Jew Hip
How the Tribe Got Trendy
By Josh Klemons

We always knew that we were cool. After all, Jews have always been at the forefront in modern American society. From Hollywood to Manhattan, Jews have set the stage. They have been influential in movies, music, television, comedy and everything in between. And we all knew that if Jews didn’t create it, they probably managed, produced or accounted for it.

Sometimes they talked about it: Adam Sandler had the country singing about Hanukah for months after the Christmas Carols had ceased. Sometimes they chided it: Jon Stewart constantly jokes about his “bagel and lox Judaism.”

Sometimes they studied its history: Steven Spielberg took us all along on his complicated journey to understand the Holocaust. More often then not, they simply ignored it altogether. But they were all there representing us and we all knew it.

But these are secular Jews that we are talking about. Judaism as a people was cool. Seinfeld and Spielberg having Jewish last names and Bob Dylan having been born Robert Zimmerman, that was enough for us. When did Judaism as a religion become so popular, and dare I say, cool?
While intermarriage rates are proof that non-Jews have become totally accepting of Jews in a way that no society has ever done in history,

America’s recent obsessions with Jewthings – kids sing the lyrics of Matisyahu while celebs sing praises on Kabbalah – are simply mind-boggling.

I go to parties here in San Diego with no other Jews in attendance and Matisyahu is blaring on the radio. People are singing right along. Do they know what a Moshiach is? Maybe they are thinking it’s a step up from Manischewitz.

“We want Moshiach, we want Moshiach now!”

Do they think that they are screaming for debauchery? Are they searching the lyrics for an excuse to party, even as Matisyahu continues that drugs are wrong, and they can “only bring you down.” He gets high through G-d, they get high through Matisyahu.

It’s not just Hasidic rockers who are bringing Judaism to the cutting edge of our culture. Comedian (and It-Jewess) Sara Silverman recently released her first film, “Jesus is Magic,” a combination of stand-up and shtick overloaded Kosher jibes. Meryl Streep did an admirable job of portraying a nervous Jewish mother in last year’s “Prime,” kvetching and fretting and devouring a corned beef sandwich like a pro. Over on the small screen, an evening in front of TBS will take you from Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy to Monica and Ross Geller’s quirks to Charlotte York’s conversion.

This is all part of a stranger situation currently going on in our country. Jews are moving further and further away from Judaism and non-Jews are embracing it in a way that has seldom been seen in modern history. Madonna now goes by the name Esther. Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Spears are wearing red “Kabbalah bracelets.” Suddenly Judaism is the new “thing,” the place to be seen if you will.

Jewish product lines are becoming more popular than ever. What started with Urban Outfitters “Everyone loves a Jewish girl,” t-shirt has turned into an almost saturation of the market with Jewish slogan-ed products.

Sara Schwimmer capitalized on this trend to become the founder/CEO of chosencouture.com. Her website features t-shirts, accessories, gifts and kitsch, all emblazoned with tongue-in-cheek Jewish humor. Her customers are both Jewish and goy, and the products, well…they sell like hot potato pancakes.

“Jewish culture is really becoming more and more part of the mainstream culture,” she says. “These products really have mass appeal, and our customers really range from Reform to Orthodox to non-Jews happen to love it as well, which I just find really funny.”

Schwimmer is not the only fast-thinking entrepreneur to catch the JewHip wave. Daniella Zax created Rabbi’s Daughters, a sexy, sugar-infused line of clothing and products that make light of Yiddish terms (a baby’s bib reads “shmutz,” and workout towel announces “schvitz”) along with her sister. Their father, who yes, is a Rabbi, couldn’t be more approving.

“Both non-Jewish and Jewish publications have shown great interest in our line,” Zax says. So have stars. “Celebrities, such as Demi Moore, and Madonna wear our tanks.” One sees this and wonders, how did this happen?

Schwimmer thinks she has the answer.
“Judaism for a very long time has been associated with oppression and suffering, yet at the same time there is this whole other aspect to the religion and culture that’s really festive and fun.”

