I couldn't name any German movie (or any movie at all) with a similar story that is actually respectful to trans people like me.
Sorry for the side rant, it had little to do with your video. As a goy, I never thought much about Jewish representation, and I have to admit that, before I watched this video, I was about to unsubscribe from your channel. I can't really put it into words, but I kinda felt like you were "too jewish" in a way. I mean like, too loud about it, too angry, too demanding. But when I watched this video, and could really relate to it as a queer trans person, I realized my mistake. I don't even know why I felt this way, I should know better. After all, I'm very involved in social justice and I can talk all day about things that are important to me because of my identity and those of my friends. And when I do, I'm loud and angry and demanding, and I know that that's justified and I'm pissed when people think that me being emotional about a topic that affects me personally is somehow a reason why they don't have to listen to me. So I can't for the life of me figure out why I felt this way about you. I should have known better, I'm sorry. Also sorry for writing such an essay, if you or anyone else reads this, have a nice day!
Thanks for articulating this. A major problem in dealing with antisemitism is that it’s hard to find allies; it’s minimized a lot. Be well.
It’s awesome that you can come to this self-realization of yourself. It’s very hard a person to understand themselves and verbalize it as concisely as you have done it. Also, I agree with you a 100% about when I talk about social justice I do come across as angry but it’s impossible to not be when it’s very important and it’s highlights topics that suck and needs to be fixed.
Your mention of the peddler in Anne reminded me of Nellie Olsen's husband in the Little House on the Prairie TV series. His name was Percival Dalton, changed from Isaac Cohen, and at first they hated each other.
As a Jew , I cannot thank you enough for making this video :)
Same! ❤️
Pretending that you're underrepresented in Hollywood? Come on, man!
@caitlyncarvalho7637 I love that movie (dislike Clancy though) and never made the connection. Todah Robah for opening my eyes to that gaping omission.
@caitlyncarvalho7637 Between the defectors in the book/movie and none of them being Jewish, despite Jews defecting during this period. Clancy was very misogynistic, I would not be surprised if he wasn't anti-Semitic too.
@caitlyncarvalho7637 Have you read any of his books? That will answer your question. I adore The Hunt for Red October though, the book and the movie. However, after reading numerous of his books, his beliefs about women were sadly all too plain.
Please note I said 'dislike' and not hate.
Seperately, you made a lot of exellent, thoughtful points. As a writer, I think your descriptions of tokenism are particularly helpful, so thank you. In can be easy (regardless of the group being tokenised) to make anodyne nods to inclusion while avoiding making any real connection between the token character and the identity they are portraying. Your comments about the Sinderbys are a good example. I haven't seen much of Downton Abbey, but I'm aware of that subplot. I think, to people who know a little about Judiasm, you can see nods the writers tried to include, but your ideas are just as easy to include and far better representation, as well as educating to the audience -- which is, in many ways, the role of a period piece. Lots of details in period pieces are of interest to their audience because the audience is curious about the time period.
What I noticed after watching this was how badly the German approach on history lessons in schools served me when it comes to any marginalized group. At least as it was when I went to school.
It was a fully disaster focused approach. We learned about the wars, the genocides, the progromes, the starvation etc. but we rarely talked about the "good times' We basically had to infere these when learning how the Nazis destroyed Jewish led universities, or about the wealth stolen or how many Jews were shocked when their neighbours suddenly stopped treating them as part of the community.
So the picture these lessons painted of the jewish people in the history of my country is one of victims or sometimes survivors of atrocities thrown at them.
And while this means, that its easier to understand the dynamics of marginalisatipn and crime for example, when one learns that during vast periodes of the middle ages jews were not allowed to work in most professions, sometimes not even to enter the towns, and thus many turned to crime to survive. It also means that when I were forced to write a story about jewish people in any periode of Germany, I would envision them not multidimensional, but allways through this lense. I have no idea how a "happy jewish character" would even look like in this context. I think that's a shame.
The approach in German schools (when I attended) also was incredible victim focused, with Nazis almost being some form about aliens who disappeared in 1945 again. God forbit there'd be a chance of anti-Semitism still being a thing in Germany today.
Jews contributed so much to German culture. And the Nazi era destroyed all of that. :(
We as a society have lost something of our heritage, our cultural wealth.
And yes, I agree we should have learned more about Jewish culture in school.
@@cleverpaws9035 it was not that it felt like Nazis disappeared, when I attended school. But I was in school in the 90's when society just had to face Nazis burning down houses with refugees in them.
@@johannageisel5390 absolutly, we lost so much in terms of culture and science due to the Nazis, but also thanks to the previouse progomes and genocides.
I'm Jewish and trans. I notice how much historial record and fiction is based on and in our trauma. I think it's because of this lack of imagination.
I can’t tell you how grateful i am to have found your channel. You are one of the few youtubers i know of who talks about being jewish and i’ve never felt so seen before. My home state is nj, and i’m sure you heard what was going on a week or so ago. My synagogue made the news multiple times. While i dont live in nj at the moment, i was still scared shitless for my family that’s still there. I felt like my worst fear was going to happen. Thankfully, it didn’t, but with antisemitism on the rise over the past few years, i’ve had more than my fair share of antisemitic experiences and close calls with antisemitic violence. It’s terrifying, and i’m just so glad you’re helping to bring awareness to it.
In terms of recommendations for Jewish fiction, I don’t have much, but I thought Shira Glassman’s book The Second Mango was really sweet. It’s a whole series, but I haven’t read the rest of it yet. It’s a fantasy series, though, not historical fiction. I do have The Rabbi’s Cat, which i’ve heard is really good, but I havent read it yet. I also have a book about historical jewish fashion called The Jewish Wardrobe, which is SUPER cool and is the perfect theme for your channel 😊
Oh no, what happened? 😧
@@johannageisel5390 the fbi stated that someone online had made a threat to synagogues in nj and so advised those synagogues to heighten their security. Keep in mind, synagogues nowadays already have very high security, especially since the tree of life synagogue shooting a few years ago and the texas synagogue hostage situation earlier this year. I saw photos of synagogues with policemen armed to the teeth guarding the entrances. Thankfully, the person that made the threat is in fbi custody now.
@@simsley5501 Sad that the situation is so dangerous for you, but glad this guy was captured.
The Rabbi's Cat is so good! The characters are funny and smart and flawed. The background art is beautiful and detailed. It's a French graphic novel set in ?1930s? Algeria. IMO anybody over age 12 who likes comics should read the first volume.
I have a good story about something that took me by surprise a few weeks ago. My partner asked something about the whole witches burning children thing and the relation to blood libel. So I explained it and after that started raving a bit about your channel and things I had learned about Jewish religion, culture and history. And suddenly a friend I have known for quite a few years now opened up that he was from Jewish descendance but not considered Jewish because he got it from his father's side, not his mother's. That moment I realized I had forgotten about that group. The ones that have Jewish family and grow up with their traditions but are not considered Jewish themselves. I try to be an ally (or a decent human being) to the Jewish community so I took it as a learning point. I am now trying to figure out though if I am bad for not knowing this of my friend or good for making my friend feel like he could speak up. I probably should ask him that though.
I thought if you have a Jewish father AND are raised in Judaism, you alre also considered Jewish.
@@johannageisel5390 Interesting. I don't know honestly, just going of what he said.
@@laartje24 It depends on which rabbi you ask. Different types of Jews consider different things. (Source: I am also a patrilineal Jew, and I consider myself Jewish, but I know that many more orthodox Jews would disagree.)
@@johannageisel5390 that's true in Reform Judaism, but I believe you'd have to officially convert for Conservative Judaism and definitely for Orthodox Judaism. It would probably be a quicker version than if your family was gentile and you were raised gentile tho. From what I understand anyway; I'm the opposite, I'm considered a Jew by everybody due to matrilineal (as well as patrilineal) descent, but I wasn't really raised "Jewish" at all, so I'm learning about it late in life lol. So I could be wrong
I can only speak for myself but speaking as a patrilineal Jew I find expressions like “good ally” pretty cringeworthy. I don’t intend that to sound mean, btw. There’s no script to follow & no hard set of dos & don’ts, at least in my opinion. Jews have lasted as long as we have because we’re resourceful and adaptable. I can only speak for myself but I’d rather have a genuine friend than a performative ally.
