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Informed Judaism: Difference between revisions
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And that's the problem. A character who practices [[Informed Judaism]] will perform acts that most people can recognize as being Jewish, in contrast to the non-Jewish characters, but they don't show any more subtle signs of Judaism, even for an assimilated Jew, even the cultural aspect. Their Judaism becomes an [[Informed Attribute]]. The characters listed on this page are Jewish because the writers ''tell'' us, they don't show us, possibly because [[You Have to Have Jews]].
This is often a trope that pops up in a number of [[Western Animation]] [[Christmas Episode|Christmas Episodes]]; due to the [[Animation Age Ghetto|nature of the shows' audience]], the [[Executive Meddling|powers that be]] will want to place [[An Aesop]] in to show that the characters keep a [[Token Minority|diverse]] set of friends or peers. As a result, a character's Judaism is mentioned at some point in the episode, or perhaps a menorah will just be shown in the background, in order to keep up that diverse appearance. After all, [[Viewers are Morons|who really knows]] [[Did Not Do the Research|what other religiously affiliated holidays]] [[Small Reference Pools|are celebrated by a large enough group of people]] in the mid to late period of December? This will in fact be the only mention of religion throughout the episode (if not the series) , as Christmas itself (assuming the name is used at all) will not be depicted as having any religious significance, but rather just be a "[[Do They Know It's Christmas Time?|Warm, Feel Good Time]]", thus making this revelation of a major character feel shoehorned in. This is also despite the fact that since the Jewish calendar is a lunar one, there is no guarantee that Hannukah and Christmas will in any way overlap: Hannukah could be completely over way before Christmas starts.
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.
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* A few years ago, Ben Grimm of the ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' happened to mention that he's Jewish, and he is seen praying in Hebrew (which he admittedly stumbles through) when he thought a beloved store owner in his old neighborhood was dying. Since Ben was always a gentle self-caricature of [[Jack Kirby]], who was Jewish, this makes sense, and the fans seem to be fine with it. But it still seemed to come out of nowhere after all these decades of never mentioning it.
** 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 ''[[Incredible Hulk]]'', [[Peter David]] decided that long-time supporting character Doc Samson is Jewish, although it had never been mentioned before. As the Biblical Samson was an Israelite, this makes a lot of sense.
* [[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.
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* Abby, in ''[[The Baby Sitters Club]]'', is Jewish and does get a Bat Mitzvah, but apart from it being mentioned about her as a stated fact ("Abby is Jewish"), it gets little attention. Dawn also mentions in one book that one of their sitting charges, Nancy Dawes, is Jewish; it actually had relevance to the plot because it was the [[Very Special Episode]] book about racism.
* ''[[Animorphs]]'' has both Jake and Rachel as this; their Judaism was rarely ever mentioned and wasn't really connected to anything else.
** There are several smaller hints, particularly from Jake, if you notice the descriptions of his family dinners. In this case it's more a function of the stories themselves because we never get any reference to holidays for any of the other characters either. In fact all we know about any of the other characters' faiths is that Cassie's family has a pastor and that Marco's mother sang in the church choir.
** Rachel may not be Jewish herself. In ''Elfangor's Secret'', she only says that her father (through whom she is related to Jake) is.
* [[Captain Underpants]], as shown in book five where his [[Secret Identity]] has a Jewish wedding.
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** Tiny Jewish Santa! Season five. They only seem to remember when Christian-norming comes up--but then, since Willow is distinctly non-practicing, when else would it come up? Some demon that doesn't want to use Jewish blood for a sacrifice? Talk about awkward thing to air.
* Brenda Song in both the Made for TV movie "Lost in the Suburbs" and ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]''; in both she mentions celebrating Chanuka (though in The Suite Life she just says, "And give up on 8 days of presents, are you nuts?"). In ''Stuck In The Suburbs'', she mentions having a Bat Mitzvah.
** She sometimes on The Suite Life (more frequently in On Deck) acts and talks like an [[Alter Kocker|old Jewish lady]].
* In ''[[Lucky Louie]]'', the priest asks Kim if she would like to make a confession, and she replies, "No, I'm Jewish."
