Why all the Jews?

Lars Olfen uses Hebrew words like "mitzvah" and "shalom", so I think it's more than implied that he's Jewish (or at least wants to give the impression he is).

Menschell sounds very much like a Jewish name, Mensch being a Yiddish word.

There does seem to be a proliferation of Jewish characters in this film. Let me specify that I have no problem with that, as it happens my own father is Jewish just fyi. I'm just curious as to whether there's any particular reason for it.

That famous folk singer that goes by the name of Bob Dylan. Definitely Jewish!


Its that man again!!

There's no such thing as "half-Jewish" in Jewish lore. You are either Jewish or you are not.

I am not. I was not raised Jewish, I was never bamitzfa'd (or however it's spelled), I have a foreskin, am an atheist and have had pretty much no contact with the Jewish "community" throughout my life.

Great post! And I'm not even Jewish!

<<"Irving Steinbloom" isn't just Jewish. It's comically hyper-Jewish.>>

This makes me think of three things:

1. A radio show I used to listen to about 25 years ago, where the Jewish host once attempted to devise the most Jewish name possible. I don't think he had a first name, but the last name he came up with was Bergmansteinowitz or something like that (or maybe it would be spelled Bergman-Steinowitz).

2. Dennis Wolfberg, a great stand comic who unfortunately passed away quite a few years ago, once appeared on the Tonight Show. When Jay Leno pointed out that it was Rosh Hoshannah and that the comic shouldn't be working, Wolfberg launched into this brilliant explanation about the levels of orthodoxy of Judaism. "There's Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews, and Reformed Jews. I'm a Reformed Jew, and so I'm allowed to work on Rosh Hoshannah. Orthodox and Conservative Jews don't consider us to be 'real' Jews. They call us Jew Lights!".

3. When I quoted the Dennis Wolfberg thing to a Jewish friend, he said "That's funny. My Grandmother was a Reformed Jew, and she used to call the Orthodox Jews 'Superjewish'!".

He wasn't Jewish. His second wife, Marjorie, was.

Guthrie wasn't Jewish. His torch-bearer, Robert Zimmerman, is.

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.

From The JewishPress.com:

What is not as well known about Woody is that his wife and children were Jewish; that he raised his children as Jews; and that he wrote songs about Jewish history, Jewish holidays, and the Holocaust.