What is Loxism?
The Australian series "A Place to Call Home." The main character is an Australian woman raised Catholic who goes to France and converts to Judaism when she falls in love with the man who becomes her first husband, a French Jew. She winds up in a concentration camp. She survives thinking her husband is dead and goes back to Australia.
There are very few series about people who convert. As someone born Jewish, also of mixed background, my father was a immigrant from India, I find this fascinating. Our religion doesn't look for converts, so unfortunately it isn't often portrayed in media.
Hmm. I'm Jewish-Latina and generally am ok with non-Jews playing Jews, as long as they don't play a stereotype and don't wear prosthetics. Also, having Jewish writers/directors in charge of those stories definitely helps. I think, pretty much, anyone who looks "ambiguously Mediterranean" can be cast as Jewish, Greek, Italian, etc more or less, as somebody who is frequently mistaken for Greek/Italian. Plus, Jewish actresses like Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman have no issue finding work that pays well.
I think it is easy to look at those examples but non of them have stereotypicaly jewish Features, when you look outside of the very goy passing, how manny actors you can name that aren't mainly redacted to stereotypicaly jewish roles
Jewish latina
@@satinstruthers9794 not in New York. Also, Sephardic people exist.
@@jacquelinealbin7712 but sephardic jews aren't necessarily Latinos
Can ANY of you ”Jewish” people prove you guys are SHEMITES after all, Ashkenaz is from the bloodline of JAPHETH.
The more one looks into this whole situation the more one comes to the conclusion we are being lied to.
Why do you call yourselves JEWISH? Because ”Jewish” is not in the Bible, nor is ”Israeli ” as opposed to an ”Israelite”
It's sort of a period drama, but something I only learned about recently was the history behind Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. I kind of knew it had Jewish inspiration, but I watched it recently and thought "damn, there's a lot of Christian symbolism in this film for something based on a Jewish story". And then I looked further into it and oh my, there's a whole lot of history erased in that retelling. The real history with Jewish brides being murdered on the way to their weddings to prevent them from having Jewish children. The fact that these women were then buried in shallow graves. All things I just had no idea about. It was one of my favourite films growing up, and now I'm quite uncomfortable with just how Christian Tim Burton made it.
I had no idea to be honest. Do you have material to research it? Would like to learn more about it.
Didn’t know. Thanks.
Oh my goodness I didn't know this! I used to love Tim Burton but the past few years I've started to enjoy it less and less because it's more and more obvious to me that he has an agenda. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't notice a lot of the criticisms beforehand, though I was quite young and had known nothing else but white characters. Once these criticisms were pointed out and I began unlearning a lot of stuff, and watching things with more diversity and stories that centred others important stories the more I realise that sort of stuff I used to watch is sooooo white and it feels strange to me now. I think it's boring if nothing else but honestly this is crazy that I didn't know this about the corpse bride! I feel like I've read more books that have centred Judaism in a positive way than I have watched on tv, maybe they need to do some better book adaptations!
@Caitlyn Carvalho I've never seen it, so I don't know
@@1lapmagic Who's the Jewish person?
This is an interesting and complicated video for me. So much of watching your videos and the videos of other Jewish creators here on CZcams as been an exercise in thoughtful contemplation. I'm not Jewish but that statement feels weird because one of my more prominent childhood memories in regards to Judaism is my mom noticing my brother had check out a book on Hannukah. My gut reaction was that she was about to say something wrong, like it was a book my brother shouldn't have. But that wasn't her response instead it was encouragement. That was the day me and my brothers learned we had a Jewish great-grandparent from Russia. I went from wondering if my mom was about to reveal she was secretly a bad person to wondering why she wasn't the one teaching us about Hannukah and other Jewish Traditions. Because my exposure to culture and heritage as a child was that it was important to know who we were and where we came from and it was our parents job to give us this knowledge. Why was I being told we had a Jewish relative but nothing about what that meant. The only answer I've been left with, and has somewhat been reaffirmed, is that I don't know because it was far easier to live in this country (USA) if you weren't Jewish. So that part of the family stopped being Jewish. They assimilated into Christian culture and married into Christian families and now it's a footnote. It feels like something was stollen from me but also like was never even mine to begin with.
My Jewish grandmother was disinherited and never spoken to by her family again after she married a non-Jewish Irishman. She still cooked the food but otherwise left the culture behind. My dad never learnt to cook until he was 60. When we visited granny and grandad it was at weekends, so we got classic British Sunday lunch or were taken out to restaurants. So the grandchildren didn't get any of the culture.
My great grandpa was a lithuanian jew and he, as well as his brother, were both disowned for marrying christians and I had always assumed that the jewish tradition of basing a child's heritage on the maternal line instead of the paternal one (hopefully an actually jewish person can come in and explain the details as all I have learned about jewish culture is from the internet and school and although I understand the logic behind it I don't really know how that can affect the treatment of children in mixed families) was the reason why they were disowned (basically, I thought that the parents of my great grandpa saw that as ending their family line or smth of that sort). I always knew I had a jewish ancestor but it never really had an impact on my life as our family was really far removed from that part of our heritage outside of some stories of my grandpa and his brother hiding from both the nazis and later the soviets
@@miglek9613 >muh ebil nutzees
O-Oy vey!
The Nanny, the TV show starred Fran Drescher, a Jewish woman, playing the lead main female character, Fran Fine. That's the only show I could think of where they have a lead female Jewish character.
I grew up in NY surrounded by Jewish culture. Though I am not Jewish, I absolutely swooned over Mrs. Maisel bc it was a throwback to so many tiny little things that I have never seen on screen before. I love how you have presented everything here and I agree with all of it. Antisemitism, just like racism and sexism and etc, is something that happens so often through lack of exposure between cultures/experiences and the ignorance that is bred in that environment. This was so well put across the board. Sharing it where I can.
@@Hcaz1113 Firstly, there is never a reason in the world to hate an entire culture based on a few practices that you disagree with and there is NEVER cause to question whether genocide was justifiable. Yes, I know what you are referencing and I agree that it is a practice that is outdated and should end. I will not defend it, since I have not researched anything about the history or origin of it, but it being a very old custom means it likely started for a reason that isn't dictated by modern sensibilities. Hurting children is obviously never okay. That being said, how many cultures have done things that are grotesque to children in the past and then realized that this isn't okay anymore later on? Should everyone in those cultures be murdered horribly because bad things used to be done? Should every American alive now be killed because some of them used to own slaves, plenty of which were children, and many are still disgustingly racist now and believe slavery should be reinstated?
Secondly, have you checked into the origins of the practice before deciding that every Jew should die? Or have you simply made assumptions and decided that your offense matters more than the lives of millions that suffered horribly? Based on your comment, I am led to wonder if you were simply seeking a justification for bias and hatred that were underlying.
Personally, I don't follow organized religion because, in my opinion, they hold to traditions with which I cannot reconcile my own morals and ethics. I also have seen too many instances where traditions (which frankly, are all made up things and for which I therefore hold no reverence) are either inappropriate and destructive (as we have been discussing) or simply outdated and not useful anymore except as something for groups to bond over. Also, religions can easily become too cult-y for me and suck people in to dangerous conditions while not being held accountable (again, as we have discussed above). However, my distaste for the dangers in religion, or disagreement with traditions and culture found therein (other examples being religions entering politics in the US while expressly forbidden in our constitution, and things in other cultures like female castration, child marriage, etc) doesn't make me judge every person within those cultures, automatically assume they are complacent and thereby complicit or believe that if atrocities were committed against those groups across the board that it could ever be deserved.
Please reexamine your stance in general. Thinking more before forming an opinion will do everyone good. Also, posting on a Jewish person's channel is trolling. It is childish. It is gross behavior and a clear indication that you are in fact part of the more serious problem that was being reviewed in the original video. Try harder to be better or go away and leave people in peace.
