If you'd asked me a week ago if I'd be defending Michael Richards on anything, I'd have said you were nuts. But in this post-scandal aftershock, he's getting a bum rap.
Howard Rubenstein acknowledged that Richards had shouted anti-Semitic remarks in an April standup comedy routine... But he defended Richards' language about Jews, saying that the comic "is Jewish."...
As Rubenstein's assertion circulated, Jewish organizations and commentators pointed out that the man who played Cosmo Kramer on "Seinfeld" has not converted to Judaism and neither of his parents are Jewish.
Which makes him ...
"Technically, not having been born by blood as Jewish and not formally going into a conversion, it was purely his interpretation of having adopted Judaism as his religion," Rubenstein told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "He told me, `I'm Jewish,' when I asked him.
"He said there were two mentors who raised him and who had a big influence on his life, and they were Jewish. He said, 'I agree with the concepts and the religious beliefs of Judaism and I've adopted Judaism as my religion,'" Rubenstein said. "He really thinks of himself as Jewish."
What do some Jews think?
"You can't feel Jewish. It's not a matter of feeling. You can convert to Judaism. You can't not convert to Judaism and then be Jewish," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
Hier defined being Jewish from two perspectives, if someone hasn't gone through the process of formal conversion.
"From the Orthodox point of view, if that person has a Jewish mother, he would be considered Jewish," Hier said. "In the Reform tradition, there's also a patrilineage. Under those categories, he would not fit."
Let me offer a third perspective.
First let me grant for the sake of argument that Rubenstein's explanation is actually true: that Richards agrees with "the" concepts and religious beliefs of Judaism (as if there's only one agreed upon set) and practices accordingly, after whatever fashion is meaningful to him. (One hopes that making antisemitic jokes is not the extent of it; more on that at the end). If that's the case, Humanistic Judaism, which is my denomination, would welcome him. Here's what the official SHJ guidebook says about "adoption of Judaism."
Many Humanistic Jews prefer the word adoption to conversion in describing the procedure whereby a non-Jewish person becomes Jewish. While religious communities, like Christianity and Islam, typically are united by common beliefs, there are no beliefs or teachings that all Jews share and that define their membership in the Jewish community. Jewish atheists are no less Jewish than are theists. Viewed in this light, "adoption" into the Jewish "family," rather than conversion to a religious faith, more accurately conveys the meaning of the process by which a person not born of a Jewish mother or father becomes a member of the Jewish community.
A person's decision to be Jewish makes her or him so. Often, in preparation for the decision, the prospective adoptee undertakes a program of study and introspection, usually under the guidance of a knowledgable leader or teacher. Areas of study may include the nature of Jewish identity and of contemporary Jewish community, as well as Jewish history, holidays, and beliefs.
A formal ritual of acceptance into the Jewish people, though unneccesary, is appropriate. Some Humanistic Jewish communities have developed such celebrations of welcome.
Now it's important, of course, that "a program of study and introspection" is the norm, and highly encouraged. But the core tenet is, "A person's decision to be Jewish makes her or him so." This belief has its roots in the Humanistic Judaism understanding of Jewish identity.
Who is a Jew? After more than thirty centuries Jews continue to debate this question.
At stake is the integrity of millions of Jews who do not find their Jewish identity in religious belief or religious practice, but who discover their Jewishness in the historic experience of the Jewish people. At stake also is the Jewish identity of thousands of men and women, in Israel and in other countries of the world, who want to be Jewish, but who are rejected by the narrow legalism of traditional religious authorities.
We, the members of the International Federation of Secular Humanistic Jews, believe that the survival of the Jewish people depends on a broad view of Jewish identity. We welcome into the Jewish people all men and women who sincerely desire to share the Jewish experience regardless of their ancestry. We challenge the assumption that the Jews are primarily or exclusively a religious community and that religious convictions or behavior are essential to full membership in the Jewish people....
We Jews have a moral responsibility to welcome all people who seek to identify with our culture and destiny. The children and spouses of intermarriage who desire to be part of the Jewish people must not be cast aside because they do not have Jewish mothers and do not wish to undergo religious conversion. The authority to define "who is a Jew" belongs to all the Jewish people and cannot be usurped by any part of it. [emphasis added]
In response to the destructive definition of a Jew now proclaimed by some Orthodox authorities, and in the name of the historic experience of the Jewish people, we, therefore, affirm that a Jew is a person of Jewish descent or any person who declares himself or herself to be a Jew and who identifies with the history, ethical values, culture, civilization, community, and fate of the Jewish people.
That last part is important in this discussion because many Orthodox authorities would not recognize Richards as a Jew even if he had gone through a Reform study program and ceremony (or if his father were Jewish but not his mother). And yet it's hard to imagine, if that were the case, that the AP reporter would gin up a controversy over it by going to Orthodox rabbis and asking them to issue a pronouncement about the faith of a person who doesn't even claim to be Orthodox. I see little difference (again, giving Rubenstein the benefit of the doubt over the veracity of his statement) between that and what the writer actually did.
I, for one, am, conditionally, quite comfortable acknowledging that Michaeld Richards is a Jew. And it's a shanda fur die goy!
As a final note, the web site for my home congregation notes that "When a person declares him or herself to be Jewish it is important for the individual to gain public confirmation of his or her private declaration." Presumably that means before he makes antisemitic cracks, not after. Even Sammy Davis Jr. knew to warm up the crowd with a heartfeld account of his decision to become a Jew before he launched into his "there goes the neighborhood" shtick. Indeed, as a new Jew wading into these waters, Richards would have done well to watch a classic episode of a TV show called Seinfeld, which I understand is now available on DVD.
Tim: All right, it is cavity time. Ah, here we go. Which reminds me, did you here the one about the rabbi and the farmer's daughter? Huh?
Jerry: Hey.
Tim: Those aren't mahtzah balls.
Jerry: Tim, do you think you should be making jokes like that?
Tim: Why not? I'm Jewish, remember?
Jerry: I know, but...
Tim: Jerry, it's our sense of humor that sustained us as a people for 3000 years.
Jerry: 5000.
Tim: 5000, even better. Okay, Chrissie. Give me a schtickle of flouride.
-- Jerry and Elaine at Jerry's apartment.
Jerry: And then he asked the assistant for a schtickle of flouride.
Elaine: Why are you so concerned about this?
Jerry: I'll tell you why. Because I believe Whatley converted to Judaism just for the jokes.
