Joshua Harmon’s eponymous bad Jews are two cousins who stake their own claim to an heirloom from their beloved grandfather: where one sees a symbol of the survival of the Jewish peoples in the face of the Holocaust, another sees the jewelry that began their grandfather’s life in America, free of the Old World bonds.
The argument runs along the fault lines of one of the great questions of Jewish-American identity: To what extent is American Judaism a cultural identifier and to what extent is it a religious one? How do you balance assimilation and authenticity?
Here’s where the four characters in Bad Jews fall along the spectrum of secularity:
MELODY: THE GOY
“I really don’t see why any of it matters, you know? Where people come from? People are just people.”
Not Jewish whatsoever. From Delaware. Dutch-Irish, maybe? And a little Scottish or Welsh. Wouldn’t know a dreidel if it bit her on the tuchus.
LIAM: THE SECULAR JEW
“Are we really gonna do chosen people talk? Really?”
Jewish socially, not sacredly. He’s there for his family and the free food. An atheist with a healthy suspicion of anything that smacks of tribalism. A self-described “bad Jew.”
JONAH: THE JEW-ISH
“I said I didn’t want to get in the middle of it so don’t put me there.”
Sure, maybe he doesn’t always keep kosher. Maybe he hasn’t memorized all of the High Holidays. But something about Judaism resonates for him—even if he slips up sometimes.
DAPHNA: THE UBER-JEW
“If I stop, if we all stop, it will be gone. And you can’t get it back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
100% unadulterated Jew. Planning to make aliyah, marry her Israeli boyfriend, and study Torah with this great vegan female rabbi. She knows who she is and what she stands for. Maybe she’s a bit loud about it, but can you blame her? It’s only been two generations since they tried to obliterate her ancestors.