@@Hcaz1113 Again, I know what it is. I am not defending it. Try reading it. It might help you with some personal growth. If not, here is the TL:DR version: you came here to troll or you would have chosen another video/creator. You wanted a platform and to judge others and stir the pot. You aren't interested in discourse. I never said it shouldn't be a crime but using it as justification for the brutalizing and murder of millions of people is ignorant at best. (There were also not only Jewish people killed in the Holocaust, so how is it justified then?) Do what you want but frankly, I think it is either an excuse for hatred or just you recently learning about something you don't like and wanting to be praised for your outrage. Bother finding out the origin of the practice and why it has been allowed to continue. You can try Google for that too.
There's a German show called Babylon Berlin that has some Jewish characters in it. Not many because it's set in the 1930s leading into World War II but there have been a couple in seasons one and two. And it looks like season 4 has a new Jewish character, I just haven't gotten to see it yet.
Also for books, I haven't read it yet but I'm going to read 'when the angels left the old country' by Sacha Lamb. It was described to me as 'Jewish good omens'
I started that show ages ago and only got a couple episodes in. Time to go back to it! 😃
Great video! Another great musical besides fiddler that really chronicles Jewish life is Falsettos, there’s a pro shot floating around online. It follows a queer Jewish family in the 1980s as they deal with both queer and Jewish issues, particularly a bar mitzvah in the second act on the Jewish end. It’s a great musical and will make you cry.
Not technically about historical dramas, but I am noticing something similar in the fandoms surrounding specifically superhero comics and their adaptions. The subgenre of superhero comics are inseperately linked to American Jewish people - Peter Parker aka. the original Spiderman, Clark Kent aka. Superman and Bruce Wayne aka. Batman are Jewish. So are, for example, Harley Quinn, Billy Kaplan, of course Erik Lehnsherr aka. Magneto, or Wanda Maximoff (the latter being Romani and Jewish). Steve Rogers aka. Captain America is essentially an allegory for the Golem, and his sidekick (and later, friend) Bucky Barnes is at the very least coded to be Jewish. Yet, in the film adaptions there is a trend of these iconically Jewish characters not being portrayed as Jewish at all (or, if they are, like Magneto, they are usually cast with non-Jewish actors).
This reached a new kind of Bad with Wanda, aka. Scarlett Witch - the daughter of Magneto, who is canonically a survivor of the Shoah. The MCU films settled for casting a White, non-Jewish, non-Romani actress, Elizabeth Olsen, who has been criticized for using the anti-Romani slur starting with "g" multiple times. She has been using it after being informed that it is a slur too, so it's not a situation of "oh, she didn't know". Furthermore, in the MCU, Wanda and her twin brother Pietro (who, obviously, is also Romani and Jewish) willingly join HYDRA, which is a Nazi organization. This is, obviously, a horrendous choice, and it has never been fixed (in the contrary, it kind of gets worse and worse with every film featuring Wanda - with the film "Multiverse of Madness" even leaning into blood libel as a trope).
Jewish Superhero Comic fans (as well as fans of the genre who aren't idiots) have been calling out both Marvel and DC as publishing houses for their repetative antisemitism and refusal to make these iconically Jewish characters actually Jewish, but there is a huge front of antisemitic Marvel and DC fans who are almost systematically trying to silence the voices of the very community that created American superhero comics in the first place.
On the white-washing of Wanda: While all that is reprehensible, I am also very glad not to have a Romani woman named Witch in the MCU
@@cherylrosbak4092 that is absolutely fair, but I feel like it isn't reason enough to erase her Romani identity. They could have just renamed her superhero name maybe, or done something like with Zatanna (from DC, who is also Romani) and have her just go by her first name even in her hero persona. In general, the MCU handled Wanda terribly and continues to do so, and Marvel as a cooperation as well as many fans of the films continue talking down and even threatening Romani people who speak out against this injustice
@@medeaworbs6970^^^
@@medeaworbs6970 But in the comics Wanda is a complicated character, she can be a villain or a hero. She was first introduced as a villain to be exact, and for the twins joining Hydra in the movies I seen it as them being brainwashed.
@@GURILLAPUD whilst that is fair, it is still a really, really bad look to have Romani-Jewish characters join a Nazi organization, even if they were manipulated (which, in the MCU canon, is dubious). And the fact that the actress is an anti-Romani White woman remains an issue as well
To be fair to Dowton…Jews in early 20th century Britain absolutely played it down to the point of non existence-trying desperately to not be ‘recognized’ or bring attention to themselves. There’s….so many examples of this in actual Jewish families of the time….and…I don’t look Jewish. Would it be ok for me to play a Jewish character, or would I be called out by you that I don’t ‘look’ Jewish enough?
Historical fiction/fantasy book recommendation: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (and it's sequel!). It's set mostly in NYC during the 1890's, about a golem in the form of a woman and a male Jinni character (based on Bedouin folklore- kinda like a genie in a bottle) and how these two cultures of Jewish and Syrian communities interact in NYC at a time when many immigrants all came to America.
I loved that book and must find the sequel!
Ooh sounds like a good read!
Oh their is a sequel
I'm part of a Viking Age reenactment group and I'm Jewish, so I wanted to see if I could figure out a Jewish impression suitable for Anglo-Scandinavian Jorvik. AFAIK there are no records of Jews in England between when the Romans left and the Norman Conquest, however there is substantial evidence of trade between Al-Andalus and England and Scandinavia.
Partly inspired by your video on medieval Jewish clothes I am putting together an impression of an unmarried Jewish woman, of Andalusian origin (with connections to Radhanites) who resettled in Jorvik after travelling in her youth all the way to places like Baghdad, Constantinople and Jerusalem. My clothes will be essentially the same as Anglo-Scandinavian women's clothes, though I am using silk thread with my wool to avoid shaatnez and I particularly chose a yellow headscarf. I will also have a pendant made from a dirham (as well as having both dirhams and norse pennies in my money pouch), and I made a replica of the silk York cap, thought to have originated in Persia (and iirc a lot of Jews along the silk road were re-weaving it to a weight preferred by those in Europe).
Since things like garnets would have originated in India but were imported to Western Europe, this impression will be a trader in exotic materials, particularly gemstones and semi-precious stones (e.g. quartz and amethyst, pearls, local Whitby jet, carnelian and I will also have turquoise and lapis lazuli even if they aren't known to been imported). Due to the trade connections and status as a merchant, this will be a relatively wealthy impression, so I have fancy fabrics such as silk for my cap and herringbone wool that I will dye blue for my dress. For the name I have gone with Miriam bat Sarah/Maryam bint Sarah, or Maria of Cordoba.
The impression is not yet complete, I watched this while beginning the sewing on my dress funnily enough, but when it's done I'll have pictures on instagram ( der.wanderdiker.yid ) and I'll wear it to shows to get some Jewish representation for early medieval reenactment! Other members of my group (including a few other Jews) have been quite supportive about this, it's a mostly student-led reenactment group and we're also very disproportionally queer so there's no real resistance against more inclusive impressions like this.
Edit: broke it into paragraphs for readability
Cool!
My dad was born in 1942 and their neighbours (and my grandmother’s best friends) when he was growing up were Hungarian Jews who’d emigrated/escaped in 1938 to Australia. Through them my grandmother learned (and frequently used) quite a lot of Yiddish and that had filtered into the family - my dad, aunt, cousins and myself all have and tend to use Yiddish in amongst our everyday life.
I also grew up (I’m in my thirties) with Mel Brooks movies (technically could be considered historical in the case of men in tights and Dracula dead and loving it, and Mel casts himself so it’s a Jew playing a Jewish character but I also do recognise there are a lot of stereotypes in these roles). And fiddler has long been a favourite of mine.
I’m so thankful to these family friends who shared their culture with us and as a history student it encouraged me to sign up for a subject at uni about pagans, Christians and Jews from the classical period in Greece to the emperor Constantine.
As a queer person I find myself frustrated that historical pieces as standard are cisgender, white and heterosexual as standard as I find it so frustrating. There has always been a plurality in history, and to pretend otherwise is smallminded. I want to see more Jews, POC and queer folk in all media, but especially in historical media. I find it troubling how this lack allows problematic people to justify their own hatred as being “true to history” because that’s all that’s portrayed.
