Are there “Cool Jews” in Israel?

December 23, 2009 - 2:46 PM by

Cool Jew coverLisa Alcalay Klug has elevated kitsch to a new level. Her witty new bling-covered book “Cool Jew” has been a must have on many Jewish reading lists since its publication a year ago. “Cool Jew” chronicles what Klug called in a lecture this week in Jerusalem “the Jewish cultural revival.”

That cultural renaissance – which it should be pointed out is more of an American one than Israeli (more about that in a moment) – started in 2000 with the launch of the irreverent Heeb magazine, Klug explained.

Before you knew it, there were products of all shapes and sizes: a candy confection called “Meshuga-nuts”; a Jewish beer dubbed “He-brew”; “Heroes of the Torah” drinking mugs; a Moses action figure; and even a bobble-headed rabbi doll with a black hat and a logo of the San Francisco Giants that now sells for $50 on eBay.

One enterprising young woman designed a t-shirt that took a popular national park and Jewishly re-punctuated it as “Yo.semite.”

And then there’s the overtly Jewish music, the kind that would have been decidedly in the closet back just a few years ago. Matisyahu brought reggae and religion to the late night talk shows, but there’s also the Cuban-flavored Havana Negila and the “Hip Hop Hagaddah” by Josh Dolgin (certified kosher for Pesach, or so it says on the album cover).

These examples and many more lace the pages of Cool Jew, which was originally conceived as a Jewish alternative to the popular “Preppy Handbook.” Klug has done a fine job documenting the American Jewish experience. But is there an Israeli equivalent?

The answer seems to be no. While there’s no shortage of deprecating humor here in the land of milk and honey, we don’t reach playfully into our past for ironic Yiddish-inspired chochkies – that would invoke the ultra-Orthodox which in Israel is not a subject you want to make jokes about (at least not in the vicinity of a parking lot or semiconductor plant on Shabbat).

Israelis in general don’t revere the past in the flip kind of way presented in Cool Jew. We’re either scrupulously analyzing our heritage as a means to discover the “truth” according to Jewish law…or we’re angrily trashing it while jetting off to a skiing vacation in a Europe we once clamored to flee. When it comes to tradition in Israel, it seems, anything prior to Arik Einstein is ancient history.

This is not a criticism of either approach. They both reflect their respective milieus. In that respect, maybe Klug needs to come out with a Hebrew-version of her book. We might have to swap out Mama’s gefilte fish for “sushi with hummus” (a combination that shows up surprisingly often at our shul’s community Kiddush), and replace Phillip Roth with Etgar Keret, but hey if it can help promote understanding between the American cool Jew and his hotheaded Israeli counterpart, I’m all for it!

Tags: • Category: General, Israeliness, Pop Culture 

Comments

One Comment on Are there “Cool Jews” in Israel?

  1. David-Joe on Thu, Dec 24th 2009 1:10 PM

    2. The coolest Jew? Its been done a long time ago. Its the Jewish warrior, from Gideon to David to Bar Kochba and Mordechai Anielewicz to Arik Sharon – its the Israeli soldier. Nothing Jewish, is more cool.

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