Spotlight on CLAL
Welcome to Spotlight on CLAL. Here you will find stories about what is happening at CLAL and about the work that CLAL is doing across North America. Sometimes we will focus on a program, or a special event, or upon a CLAL faculty member's work and interests. Bookmark this page if you want to get to know us better.
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Hollywood and Jewish Identity
By Judy Epstein, Director of Public Affairs
Early in the 1920s, European Jews immigrated to the United States and
created the start of Hollywood. How they shaped it, what it meant in terms
of Jewish identity, how that changed over time, and what the images tell us
today were the focus of an evening forum at the Community Foundation for
Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago’s 10th annual dinner this past
spring. Joining such local talent as producer, actor, and director Harold
Ramis and cultural historian and writer Neal Gabler was CLAL President Rabbi
Irwin Kula.
At the event, Mr. Gabler discussed the four different stages of Hollywood
since its inception. Early on, he said, Jews came to this country to
succeed, and that meant separating themselves from any sense of Jewish
identity. Later, after WWII, they felt guilty for not having taken a stand
against the war, and began to include Jewishness on the screen, but
carefully. In the third phase, over the last decades, pluralism took hold,
and ethnic groups became freer to embrace their religious and cultural
identities, particularly in the medium of television. Finally, in the fourth
stage, where we are now, Jewish sensibility - in humor, story lines,
relationships, anxieties, and concerns - has pervaded the small screen.
“You no longer have to be Jewish to partake of Jewishness,” said Rabbi Kula.
“Jewish identity is now taught through such unconventional settings as
Hollywood. No longer restricted to the classroom or other traditional
environments, Jewish approaches, connections, and values are part of the
mainstream culture and touch a much wider audience.”
Discussion ensued about how shows like “Seinfeld” have influenced the
culture. Today, everything from “Will & Grace” to “Everybody Loves Raymond”
exemplify a Jewish sensibility.
“Living in an open and free society, we can play out who we are on a much
broader scale,” said Rabbi Kula. “Judaism can no longer be used simply to
create Jewish identity or to mark off Jews as unique. When being Jewish is
about being human, the impact can be staggering.”
Concluding the evening, Mr. Gabler looked at the wide arc Hollywood has made
since its early days. “In a world in which one no one could be
Jewish, we have now created a world in which everyone is Jewish.”
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