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Informed Judaism: Difference between revisions
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Of course, there is a place between [[Informed Judaism]] and [[Anvilicious]]. A character doesn't need to shout "Oy, how meshuggenah, a golem! I'm ferklempt!" to be non-informed Jewish, and likewise, not every character who has a Chanukkah Special is informed. It's more of a ''gestalt'' of the sense of the character. [[Yiddish as a Second Language]], for example, can be a clue...though, of course, pushing any element too far lands you back here.
This has an element of [[Truth in Television]]: Some Jews in countries where they've been able to assimilate increasingly practice their religion only on the most important holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), and only celebrate Chanukah to have a winter holiday. They don't keep Kosher or observe the Sabbath. A practitioner of Reform or Reconstructionist Judaism -- quite common in America -- is especially likely to disregard most forms of Jewish ritual, including the Kosher laws. "High Holy Days Jews" are the Jewish equivalents of "Christmas-and-Easter Christians." That said, even many of these still show the [[
[[wikipedia:Who is a Jew%3F|It is also true that Jews are not only people who practice Judaism]]. Generally, in modern secular usage, Jews include three groups: '''people who were born to a Jewish family regardless of whether or not they follow the religion, those who have some Jewish ancestral background or lineage (sometimes including those who do not have strictly matrilineal descent), and people without any Jewish ancestral background or lineage who have formally converted to Judaism and therefore are followers of the religion.''' Therefore, someone can be a Jew and no one else would know unless they asked. Many Jews do not do any religious rituals, and some even have Christmas trees ("Chanukkah bush").
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** The in-universe reason that Ben never brings it up is that he didn't want his appearance to be used as an excuse for anti-semitic propaganda.
** Interestingly, a short story from a Marvel [[Christmas Special]] comic book a few years prior to this reveal had Ben Grimm dicussing the difference between Christmas and Hanukkah with a little Jewish girl. [[Retcon|This story seemed to imply that Ben is not Jewish himself]].
* Similarly, during his long run as writer on ''[[
* [[Word of God|According to]] [[Elliot S! Maggin]], the [[Pre Crisis]] [[Lex Luthor]] is ''ethnically'' Jewish, although certainly non-practicing. Maggin himself is Jewish, and always had a slightly more tragic/sympathetic take on Luthor than other writers of the period.
* Other informed Jews from DC Comics: the Atom (Ray), Batwoman (Kate), and the Sandman (Wesley).
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