Thank you, I always enjoy your educative videos. I've lived quite a sheltered life, have few friends and don't remember having any Jewish friends.
About Miss Fisher, in the novels, some of the Jewish characters in "Raisins and Almonds" reappear in later books. It makes the stories richer to bring in past characters to have a more rounded story. And Kerry Greenwood just assumes that one retains the friends one makes when in sticky spots.
Thank you again.
Yeah, that's definitely one of the show's weaknesses compared to the books. And unfortunately it's a fairly common thing when adapting a book series into an episodic tv show.
Consider yourself BLESSED. I was surrounded and isolated by them for years. Learned everything from the Inside. Worked for, lived with, surrounded. I could tell you true stories about the deeds and words of said people that would make you laugh in disbelief and then cry as you realized I haven't spoken a single lie. Then I can add the videos I've seen, like a family spitting on a church door, unaware of the security camera, and others just like it.
I would trade places with you in a heartbeat, but then, I am very well equipped to "deal" in any place or situation I find myself in. Funny thing is, they are nowhere to be found now, as I asked too m any questions and commented too often when I observed misanthropic behaviors. No book will ever replace real life experience, and I am world travelled, and yes, I've been to Jerusalem too.
I love you! You combine two of my favorite things: period dress and Jewish history (Plus you look like a combination of my sister and my daughter!). Thank you so much for this video. I think it is timely and appropriate, and I hope it gets a lot of views far and wide. Thank you for braving this subject in your unique way.
Book suggestions: I think you would love the Rashi's Daughters series by Maggie Anton. They are historical fiction based on Rashi's actual three daughters. They are filled with fascinating details about the lives of these women and their families, including excellent descriptions of their clothes, even to wedding finery and jewels, maternity wear, and birth control options (gasp! sh!). I also highly recommend The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant. It is historical fiction about Dinah, Jacob and Leah's unfortunate daughter, and also goes into detail about the women's daily lives and relationships. It was made into a TV miniseries in 2014. Mustn't forget The Chosen, by Chiam Potok (no, not the Jesus show, this came first). It is a coming of age story about two Jewish boys in Brooklyn, one Chasidic and one Reform, and their unusual friendship. It was made into a movie in 1981 and a stage play in 1999.
As for my thoughts on movies: Dirty Dancing! Baby and her family are Jewish, as are the owner of the resort and most of the other guests, both good and bad. Baby's family seems to be secular, but the owner talks about Bubbe and Zayde starting the hotel, and how the family struggled to serve kosher food during the depression era. The TV mini series Holocaust from 1978 is excellent and is free to watch on CZcams. Young Meryl Streep is the German wife of a German Jewish artist. It starts with their wedding and follows their two families through the events in Germany and Europe in the 30s and 40s. On TV it seems there is always at least one "token Jew" (cringe) in every show. Don't forget that Ross and Monica Geller on Friends are Jewish, as is Rachel Green, hence Phoebe's questionable Chanukah song.
Things that make me furious: The MCU has whitewashed several canon Jewish Marvel characters. Most notable is Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr, who received his powers when taken to a concentration camp during WWII, and who has been played by Sir Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender, neither of whom are Jewish. Then there are his children, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, aka Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver, who would also be Jewish as Magneto's children. The MCU has not only removed their Jewishness, it also took away their father and their mutant powers (giving the powers back as a result of expirimentation by Hydra) when it retconned their story to make it fit the Avengers storyline. Did you know Spiderman, Peter Parker, is coded to be Jewish in the comics? They never state it blatantly, but there are many hints. However, he has never been portrayed that way in any of the Spiderman movies. Finally, and most frustrating to me, is the recent addition, Moon Knight. Marc Spector is outright Jewish. His father is a Rabbi. So did they get any of the many wonderful Jewish actors that I'm sure are looking for work in Hollywood to play this known Jewish superhero character? Nope, they got Oscar Isaac. Okay, so he's a tiny bit Jewish on his father's side, but he certainly wasn't raised Jewish, and it only came up because of all the fans complaining about the casting. Oscar Isaac is an amazing actor and he did a terrific job playing super complex Moon Knight, but I'm still salty about it. Disney has made such a big deal about being inclusive and ethnically accurate in their projects lately that it boggles the mind for them to do this. I mean, they got an ethnically accurate girl to play Kamala Kahn/Ms. Marvel, and that had to be harder, right? Okay, that's it. I'm getting off my wobbly soap box now. Carry on. I'm looking forward to more of your fun and educational content!
A few things:
Growing up my mother always told me we were jewish (even though we didn’t go to synagogue or practice the faith) so when I told my classmates they would say ‘you can’t be jewish if it’s not your religion’. This has completely skewed and shaped my constant struggle and internalised antisemitism even into adulthood. It’s so casual and even innocently said at times, but like any other identity denial it can be incredibly harmful, and then when the mass majority of representation is either as villainous stereotypes or weakened sufferers (mostly portrayed through films about the war which is a whole other frustration) it becomes representative of how you see yourself! I am dying for a happy story just living life!
Secondly,
Token Jewishness is such a thing particularly within the superhero universe as well (what comes to mind is recently because I’ve watched it recently is Moon Knight. Unless I had read the comics or the wiki I wouldn’t have known he was Jewish until the ONE episode where they explore his past and even then it didn’t register until he said the word “shiva”. Because yes like Snappy Dragon elegantly said, these characters are not being shown as full rounded characters who ARE Jewish, they are being shown as characters who happen to be Jewish. Also, Hollywood has such a horrible time with the Jewish mother stereotype that is infuriating and to relate to my previous point, did not help my friends as a kid to see my mother as not a stereotype just because that’s what their expectations of a Jewish mother to be like… makes a kid pretty isolated.
Lastly,
(Honestly there is way more but I want to live my own happy Jewish lady life 😂)
Books and tv recommendations: BatWOMAN the comics not the tv series actually is a really well rounded Jewish character, and the comics are just brilliant in general. This could be done better, but in the DC Arrow tv show/comics due to characters like Felicity and in later seasons Rory aka Ragman are pretty interesting representations of different people who are jewish. I find them interesting because Rory very much grew up Jewish and knowing the Torah and a lot of even the folktales throughout jewish culture, whereas the way Felicity is portrayed she seems more like she grew knowing she is Jewish and growing up with the paranoia and pragmatism that has been interwoven into the generational trauma of her heritage. It’s interesting to be able to see the different kinds of Jewish there can be on the same screen.
I can’t wait to see what other media everyone else has recommended! And thank you @SnappyDragon for this video, it is amazing and thoughtful and just thank you so much. ❤
Amen! Thank you!!!
I am so sick of the villains looking Jewish :( and or Romani, or just southeastern Europe... As a kid, it was painful to always look like a villain.
And it's not written about much, either the anti-semantic or the anti-Romani... (And anti southeastern European?) It is swept under the bridge. I tried to find a list of Jewish-coded villains and Romani-coded villains but I couldn't find one outside of Disney even though I noticed it everywhere. That new movie the Princess has the "dark" villain. It is everywhere!
And you are so right. So many good stories are out there. I have a former coworker who's Roma's Grandma who escaped the devouring with young Jewish folks. It would be a fabulous movie! They hid in the forest together. The idiots didn't think they would work together even though the two groups have been intermixing for centuries.
Oh, and did you know there were a bunch of Jewish folks from New York and Pennsylvania who fought in the American Revolution? That would be a cool movie! I think they were Italian-Jewish folks too if I remember correctly from what my dad said.
And I have yet to see a positive, accurate Roma character played by a Roma person come out of Hollywood. I have only ever seen one none stereotypical positive Romani character in mainstream American media. Just one. And the actresses wasn't Roma. It is terrible.
So what I am trying to say is again thank you for this.
