Popular Culture >> Jews
RELIGION AS POP CULTURE
| Religion served as a primary form of popular culture in the Old World. Practicing their religion was the vibrant substance of the lives of Eastern European Jews. There was little room for individuality in such a ritualized world. |
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| In a nation without nationhood, Jewish people were bound as a culture by spiritual ties and a common language. |
For shtetl inhabitants, “the Bible was a daily newspaper.” Maurice Samuel |
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ENLIGHTENMENT AND SHIFT TO SECULAR EXPRESSION
| “By the 1880s, some Jews had settled in the larger cities, such as Warsaw and Lodz; within the next few decades the number of Jews moving from the shtetl to urban concentrations increased sharply.” –Howe (10) |
| Under the impact of the European Enlightenment and an array of new political and cultural movements in the Old World, the east European Jews turned to the idea of secular expression....“Turned, one might say, with religious intensity, to the idea of secular expression.” – Howe (16) |
YIDDISH LITERATURE
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Secular Yiddish literature began to blossom soon after the Enlightenment. Literature began to break away from religious themes and explore secular themes.
Photo: www.leonfeinberg.org |
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YIDDISHKEIT
| Though it can be used in many different ways, Yiddishkeit can be used to refer to the phase of Jewish history over the past two centuries that is marked by the prevalance of Yiddish as the language of the east European Jews and concurrently the culture that rested mainly on that language. |
| In 1908, a meeting was held in Romania “at which writers, intellectuals, and public figures came together to declare a programmatic adherence to Yiddish, not merely as a language… but as the agent of a national-cultural idea.” –Howe (19) |
I.L. PERETZ
| I.L. Peretz is known as the father of modern Yiddish literature. A major figure in the Yiddishist movement, he played a prominent role in the 1908 meeting in Romania. Peretz began writing in Hebrew but soon turned to Yiddish. For his tales, he drew material from the lives of impoverished Jews of eastern Europe. |
www.bennyspostcards.com |
| To encourage Jews toward a wider knowledge of secular subjects, Peretz wrote many articles on physics, chemistry, economics, and other subjects. He effectively ushered Yiddish literature into the modern era by exposing it to contemporary trends in western European art and literature. |
SHOLOM ALEICHEM
| Sholom Aleichem is known in the U.S. as the Jewish Mark Twain, and has published over forty volumes of novels, stories, and plays in Yiddish. He is the first to write in Yiddish for children. Adaptations of his work were important in the founding of the Yiddish Art Theatre in New York. In fact, the musical Fiddler on the Roof (1964) was adapted from his stories about “Tevye the Milkman.”
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www.havelshouseofhistory.com |
MENDELE
| Mendele, often referred to as "Grandfather Mendele,” is famous for his humorous stories and plays of social satire. He wrote satires because he was disgusted with the stiffness of the Hebrew literary style of his time, a style that closely imitated the Bible. His greatest work, Kitsur massous Binyomin hashlishi (The Travels and Adventures of Benjamin the Third, 1875), has been described as a Jewish version of Don Quixote. His stories are an invaluable source for studying Jewish life in eastern Europe at the time when its traditional structure was giving way. |
www.histoiredesjuids.com |
YIDDISH THEATER
| The Broder Zingers were a group of professional folk singers from Brody, a town in Ukraine. They serve as a popular example of the many groups that wandered from shtetl to shtetl performing. In 1876, they perform a play composed by Yiddish songwriter Abraham Goldfaden, marking the formative point in the history of Yiddish theater. |
ASSIMILATION
| Jewish popular culture in America was largely assimilationist. Jewish performers often tried to hide their ethnic roots through make-up and name changes. |
The streets are where popular culture flourished, where children were not bound by religion. The streets “became the training ground for Jewish actors, comics, and singers.” (Howe) |
YIDDISH THEATER IN NY
| On August 12, 1882, Abraham Goldfaden’s The Sorceress became the first Yiddish stage production to be put on in New York. By the early 1900s, much of the theater business in NY was owned by Jews. Two examples of this were Klaw & Erlanger Theater Production and the Schubert Brothers Theater Company. Comedy and Vaudville became very popular in the early 1900s, and the already established presence of Jews in these areas made it easier for other Jews to get their start in the business. |
SHOWMEN
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Jack Benny was one of the few Jewish comedians of his generation who did not use explicit Jewish materials or a style of delivery with strong Yiddish or immigrant components. Photo: utterfightingusa.wordpress.com |
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Eddie Cantor performed on the streets of NY for coins as a child. He eventually toured with Schubert Theater Company and performed on Broadway and as a stand up comedian.
Photo: www.radioarchives.org |
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AL JOLSON
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This singer, actor, and comedian was “the first openly Jewish man to become an entertainment star in America” (PBS). He was commonly referred to during his time as the world’s greatest entertainer, and he starred in The Jazz Singer.
Photo: greatamericansongbook-songwriters.blogspot.com |
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THE JAZZ SINGER
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This 1925 Broadway play was made into a movie starring Al Jolson in 1927.
It was the first “talkie” ever made. In the movie, a singer runs away from home after his father, a cantor, punishes him for singing in a beer hall. The story explores conflict between the ambitions of an entertainer and the demands of religion and heritage.
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parlorsongs.com |
IRVING BERLIN
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Irving Berlin was a Jewish-American songwriter who wrote both lyrics and music. He wrote over 3,000 songs, including: “God Bless America,” “No Business like Show Business,” and “White Christmas.” In addition, he composed 17 film scores and 21 Broadway scores.
Photo: parlorsongs.com |
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SPORTS
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Sports provided many Jewish immigrants with a way to assimilate. Baseball and Boxing became very popular among Jews.
Photo: www.crestock.com |
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FAST FORWARD TO TODAY
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The new wave of hip Jewish music is marked by its dedication to Jewish traditions. The role of Jews in popular culture comes full circle in a sort of reverse assimilation, as performers like Matisyahu now proudly display their Jewish background. |
MATISYAHU
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This modern day artist uses some Hebrew and Yiddish phrases in his lyrics, although they are primarily English. He performs in traditional Jewish attire
“King Without a Crown,” one of his more popular songs, is about the power of god and the importance of his presence in everyday life. Some of the songs lyrics ar reproduced below:
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sweiland.blog.uvm.edu |
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“You're all that I have and you're all that I need/ Each and every day I pray to get to know you please.”
“Strip away the layers and reveal your soul/ Got to give yourself up and then you become whole/ You want God but you wouldn’t deflate your ego.”
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