* ''[[Square Pegs]]'' Muffy Tepperman, and Marshall Blechtman both mentioned being Jewish and having a Bat and Bar Mitzvah respectively.
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* George in ''[[Being Human (UK)]]'' is really only shown as Jewish through the Star of David he wears and the few times he mentions it. Justified though in that he became unobservant after being bitten, since he felt that Judaism frowned on being a werewolf.
** George's father is not Jewish, as we see a vicar giving his burial rites.
** Josh, his counterpart on the American series, has approximately the same level of observance.
* Parodied in ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]].'' The Solomons, after attempting to decide their ethnicity, eventually just figure they should be Jewish because their landlady assumed they were, based on their last name. Being aliens living undercover on Earth of course, they know nothing about the culture in the slightest and it never comes up again.
* Blair Sandburg in ''[[The Sentinel (TV series)|The Sentinel]]''. Mentions that his Swiss Army Knife was a Bar Mitzvah present, and when a guest in the apartment he and Jim share asks if there are any pork chops he says, "Yeah, right next to the whale meat!" But he doesn't seem to observe any other Jewish customs; of course he was raised by a [[Hippie Parents|flower child mother]] and is a cultural anthropologist by training. . .
* ''[[Power Rangers Zeo]]'' had a [[Christmas Episode]] where a special guest character celebrated Hanukkah. Being [[An Aesop]], they were all hit with the [[
* Mr. Hooper of ''[[Sesame Street]]'' was Jewish. The only reason the audience ever knew this is because in the early 80s, a [[Christmas Special]] was filmed called "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street," and Bob wished Mr. Hooper a happy Hanukkah. He was also shown as able to read Yiddish in an episode.
** Also, Moishe the Oofnik, the grouch on the Israeli version of the show, ''Shalom Sesame'', is explicitly said to be Oscar's cousin.
** In recent years, the Bear family has taken up the Hanukkah ball, with Baby Bear showing Elmo how to spin a dreidel.
* This trope appears in -- of all things -- the 2008 [[Muppets]] [[Christmas Special]], ''[[A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa]]''. Zoot, saxophonist for the Electric Mayhem, shows up for the Christmas Eve celebration toting a menorah and greets the hostess with a calm "Shalom." Floyd the guitarist observes the menorah and remarks that he'd never been aware that Zoot was Jewish.
** Which is odd given the fact that the Electric Mayhem left to play a Bar Mitzvah at the beginning of ''Muppets In Space''. You would have thought that if it was ever going to come up, ''that'' would have been the time.
*** It's not all that odd considering Zoot is usually only awake enough to play his notes and he doesn't even remember his name or what instrument he plays in "The Muppet Movie."
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* Kitty from ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]''. The only evidence that she's Jewish is a scene of her lighting the menorah in her home in the [[Christmas Episode]]... and, of course, being very definitely Jewish in the comic the show was based on.
* T.J. Detweiler from ''[[Recess]]'' was shown in a Hanukkah-themed costume for the school's Holiday pageant in the [[Christmas Episode]] (he does mention that he celebrates Christmas, though), though this is never confirmed anywhere else, so it's possible it was just for a part in the play rather than religious beliefs.
* Mipsy in ''[[As Told by Ginger]]'' mentions transferring funds from a Bat Mitzvah fund in one episode.
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* [[Drake]]. Because he's half-black and a rapper, most casual listeners have no idea he's Jewish.
* Actor [[William Shatner]] once said, "These days, I'm Jewish only by a technicality", having given up any pretense to practicing his religion-of-birth in his late 30s.
* [[Stephen Fry]] claims to have used his Jewish ancestry to make himself seem more exotic and interesting as an adolescent, but has never actually practiced Judaism and admits to have known boys who's "Jewishness probably means much more to them then it did for me"
* Major League Baseball player Ryan Braun is culturally Jewish, but didn't have a Bar Mitzvah, is apparently more of a Humanist as far as religion is concerned, and is, according to some commentators, "only in it for the jokes".
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