Hi! I would like to know your opinion (if you have any) on Roberto Benigni's Life is beautiful (La vita è bella): a Shoah movie where the main character is a strong and funny father who wants to save his child from the horrors of a nazi camp by pretending that it is a sort of game. I know that it has been accused of being a "cheesy" movie, and some people tend to say that it is insofferable and even offensive, but I also noticed that those are the same people who only appreciate grim and disempathic representation of life and despise the concept of "good people with good feelings and behaviours existing". I would really love to know your opinion on this movie, and I really hope that you weren't skipping it on purpose because it is considerer universally bad or something that I didn't know (if so I am sorry for bringing it up, please ignore me and forgive the gaffe). Thank you for this video, it was extremely interesting!
My home Ren Faire is an incredibly open and accepting place, with no time for bigotry and with tolerance for everything except intolerance. The character director is Jewish, and there are generally at least a few Jews on cast (not the same ones, the lineup always changes). We have, at least of late, avoided active antisemitism and anti-Jew stereotypes, so far as I can tell (do not take my word on this as absolute truth; I often don't notice things). BUT! The Jewishness of the actors never translates to Jewishness of characters, nor have there ever been any Jewish characters of any kind. Everything you said here about acting at the Dickens Fair perfectly put words to what has bothered me about that for years now. And sure, some folk will absolutely seek to make the argument that "there would be no historically accurate way to have Jewish characters in a small 1500s English village without also portraying active antisemitism". But considering that this Faire has gotten openly queerer and queerer every year, has women owning businesses and offices of power regardless of marital status (and often but not always wearing trousers) and also fighting, and casts actors of colour in pretty much whatever role without regard to what some might perceive as "historically accurate or realistic", there is no room for that argument even if it were true (which I'm not convinced it is, anyway).
i want to thank you. your videos helped me re-establish my own relationship with Judaism. my (disgusting) father kept me and my siblings cut off from my mothers' side as much as possible, which was extra easy with her Jewish aunts/uncles/piblings (i didn't even know they *were* Jewish until after I left). but watching your videos, specifically the ones that center around Judaism, felt like coming home.
i had already been learning about Jewish practices, stories, issues, laws, etc. to support my friend(s), but your videos helped me realize i was supporting myself, too. thank you v
Welcome home!
Anytime you want to talk about a topic like this please never shy away Snappy, because we want to hear you ♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎
Agreed, Snappy has taught me so much and I look forward to every new video!
(note: I am goyish and I haven't seen this movie since I was a kid) I feel like The Prince of Egypt definitely deserves an honorable mention for the fact that is an animated movie dealing with such heavy topics. While the majority of the voice cast seem to be Goyish from looking at wikipedia, just seeing story with brown Jewish people escaping the horrors of s**very is def worth discussion. The scene I remember most impacting me was when Moses discovered what happened to the Jewish children and Seti saying "They were just sl**es" as Moses slowly backs away.
Thank you so much! This is one movie that I've willingly rewatched from my Christian childhood. It hits hard but I think it is a movie worth watching even when young.
Did you really watch it? I am a little disturbed by how many songs about killing babies there were! It even starts with a song of killing babies and then it sets the main character to be eaten by crocodiles only to be passed off as a royal baby that didn’t include a pregnancy, all after a little torture porn directed towards the supposed Jewish extras. Also, the one black actor plays Jethro, who is represented as exotic and foreign. It all sort of feels like the Christian telling of a Jewish story, and lacks nuance and culture.
Now I know you didn’t see any of this when you watched this movie and thought it was good. But watch it again looking for how the treatment of Jews is portrayed in this movie, and if it might not have had to go so far while still telling the same story.
I could write a whole essay on why I hate this movie, and how people who liked it must be ignorant. But you watched this video, so you must just be someone who didn’t see all this because they were looking at it differently.
@@claireleblanc5471 I did comment before watching the video. I will admit that I did watch it from a (very, unfortunately) Christian perspective. While I have no intention to watch the movie again at this time, if I do in the future I will do as you commented and see it from a different perspective. I didn't realize what race, culture, etc. That the actors were so it did not cross my mind that they had cast only one actor of color in the "exotic" role.
However, I do have to point out that the story of Moses (and Jesus) starts with the killing of children and babies. Perhaps I just had a great religious studies teacher and friends who could take this movie and turn it into important conversations on the persecution of Jewish people (and later Christians, because America).I think if they had toned that down, it would have ommited a really big reason for the turning of Moses and the uprising of the Jewish people.
@@katesclabassi3857 Fun fact about the movie:
in the role of Miriam(moses's mother) they realy wanted an israeli singer, and the singer they have casted turned out to do such a good job they dicided to have her do the role in every language the movie was dubbed.
also, as a jewish person, i realy liked the movie. it has its problems but overall it is a good representation of the story that most of us were raised with and most other jewish people i know that watched that movie never seemed to have a problem with it representation wise. plus it's great to see representation of not white ashkenazi
jews outside of israeli media. (NNES)
@@claireleblanc5471 I'm Jewish, and The Prince of Egypt is one of my favorite films. Yeah, the "killing babies" bit is horrific - but that's literally a MASSIVE part of the history/story (whichever you choose to believe) behind the book of Exodus.
Antisemitism has been constant throughout history, but somehow people don't think it's something that still happens. The synagogue in Texas that had its rabbi and several members of the congregation taken hostage? That was my oldest friend's synagogue. When I turned to other friends to help release my worries about the situation, a few of them reacted with "wait, that kind of thing still happens?" The most commonly committed hate crimes in the United States are antisemitic, but the population at large //doesn't know that.//
So when I see the persecution, enslavement, and essential torture of Jews in The Prince of Egypt? I appreciate that not being toned down any more than required to be considered a "children's movie." I think several of the scenes are well-written, well-acted, and impactful.
And finally, at the very beginning of the film, The Prince of Egypt acknowledges that their rendition of the story is not necessarily accurate to the Torah, but that they hope the representation is respectful of what several religions and cultures across the world believe.
This is an interesting thing for me to ponder as a writer of film and television. As a cis white American woman, there is the concern that I'm "stealing" someone else's story. (This is a concern for numerous devise communities) That I don't have the knowledge or experience to tell a story accurately. If I'm a showrunner of a TV show, I feel it would be important that my writers' room have a diverse group of people so that all different aspects of the stories we want to tell are represented, but when I'm writing a pilot or a screenplay, it's just me, so I have to pay extra attention to how I go about introducing characters whose stories I might hope will get told later. I appreciate your input though, and I plan to carry it with me as I move forward writing my many scripts. Thank you.
I admit that's a worry I have when I'm working on a book. One reason why I write mostly fantasy. But still, I want to make it more diverse and spend a lot of time researching different cultures etc. so as not to fall into stereotypes.
Thank you for this important presentation.
There is at least one English-speaking movie featuring a young Jewish woman facing the concerns of being Jewish in early-mid twentieth century NYC: Hester Street, starring Jewish actress Carol Kane. If you haven't seen it, it is worth watching.
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik has been a longtime favorite of mine! It was the first fantasy/fairytale retelling that I read where I truly felt like I saw myself in it. Especially when so many western fairytales and fantasy tropes lean on antisemitism, it felt like a reclamation reading Spinning Silver. It was beautiful.
In both Spinning Silver and Uprooted, Naomi Novik uses a lot of Polish folklore to build her stories. It's incredibly refreshing.
Yesss I came here to comment this as well! It's one of my favorite books
@caitlyncarvalho7637 that's definitely interesting, and as a native German speaker I agree. However, I don't quite understand what this has to do with my comment?
I do find it rather intriguing that Christians historically persecuted Jews when the Bible says to not judge others since that's God's job
Not jewish, but grew up with the Faraway Island series by Annika Thor which were later damatised, though I doubt it’s possible to find with english subtitles. It’s about a refugee girl from Vienna who comes to Sweden with her little sister in 1939. They’re kid’s books but I reread the first one this spring and I think they still hold up for adults.
The author grew up jewish which was all I could find on google.
And I think it definitely impacted me (positively I hope) given that one of the first jewish characters I consumed in media was another girl around my age who I could relate to.
This is really interesting, and something I kinda overlooked. And with what you said, it's true that a lot of Mediterraneans have features that are generally thought of as Jewish, being as my mom and I regularly are mistaken for being so (we have no Jewish ancestry that we know of), and it is still very important that Jewish characters are played by Jewish actors!
