RUNNING HEAD: JUDAISM CULTURE PAPER

Judaism Culture Paper: Beliefs and Stereotypes

Spencer Young

10/27/14

University of Kentucky

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Abstract

Jewish beliefs and ideals have been greatly misunderstood throughout the worlds history. These
misunderstandings have carried on to todays society and have left marks on the Jewish culture
that will never be forgotten. The Jewish people have a rich and vibrant culture that so few know
about. Judaism is generally alienated due to customs that are seen as strange from outsiders of
the culture, but in reality are normal and interesting customs. Medias and societies depiction of
Jewish life is often created out of biases with no factual evidence to back up their claims. This
paper first describes what the beliefs and customs of the Jewish religion are composed of. It also
examines how society has formed stereotypes that mock their beliefs and make generalizations
about a group of people.

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Judaism Culture Paper: Beliefs and Stereotypes

The culture of Jewish people is one that is extremely vast and rich in history dating back
over three thousand years. Jewish people are a huge part of society and have many unique
beliefs that most people are uninformed about. The societal views on the Jewish people are
generally ignorant and harmful due to the medias comedic descriptions that mock Jewish values.
The people of the Jewish culture have a unique set of beliefs of life, definition of god, rules of
sexual relations, clothing and its symbolism, holidays, and food. The Jewish culture is generally
perceived in a negative way because society stereotypes their religion based on past historical
biases toward their cultures people.
When diving into the set of beliefs that Jews hold dear to themselves, it is important to
note that Judaism has no formal mandatory beliefs that one must accept in order to become a
Jew. The closest thing to a set of beliefs that most Jews hold dear to themselves is Rambams 13
principles of faith. These 13 principles primarily focus on the existence of God and also the
accuracy of the Torah (Judaism 101, 2014). The Jewish religion, unlike most religions, leaves
little to no focus on conceptual and abstract concepts such as belief in God, but casts most of the
focus on the individuals mortal actions in the world rather than their belief system. The second
thing that Judaism casts a major focus on is relationships. The four primary relationships that
are focused on in the culture of Judaism is the bond between god and mankind, god and Jewish
people, human beings and human beings, and the Jewish people and the land of Israel.
Along with a unique set of beliefs, the Jewish culture has a definition of God that is quite
different from other popular religions. God is written as G-d in the Jewish culture because the
modified version is a way to avoid the sin of defacing his name. In the Jewish religion, it is
widely accepted by everyone that God exists. One thing that Jewish people do in order to show

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their commitment to God is to say the Shema twice daily. The Shema says, Hear, Israel: The Lrd is our G-d, The L-rd is one (Judaism 101, 2014). This statement helps to show how God is
one with all people and there is only one God. Another way that Jews define God is they say
God is the creator of everything. Judaism believes that God created all things even evil. A third
interesting principle of god that Judaism focuses on is that God is neither male nor female. In
the Jewish religion, God has no physical forms and this notation that God is male or female.
They believe that this need of other religions to create a face to the name of God simply comes
from a place of comfort and is for convenience sake. A fourth principle that is applied to the
definition of God is that God is holy and perfect. A common name for God in the Jewish culture
is Ha-Kadosh, Barukh Hu which means The Holy One, Blessed be He in the language of
Hebrew (Judaism 101, 2014). Along with their views on God, the Jewish people have rules on
sexual relations.
The rules of sexual relations in the Jewish culture are fairly similar to the rules that other
religions have. Jewish laws, which have been derived from the Jewish Bible or Tanakh, clearly
state that the act of sexual intercourse is not seen as a shameful or sinful act, but is a natural
human impulse. It is said that the sexual desire that is known for all humans to have, comes
from yetzerra. Yetzerra can be defined as the evil impulses that all humans face (Jewish, 2014).
Even though it is not seen as a shameful or sinful act, the act of sex between two persons is only
allowed within the context of marriage as it is in many other religions. The Torah states that sex
between husband and wife includes the involvement of three things, which are the heart, mind,
and body.
Clothing is a very symbolic and important aspect of the Jewish culture. One article of
clothing that is widely worn and easily recognized is the Tzitzit. Tzitzit are fringes that are worn

