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BY KATYA UNGERMAN
oshua Harmon’s eponymous play raises the question, “What does it mean to be a bad Jew?” The play, a comedy about the holy and the holier-than-thou, is about two cousins, Diana (or Daphna, her Hebrew name) a self-proclaimed “real Jew,” and Liam, an aspiring Ph.D in Japanese life and culture who, according to Daphna, is less enthusiastic about his heritage. The two fight over their recently deceased grandfather’s chai necklace, a religious relic he was able to hold onto throughout the Holocaust, which he narrowly escaped. The argument centers on the question “Who is more deserving of the chai?” To Dapha, the answer is obvious: her. After all, it’s Liam who’s the “bad Jew”. Liam, who once at Passover, offered her a shortbread cookie—Liam, who had the nerve to bring home the lithe, blonde and woefully un-Jewish, Melody to her his grandfather’s Shiva. Liam, unlike Daphna, with her Israeli soldier boyfriend who she will be reunited with, and hopefully marry, after making aliyah. The play leaves the audience to decide for themselves what exactly makes a bad Jew. One thing’s for certain though—the play makes you feel like
the answer doesn’t lie in orthodoxy, at least not alone. A devotion to tradition, a good Jew does not make. But that all said, that doesn’t mean you should stop going to temple or stop lighting your Shabbat candles. Harmon’s play gives you, and certainly gave me the impression that being a “Good Jew” is a lot more complicated than that. I grew up in a mixed household, so the issue of Good Jew vs. Bad Jew has always been salient to me. I have family members who don’t consider me Jewish at all. Even though I’ve studied Hebrew, read countless books on my faith and celebrated every major High Holy Day for as long as I could remember. The family member with whom I attended Bad Jews turned to me before the show started and said, “You might not understand all of the references.” That stung. Am I a “bad Jew”—or even a Jew at all—because I didn’t grow up with two Jewish parents? Regardless of how I identify, there are a lot of people who seem to think so. This line of thinking has, not
surprisingly, caused a lot of low Jewish self-esteem in me. Even though Judaism is such an important part of my identity (and I mean more than just my classic Jewish nose), its veracity is in constant question. Sometimes it feels like it doesn’t matter what I do, I’ll never truly be Jewish. I know I’m not alone in this. The question of “Am I bad Jew?” is something that a lot of people struggle with, regardless of what kind of household they grew up in. I even wonder if thinking you’re a bad Jew is a hallmark of being Jewish—you know what they say about Jewish guilt. “Am I bad Jew?” of course begs the question, “What does being Jewish really mean, anyway?” I’m not a scholar of Judaism and I’m not a rabbi, but I can tell you what my opinion on the matter is: what being Jewish means is a personal question. Being Jewish is selfdesigned. If you feel a Jewish identity, if being Jewish is an indelible part of your soul, then you’re Jewish. Whether you’re a Daphna or a Liam, if you hear the calling and you follow it, then you’re a Jew.
Katya Ungerman is a senior Dramatic Writing major at Tisch School of the Arts. She hails from sunny Boca Raton, Florida.
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