I thought jews were very dominant in hollywood for a minority group here. And yeah people who look stereotypical Jewish but aren’t. They are usually Palestinians and some italians that look it
@@MariaSanchez-kg2fl I'm Sicilian on my mom's side, so yep.
@@MariaSanchez-kg2fl Jews were shut out of other professions so pretty much founded Hollywood to create jobs for themselves. Hence, the overrepresentation.
I really appreciate that you make content about antisemitism, it helps me be a better ally to my Jewish friends and loved ones.
I grew up in a New England town, most people were Jewish, most my friends were Jewish, I was an active participant in their celebrations as they were our Chinese ones. I think we got along well because we have some shared similarities like both recent genocides such as the Holocaust and Mao. I didn’t really understand it until I left for college, when I realized how antisemitic the rest of the US is. I struggled a lot with seeing the negative portrayal Jewish people in the media and popular culture and wondering why that was so incongruent with my lived experience in the Jewish community. It also mirrored my own experience with anti Chinese and anti Asian racism, especially in the past ten years.
In Germany maybe you’ve heard of this program, I think it’s called meet a Jew, where young goyim get to meet up with Jewish people, since there are so little Jews remaining in Germany that many Germans have basically no first hand experience with Jewish people, and only really know about Jewish people in the context of the Holocaust. So this program is working to humanize Jewish people, it’s really cool, I would recommend checking it out. You remind me of a sort of version of this, considering how few Jewish people there are in the US and outside the northeast, I have a feeling you may be the first/only Jewish person some of your audience members know. Love your videos I always learn so much.
It's amazing that you've never considered that you're living on formerly Native American land. What do you think happened to the tribes who lived on the land you grew up on? You're bringing your issues from other continents to the North American continent and never acknowledging the attempted genocide of Native American tribes that make your life possible and safe. Do better.
Thanks V, for sharing another super insightful rand with us! I start to understand the link between antisemitism (as an extreme version of the overall lack of inclusion in our society) and what we see in TV series and movies. In that sense, your comment about a happy Jew in a production is a strong one, for me.
Interesting video! I'd heard of the other points before, but I must admit I hadn't previously noticed non-Jewish actors being cast in Jewish roles. I'll definitely keep an eye out for that in the future.
I'm not sure I'd recommend it (the first book in particular leans into American exceptionalism, there's some real "wow, this was written by a white dude" moments, and the amount of historical fact-checking involved varies depending on the author), but Eric Flint's 1632 series features several Sephardic characters. It's an alternate history where a West Virginian coal town circa 2000 lands in the middle of the Thirty Years War, and some of the first people from the past they run across are Balthazar Abrabanel, who has just been kicked out of Amsterdam's Jewish community for heresy and who is also having a heart attack, and his daughter, Rebecca. Both of them (and many of their far-flung relatives, the most important of whom is Francisco Nasi, who becomes the town-then-country's spymaster) are heavily involved in forging ties between the town and the world around it. I really enjoyed Rebecca as a character - she had a really interesting perspective on events - and also really liked that the books did not shy away from her being Jewish and how that's shaped that perspective. I also really liked one of the later books mentioning that, despite her conflicts with the Amsterdam community and being married to a gentile, Rebecca was still observant (including keeping kosher).
I don’t often watch historical fiction shows. i’m not jewish. However even within non historical fiction tv, the only main character I can remember in which their Judaism was actively apart of their character and character development was in “Andi Mack”. Also, when groups are excluded from historical fiction, It definitely sends the message that in a perfect fictive worlds, minoritized populations do not exist.
Ok I thought I was losing my mind because no one else was talking about Anne With an E!!! He's the only marginalised character who gets NO CLOSURE OR FUTURE, OF ANY KIND - he just shows up, is a Sad Downtrodden Jew, gives a child a faulty batch of hair dye, and then gets CHASED OFF THE PROPERTY by Marilla like a DOG.
What bothers me most about the Mrs. Maisel casting is that they dyed her hair dark for it so she would "look Jewish," then most of the blonde women characters are either stated to not be Jewish or the show makes a big deal out of them being converts. Mrs. Maisel puts on a strong, stereotypical Brooklyn accent even though her character grew up in a wealthy Manhattan neighborhood, and neither of her parents have that accent. They cast a non-Jew and then used stereotypes to make her seem more Jewish.
Edit: For the Ren Faire this year, I dressed as Virdimura, a 14th century Italian Jewess who was the first licensed female physician in Sicily. Some good Jewish fiction: The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish, The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott, a few books by Alice Hoffman (I think The Museum of Extraordinary Things, The Dovekeepers, The World That We Knew, and The Marriage of Opposites), The Orchard by Yochi Brandes. Chaim Potok is great for post-WWII Jewish fiction that isn't about the Shoah. There's a series called Rashi's Daughters by Maggie Anton that I haven't read yet but seems promising. I'm finishing up the manuscript for a Jewish fantasy novel that takes place in the 19th century Pale of Settlement, with a portal fantasy world based on medieval Jerusalem
The Weight of Ink is really well written, fascinating, insightful, and very human. Female character with a ton of agency - even if her circumstances are highly restrictive.
Rashi's Daughters are really enjoyable! I accidentally read them out of order, but they were really enjoyable. And I'd also recommend her Rav Hisda's Daughter books (though, the second book starts leaning into more magic stuff, which I appreciate is pulled straight from Talmud, but not my favorite representation of historical fiction with magic).
So happy to find other's who have read the weight of ink! I loved it and would love to have more novels of that sort.
There is now hate speech in the comments. Everyone, don't forget to report it.
Ms. Rosbak,
How does one report hate speech?
@@robertajeanrogers7623 See those three dots to the right of the comment? Click those, then report, then hate speech.
CZcams doesn't remove antisemitic comments, in my experience
Unfortunately it is still here a month later. I reported them again even though the youtube report system is a joke.
As a goy and a costumer, I'd love to see more representation because I know I don't know jack shit about the people, the attire, etc etc XD I loved when you did your video on the historical costuming because I'd never seen that before and it was so awesome
I'm not Jewish but I've had Jewish friends and acquaintances in the past. I remember talking to someone about a third party being half Jewish, and then Karen butts in with " Jews are a religion" . I said yes, it's called Judaism..... I had to explain to miss Karen that there are jews of different ethnicity and culture, and some jews may not be particularly religious... and may marry and have children with non jews.
This is where half jews come from..... Sheesh, anyway, I appreciate your hard work Snappy Dragon.
@@deespaeth8180 I once worked with a girl who blew up at me angrily when I happened to mention in passing that Jesus was a Jew. She was very distressed by the news. Apparently, the nuns who ran her school had forgotten to teach about that bit of the story.
Whereas I always wondered how Christians (I'm one) could hate Jews since Jesus and his mother Mary were Jews.
@@annbrookens945 so the reasoning is complete bullshit but according to christianity jewish people killed jesus and as a result christians seek revenge against jewish people
@@annbrookens945 in the middle ages jews were blamed for Jesus' death...
As an Israeli jew it's interesting hearing your experience. And I just realized that all the jewish historical books I've ever read were about the shoa and WW2
I would recommend the true family history _The Hare With Amber Eyes_ by Edmund de Waal. The story involves Jewish families in Paris, Vienna and Tokyo and a lot of _netsuke_ - brilliantly written.
@@pattheplanter maybe that's why I've found sooo many copies of it in Tel Aviv at used bookstores (I have it, but still haven't read it yet). Thanks for the push!
I caught that Dara Horn reference! That book is easily one of my top reads from this year followed "Jews Don't Count" by David Baddiel.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is one of my and my family's favorite shows since it came out but it's still disappointing that more Jews weren't cast in the main roles.
I was also going to recommend “Jews Don’t Count” by David Baddiel.
Have you seen the call the midwife eps dealing with Jewish communities? They also regularly bring up Yiddish Culture in early 1900s poplar. Its done SO PERFECTLY. For reading I also rec Rashi's Daughters
Rashi's Daughters -- great call!