It almost seems as if the world is learning this right as we as Jews are forgetting it.
The reality is that our quiet assimilation into each society that we have lived in has slowly eroded the strength of our Jewish culture, tradition, and ritual. While for the first time in our history we are able to make open choices regarding our own individual level of observance, at the same time we are having to answer some very difficult questions about what it means to be a people that no longer needs to fight for its existence. Our children are free to convert without repercussion or to walk away from the fold without hesitation. This is where the matter becomes truly complex. Suddenly the non-Jewish world is interested in our world. Once forced to practice our religion in secrecy and isolation, we are now being held to a magnifying glass. America is suddenly as intrigued with us as we once were with ourselves.

American society appears to be diving headfirst into our deep and wonderful and often confusing traditions. But in doing so, are they actually driving Jews out? Even if these non-Jews never really make it beyond the surface of our heritage, is it possible that their splash, showy if still shallow, is scaring Jews out of the pool altogether? Or perhaps we had already left, giving them room to capitalize on our heritage in a way that so few of us have done successfully in American society.

Several months ago, I was writing a sermon for the high holidays and I did some research into the notion of non-Jews marrying Jewish. We all know that Jews are marrying outside of the faith, but as I hinted at earlier, what’s far stranger is that non-Jews are willing to marry us. Is it proof that we have reached full acceptance in society at large or is it more than that? I found books advising non-Jews on how to hang onto a Jewish mate.
With titles such “Boy Vey: A Shiksa’s Guide to Dating Jewish Men,” they advise non-Jews (woman anyway) on how to find, date and ultimately marry Jewish. I had an opportunity to speak with Kristina Grish, the author of “Boy Vey.” Of course the first question I asked her was, why Jewish men? Why not Italian or Irish, or even Israeli men?

Grish made it very clear that there was nothing premeditated about it. She just kept winding up in relationships with Jewish men. To her they were “not wonderful Jewish men,” they were simply “wonderful men.” She expanded that they had a lot of wonderful qualities that she liked, “intelligence, generosity, humor, passion, humor, family priorities, drive, humor.” The values that help Jews get ahead in the world are the same values that women are looking for in a man, Jewish or not. We are a people that make up one and a half percent of the country’s population, but when you look at us in context, it is perplexing to think of all of the successful Jews here and around the world in every avenue of culture.

I often wonder what kind of reaction our ancestors living in Eastern Europe might have were they informed of today’s current Jewish situation. Would they be shocked that we are marrying outside of the fold, or would they be thrilled that beautiful women and successful men are going out of their way to marry us? Maybe they would simply be proud of themselves for raising us so well.

The way that I see it, we are at a fork in the road and it is time to make some decisions. We can go to the right and be angry that non-Jews are intruding into our traditions. We can complain that no self-respecting parent can name their newborn daughter Esther for at least five years.
We can moan that we have to buy our Matisyahu tickets on e-bay with everyone else. We can yell at the Kabbalah centers for misrepresenting one of the most complicated areas of our ancient traditions with blessed waters and canned spirituality.

We can also choose the left, and walk away from it completely. We can hand it all over to the new keepers of the faith.
They weren’t born into, but maybe they will treat it with some respect and dignity after all.

Or we can choose to walk the middle, which in my opinion is also the high road.
We can appreciate their interest and foster growth within ourselves as we strive to stay ahead of them in their Jewish educations. We can be the first ones on the phone to buy our Matisyahu tickets next year. We can send our children to Israel to buy hoards of red string to resell and capitalize on their Birthright experiences. Whatever we are going to do, we must remember that it was our bloodlines, and often our ancestor’s blood, that got us this far, and we must make our decisions accordingly.

Is it time to walk away and give up, simply because for the first time in history, society will allow us to do so? Or do we realize that we were born into Judaism and had the option to leave and didn’t, and hold our heads, yarmulked or not, that much higher. The choice is clear in my book, but the decision is in your hands.

Klemons is the Lipinsky Engagement Director of San Diego State University Hillel.

Parts of this article originally ran in Koach.org.

For feedback, contact editor@sdjewishjournal.com.