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at the corners of garments. These fringes at the end of garments help to symbolize mitzvoth
when worn. Mitzvoth can simply refer to any religious obligation or good deed. Along with the
Tzitzit, there is a four-cornered garment called a Tallit Katan that is worn. The Tallit Katan is
designed to be worn outside all other garments of clothing and for the Tzitzits to be placed at the
corners (Judaism 101, 2014). There is no religious significance to the Tallit Katan except the
fact that it is worn as a symbol of respect. A more unknown piece of religious clothing is the
Tefillin. In the Shema, it is commanded that you need to bind the words to our hand and
between our eyes. Blessings are recited as this unique object of leather straps is worn and is
simply a sign of good respect (Judaism 101, 2014).
The third piece of religious clothing is the yarmulke,
which is the most commonly known piece of clothing.
An example of a yarmulke is shown to right and is
pronounced yamaka. The wearing of the yarmulke
during the religious ceremony is an ancient practice.
The covering of the head with the yarmulke during prayers simply shows ones respect for God.
Although the covering of the head is not mandatory, it is engraved in Jewish customs to the
extent that it is disrespectful to not wear the yarmulke during prayer. These symbolic articles of
clothing are worn on holidays.
Holidays are a big part of the Jewish religion and help to bring people together with a
common belief. The Jewish calendar is different then the secular calendar so every Jewish
holiday begins the night before (Jewish, 2014). The reason that the celebration of these holidays
starts the night before, is that a Jewish day starts and ends at sunset. Work is not permitted on
most of the major holidays, such as Rosh Hashanah, Passover, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hanukah,

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and few others, which is similar of most religions. When one of these major holidays falls on a
Shabbat day the full restrictions are followed. These restrictions include no working, reflecting
on sins, following kosher lifestyle, no sexual activity, and proper religious clothing is worn. The
Jewish Shabbat is defined as a day of rest and spiritual enlightenment.
The holiday of Rosh Hashanah is also commonly known by many of the Jewish people as
the Jewish New Year and is one of the most religious days of the year. Rosh Hashanah is a day
of reflection of your sins as most of the day is spent is synagogue. The normal religious texts are
not used for this holiday but a book called machzor is used. The machzor is a more extensive and
in-depth religious book. A popular and widely used practice of Rosh Hashanah is the act of
Tashilkh. Tashlikh is when a larger group of people walk to flowing water after prayer and
empty their pockets into the river to symbolically casting off their sins they committed during the
previous year (Judaism 101, 2014). A second popular custom during this holiday is dipping
apples and bread in honey for a symbol for the wish of a sweet new year to come. Rosh
Hashanah is the holiest day of the year for Jewish people and is a day that is held dear to them.
Yom Kippur is one of the most widely celebrated holidays throughout the Jewish
community. It can be described as a day that is set aside for fasting, depriving oneself of
pleasures, and repenting of sins from the previous year. The Hebrew meaning of Yom Kippur is
the Day of Atonement, which means it gives people a chance to atone for the sins that they
committed during the past year (Judaism 101, 2014). The rules of the holiday include a twentyfive hour fast with having to refrain from water and food, no sexual relations, and washing ones
body. Similar to most Jewish holidays the time spent during the holiday is primarily in
synagogue. There are many other Jewish holidays that also celebrate these special times and a
component of these celebrations is food that is from Jewish heritage.

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Food is a big part of the Jewish culture in regards to everyday life for some, but on the
holidays it custom to eat these certain food that have been prepared by the Jews for centuries.
An example of one food item that is a traditional Jewish meal is Challah. Challah is a special
kind of bread that is generally served at the beginning of meals for Shabbat and also on holidays
(Jewish, 2014). The bread can be described as sweet and egg bread and is the portion of dough
that is taken out before it is baked. A second example of another Jewish food item is gefilte fish.
Gefilte fish is a cake or ball of chopped up fish. A third Jewish food item includes Matzah ball
soup. This item is served during Passover with the soup consisting of a chicken broth, matzah
balls, celery, and carrots.
Even with a culture that has a big focus on the importance of family and a firm
connection with god, there are negative stereotypes that have been associated with it. Large
amounts of racism are present in todays society. In a study done in 2012 that documented hate
crimes motivated by religious bias for that year, over 60 percent of crimes were anti-Jewish out
of 1,099 cases (Anti-Semitism in the United States, 2013). This study helps to show the
prevalence that these stereotypes play in todays world with hundreds of crimes against Jews that
are based out of pure racism and ignorance.
An example of a negative stereotype that is associated with people of Jewish descendent
is that they are greedy and wealth craving individuals. Although most people use this stereotype
as a joke, it was actually started in Germany during time of the Holocaust. It was started during a
time that a lot of the wealth of the nation was controlled by the Jews due to a large part of them
being educated doctors, lawyers, dentist, and other successful professions. This idea that Jews
are money crazed and greedy was formed out of pure jealously of the Jewish peoples success in
life. This stereotype is completely untrue as bashing someone for being successful due to being