Rashi's daughters, and her follow ups, Rav HIsda's Daughter/The Enchantress!
The Unfinished Corner is a graphic novel that does a FANTASTIC job portraying a wide variety of ways to be Jewish, has an incredibly engaging story based on Jewish folklore, and made me cry 3 separate times for different reasons each time (at least one was happy tears). Cannot recommend enough.
I recommend The Pianist. Have you watched it?
(Am goy)
I really feel the need for films of "happy Jews" and Jewish resistance. I remember watching one of the X-Men films in the theater with one of our Jewish friends and he was exasperated with a Magneto childhood flashback (his childhood in a concentration camp). The story was also focused on Magneto living in a rural area of Poland as an adult, with beautiful ethnic art in his home. When we left the theater, our friend mentioned his frustration, knowing Magneto's history, but wanting a story with a different backstory.
With all the changes with MCU timelines, we can have a Magneto born in the 1960's with different experiences about his Judaism and Polish heritage.
Now I'm curious, were the Jewish characters in Seinfeld all played by Jews?
I’m really grateful for your channel because it has opened my eyes to a wider, more truthful vision of history. As a goy and former history teacher, the curriculum largely ignores the plights of marginalized groups. I’m ashamed to admit that I’m uneducated in the plight of the Jews outside basic textbook information. I’m eager to learn more so I can be a better ally and advocate. This video has given me lots to think about.
As a non-Jew, I'm sorry to say that I was unaware of how few positive portrayals of Jews are in these dramas and how many of the roles that do exist are so stereotypical or underdeveloped. I also did not realize that more Jewish characters aren't portrayed by Jewish actors and actresses.
I enjoy your videos whether they are historical discussions or costuming videos. I look forward to learning more as well as seeing more of your lovely garments.
I am unfamiliar with looking for Jewish characters in fiction, but will definitely keep an eye open for them in the future. I do know of a historical account written by a seventeenth century Jewish woman that I read while researching female merchants in college. It's called Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln. I learned so much about not only her career but also her family life from that book.
I'm pretty sure I've commented before mentioning this, but my matrilineal line was Jewish (...was) but, due to several things (mainly the war & america being so anti antisemetic that my maternal grandmother never ever talked to her daughter-aka my own mother-about ANYTHING to do with how she was raised, her religion, the history of how our family had rabbinic scholars back in prussia & austria, or how the other side of the family escaped the pogroms, etc) so a lot of my mum's knowledge of her jewish heritage and identity (and as family of redheads, too!!) came from some research she was able to do as an adult, by tracing last names etc but before that it was.... well... cringey as it sounds, it came from books, movies and tv. Because her mother refused to tell mum or her 4 brothers anything.
I've personally been raised in New Zealand, and there isn't a lot of Jewish folks here (at least where I live... well, not anymore, at least 🥺) the only thing (barring tv and books and movies etc) that we have as a link to that part of our family history, besides DNA, has been food (though none of which have had their original names, incidentally, as that was also sanitised away as if the name of a thing wouldn't really matter at all .... //heavy sarcasm) but the whole movies and tv and books thing being someone's only exposure to (especially) jewish culture is, of course, Much Problematic!!! which my mum, luckily, recognised as she got older, and as an adult, having done more family history and gotten more answers (including about how the last names were anglicised, sigh) she has always strived to find (as a primary school librarian!) books written and illustrated by Jewish authors & artists that she used to read to me as a kid, because it's not only more accurate to use books written by people who have such heritage as their own, but because it values, elevates and gives a voice to people's lived experience and values the heritage of things they have been told and brought up with. There is nothing worse than being raised without the culture, language and teachings of your ancestors, and it can take generations to fix.... or solidify as "lost" forever, if no one takes the steps to hold onto what matters most... but with how some were treated? I can't even blame them for giving up their religion & cultural identity just to survive. It hurts, sure, but I get it.
For what it's worth, I agree 100% with what you say so much, and appreciate learning even small amounts. I think that the first time I realised, as an adult, that there has been increasing and fast-growing antisemitism was when my _German_ world colleague, whilst disparaging Roma/Traveller culture (which I was horrified by, as my best friend is Romani and has had the disgusting stereotypes and g-slur used against her for literally her entire life which even still angers me like nothing else, but I digress), when I told him he couldn't stereotype people like that because it's harmful, reductive and, uh, _not fvckin true,_ said "Well, it's just like Jews being greedy, isn't it?" and it was like a bucket of ice had been dumped on me. It was one of the few times I got genuinely angry with someone, and I didn't talk to him for a week, and never thought of him the same ever again, knowing what he genuinely thought he could openly tell me as a co-european white person (my dad is swedish). I'm actually glad he told me, tbh, because knowing he thought such things, and I hadn't known.... makes me feel vaguely ill.
Anyway. for what little I know of anything (and it's not a lot), thank you for continuing to talk about topics like this. I value and look forward to your thoughts and take on things. ❤
I also love the barker and Llewelyn series representations of the Jewish community of the 1880s. It’s a Sherlock Holmes style mystery series and one of the recurring characters is Israel Zangwill, a historical figure. One of the supporting characters Mac is also Jewish and it’s never mocked. And the first book follows a mystery in the Jewish community. Additionally one of the main characters ends up marrying a Jewish woman later on in the series, and she’s a fantastic character.
Yasher koach on an informative and unflinching look at Jewish representation in historical entertainment. At the end of the day, Jews like us cannot fix anti-semitism, just like people of color cannot fix racism, but what you are doing is so, so important. Thank you!
So was it OK for Natalie Portman to play as Anne Boleyn and · Scarlett Johansson to play as Mary Boleyn? isn't it a double standard here?
Great video, very clear. Being a fly on the wall in many online discussions, I've heard most of these points before, and try to take them to heart as a non-Jewish writer, making sure to include Jewish sensitivity readers to let me know if I'm doing it right or need adjusting.
(Goy here) Call the Midwife was a show that came to mind for me. There are multiple sub-plots over the years (while one-offs, almost all CTM episodes are one offs and very rarely is there any character follow up). Two episodes I can remember off the top of my head include an elderly couple who had survived the Shoah refusing to leave their flat which was about to be demolished, in part because one of them was dying, and in part because of past trauma regarding being kicked out of their home. The episode ends with the local Jewish community coming together for a very publicly Jewish funeral, which the Christian midwives attend respectfully.
The second was much more complex in nature. An intergenerational household within the furrier trade are dealing with the pending birth of a new child, along with chronic lung issues stemming from living within the workplace. The Christian nurses didn't feel too white-saviour like because they were very much treating this family like they would any other diverse family they work with in the area (and culturally sensitive nursing and midwifery is a frequent theme in later seasons). The nurses very much worked to find the root of the family's reluctance to deal with the issues (the family patriarch learnt his craft from an extended family that are all dead, so there is a strong desire that he must pass on his skills to his son-in-law), but want to support the family, not solve the problem for them.
Neither episode is perfect (in part due to the nature of a show about a Christian nursing order working in a multicultural part of London), but I didn't find either of them a poor representation.
@@Hcaz1113 I am sorry, I have no idea what you are on about. Care to enlighten me?
I actually discovered a few years ago that my mom is a small part Ashkenazi Jew. (About 2-5% I think, she did one of those ancestry dna tests) It was pretty shocking to learn because what my maternal grandfather told me, my great grandparents immigrated from France and were in fact- French. Even the last name is very French, and my maternal side of the family was very proud of their French heritage.
When my mother found out, she freaked out and made me promise as a kid to not tell anyone. The thing that confused me was how she was half Japanese, yet she was more ashamed of being found out as part Jewish than Asian. Though she does have much more Mediterranean features along with some stereotypical “Jewish” features, she was still ashamed to even tell anyone. She always insisted she was Japanese and French.
As a kid, I didn’t even know what Judaism or being Jewish even meant until I went to college sadly. When I took Religion 101, it really did open my eyes as to why my mom refused to identify as Jewish.
I am not entirely sure a lot of Jews (I am one of them btw) would consider her to be Jewish either given that small percentage and if she has not converted formally.