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motivated and hardworking is ridiculous. Also there are many generous members of the Jewish
community who make huge impacts on charities and help to spread philanpirrty thought the
world.
Another stereotype that is associated with a male Jewish people is that they are socially
awkward, physically weak, and wear glasses. This stereotype again is highlighting the fact that a
large amount of Jewish people are high earning professionals and they have no social lives other
than work, which are both not true. Jewish people have a variety of jobs other than high earning
professions such as lawyers and stockbrokers. This notion of Jews being secured to a few
certain professions is ridiculous and the same as delegating all black people to the jobs as
gangsters or rappers. Foxman wrote in his book how actually over 700,00 American Jews live
blow the poverty line and the most American business leaders are not Jewish (Foxman, 2010).
This fact is not portrayed in the media as it unknown to most people that Jews can have jobs as
trainers or public speakers because of this common stereotype being ingrained in society.
A third stereotype that is most commonly used is that Jewish people have large noses and
curly black hair. This particular stereotype has been engraved into societies mind through
political cartoons, movies, and literature. The bashing of Jewish peoples physical features has
been present in society all the way back to William Shakespeares work. Making fun of
someones physical features shows immaturity and childishness. Even with the immaturity of
bashing ones physical features the media continues to promote these stereotypes without the
consideration for the effect it has on the people of the culture.
During my interviews in order to get a first hand account of how racism affects Jewish
people, I ask both Bret and Caleb multiple questions on how these stereotypes have affected their
lives. Caleb talked about how in middle school and high school there had been kids that had

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made rude comments about his religion and it made him question his beliefs, which also caused
him to be ashamed of his religion (Caleb Kramer, personal communication, October 8, 2014).
This helps to reiterate the point of how racism of Jewish people still hasnt died. It also shows
how just because a comment is meant to be perceived as a joke doesnt mean it wont hurt the
person it is directed toward. Bret Rodgers was the other person who I interviewed and he also
talked about a similar experience. He talked about how he has experienced jokes in the same
context as Caleb and how there was also a swastika spray-painted on the wall during his
Barmistifa party (Bret Rodgers, personal communication, October 7, 2014). This symbol that
was spray painted on the wall might have been perceived as a joke by the perpetuator, who
sprayed the paint on the wall, but the power that symbol holds is infinite. Brets grandfather
survived the Holocaust having his parents and relatives killed in the process. This act with spray
paint caused a lot of a lot of dark memories for the family members in the attendance that should
have never been exposed on this celebratory day. The
image shown to the right was the symbol of the Nazi
party and is called a swastika. The swastika is still used
today primarily as a symbol in order to show hatred
against Jews and other races. When the image or
reference to a swastika is used in a joking or funny
manner, most people laugh without thinking about the
harsh and brutal history it represents. A large portion of
Jewish heritage has been destroyed with relatives and family members being brutally murder, so
the swastika needs to be used a way to educate people and not as the main symbol of a joke.

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Stereotypes affect lives in negative ways that can hurt the people they are directed toward in
profound manners.
Judaism is a culture that is comprised of generous and hardworking people. The list of
items and beliefs that comprise their religion is fascinating. One aspect of their culture is their
beliefs on life with Rambams 13 principles of faith help to connect them with God. Another
component of their religion includes their definition of God. Their definition of God is different
from most other religions in regards to the fact there is no gender assigned to God. Also the
rules of sexual relations give insight to what is allow and what is prohibited in regards to sex in
the culture. The other three items covered being clothing, holidays, and food all show the
importance of these customs and how it helps the individual gain a closer relationship with God
and his culture. Society often characterizes Jews with stereotypes that are harsh and harmful due
to the fact that they are uninformed and uneducated on these customs. The Jewish culture is rich
and vibrant with a profound history and the act of taking anything away from that is wrong and
unjust.

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References

Anti-Semitism in the United States: Statistics on Religious Hate Crimes (November 2013)

Retrieved from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/antisemitism/hatecrimes.html

Foxman, Abraham (2010). Jews and Money, New York, NY: The Story of a Stereotype:
Palgrave Macmillan Trade.

Jewish. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://projectinterfaith.org/page/jewish

Judaism 101 (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.jewfaq.org/index.shtml

Kramer, Caleb. Personal interview. 8 October 2014.

Rodgers, Bret. Personal interview. 7 October 2014.