@@s.e.m.7767 but lots of us would welcome her if she had interest and felt identification. Whether a rabbi would is another thing, but I don’t care about that. :)
@@paganodesignworks Yes absolutely! Just the lack of connection to the community and lack of interest would not necessarily mean that the percentage equates to being Jewish.
What a great video, thank you! I don't consume a lot of historical fiction, but I realize now I've never noticed or thought about Jewish representation in these pieces. Thank you for bringing this to light!
How many Jews do we know of that live in space, zero. Therefore Disney's last 3 Star Wars films are a massive over representation of Jews in space!
I can think of at least one book with the entire setting being Jews in space.
Thank you for an engaging and informative breakdown! I'm wondering if CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND may potentially be a good representation of Jewish identity/culture? While not the crux of the series, there are several episodes centered around the American Jewish experience, since the protagonist, Rebecca Bunch, is Jewish. Additionally, the characters of Rebecca and her mother Naomi are both portrayed by Jewish actresses, Rachel Bloom and Tovah Feldshuh. Would love to hear your thoughts!
Hope it's ok to share my thoughts on this (I should maybe get out of the comments after this too lol). In some ways, I love how Jewish it is, and that a lot of it comes from Rachel's actual Judaism, but in others, I feel like a lot of the Jewish stuff comes off as being disparaging in a lot of ways. like ugh Judaism is so oppressive and whiny and booooring. I will say though, even if she's not Jewish, Patti LuPone as a reform rabbi was literal perfect casting. I think Rachel also has another song that was very christmas is better, hanukkah sucks, and stuff like that makes me a bit sad, because it's pop culture that isn't highlighting what's good and beautiful about our traditions.
@@Ashley_tipsyshades I appreciate you sharing this, Ashley! I am not Jewish, so I value your perspective; it genuinely helps me approach our media with greater sensitivity and awareness.
RE: Mrs. Maisel - when I was on TT, there was one creator who I loved to watch her content - Milli not so Vanilli - and she pointed out that the woman playing Mrs. Maisel also put on an accent for the role, and was so disappointed when she pointed that out along with the fact that the actress isn't actually Jewish.
There was actually a book that was part of my freshman English curriculum in high school titled Snow in August. It centers around a friendship a Catholic boy creates with a Rabbi, and how it changes the boys perspective on a lot of things. I don't want to give spoilers, but your mention of the golem reminded me of it.
I appreciate your video today, and your regular content as well. Within our local SCA, we have a number of individuals who work to be historically accurate Jews, and it isn't always easy. I've often shared your videos with them. What did you think of Unorthodox? I know it isn't a period piece, but I found it very interesting.
It's not only in historical fiction, I've also seen it in modern stories and portrayals. These can fall into different categories as well.
1) The comedic one, the Jew whose religion and culture only comes up as a joke. Think Howard from the Big Bang Theory.
2) The only Jewish character, whose only trait is being Jewish. Think the Roz from "Don't Ever Change" episode of House, were her beliefs in her faith almost prevented her from having her surgery.
3) The random Jewish background character. They grab a character that isn't as prominent, meaning a background character that might have a small scene or a few lines here or there and make them Jewish. They did this on ANT Farm, and I can't even recall his name.
4) They mention it once or twice that they are Jewish, but it doesn't EVER really impact anything about the character or story. Think Ron from Kim Possible, or Sam from Danny Phantom.
5) The one that isn't really Jewish, even when they say they are. Meaning, they claim to be Jewish, might do one or two things relating to the faith or culture, but nothing really else. Think Puck and Rachel from Glee, or Ross, Monica, and (apparently) Rachel from FRIENDS.
I would have loved to see a character whose faith was important to them, but wasn't all that they were. Felicity from Arrow is actually a good example, she's Jewish and proud of it, yet it isn't all that she is. She will talk about practices or elements when they come up, and she doesn't let others talk down about it.
The question is some of these ppl casting non-Jewish ppl in Jewish roles are Jewish ppl. From the 1930’s it was said write Yiddish and cast British.
Jewish btw
I’m late to the conversation, but the Golem and the Jinni is an awesome historical fantasy about a golem and a jinni who meet in 19th century NYC and form a friendship. It’s my favorite stand alone novel. Period!
If you include written fiction, there's always The Ghost of Hannah Mendes, by Naomi Ragen, which is set partly in early modern era.
Yes, this is so good, and is about the not-as-much-written Saphardic side. Actually anything by Naomi Ragen is excellent!
Thank you so much for bringing this up! I've watched plenty of these shows and completely overlooked a lot of their deeper messages. My mother's family is mostly Jewish, but she and her siblings were not brought up in the community, nor were any of my closest cousins or myself. Your videos have been really interesting and enlightening to watch as someone surrounded by plenty of Jews, who feels connected but also very separated from the culture. Please keep doing what you're doing, it's so amazing!
I highly recommend "The Golem and the Jinni" by Helene Wecker... as the title suggests the two main characters are supernatural creatures whose tale intertwines as they each navigate their (immigrant) communities of New York in the late 1800s.
This book scared the hell out of me when I first read it in the 1980s. "The Tribe" by Bari (Prosterman) Wood. The Kindle version is not formatted well and the re-issued novel is expensive. Go for a used copy of the 1981 paperback.
I remember when I read the Anne of Green Gables books the pedlar being mentioned: I'm glad the show handles it the way it does.
All of this yes V!! And I totally hope you share the list when it's compiled because I too need more to read/watch.
Thank you for putting in all this effort to educate us, V! I hadn’t watched any of these, but it’s good to be better informed for critically looking at the shows I do watch.
Crazy ex-girlfriend has a main very jewish character played by a formidable jewish actress ! The show is a must if you like quirky-cringe-wholesome drama-comedy. Also the songs are very catchy. I watched it three times and listen to/sing the soundtrack often.
There is a Jewish actress here in the UK claiming that only Jewish people should play Jewish roles. If that is the case, do most people agree that non-Jewish roles cannot be played then by Jewish actors/actresses? I believe acting should stand on it's own and not be confined to religious persuasion of any kind.
have you seen the movie hester street? it's a period movie based on a novel about recent jewish immigrants in new york turn of the century it's really wonderful and feels so unique its made by jews stars jews and a good chunk of the dialogue is in yiddish highly recommend!!
Loved this! Thanks for lending your voice to this important conversation. I definitely wanna recommend Jojo Rabbit if you haven’t seen it yet - the main character is a goy, yes, but the Jewish character is my all time favorite representation, especially of Jews during the Holocaust. It’s directed by Taika Waititi who is Jewish, and he plays an extremely silly imaginary friend version of H*tler, which is so cathartic and funny. Also recommend Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik - fantasy but period and doesn’t shy away from historical antisemitism but is also not ONLY about that.
I literally shouted. Idk how I missed that Takia is Jewish! That movie is so so good.
Seconding the recommendation of Spinning Silver! That book was so good!
I always thought that there is nothing that H*tler would hate more than him being played in a cinematic blockbuster comedy, by a brown Jewish guy. THAT is a cathartic thought.
I'm just here to thank you for spreading the word about Spinning Silver, it's such a good book
In an interview he mentioned that this to him was the best way to say F you to H**ler.
Thank you so much for covering this! I often struggle to express the complex breadth of reasons representation in tv and cinema matters. Particularly when a problematic token is the only depiction you get to see... yeah. This applies in many ways not just to Jewish representation, but also disabilities, lgbt (all three of which I fall into) as well other ethnic groups. It is so needed to see more people from more groups discussing this and how it effects them.
Tysm for giving good examples, it’s helpful since I can’t always discern for myself yet! I really appreciate your videos because I love learning about people and history regardless, but it’s especially important to me because I was probably even more miseducated on Jewish history, people, and Judaism from growing up (kinda fundamentalist) christian
Even though I was forced to leave “my” church because of how they mistreated me I feel personally responsible for the many kinds of harm they and churches like them cause and I want to be better at addressing it (in myself and others). It’s also such a shame to have spent so much time reading Jewish scriptures and have so little understanding! For all the important reasons and also because I owe so much gratitude to you collectively for some of the few positive parts of how I grew up