SOCI 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Leonard Cohen, Orthodox Judaism, Hybrid Warfare
3 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
SOCI 227 – Jews in North America
Jewish Culture – March 26th
Readings: Chapter 7, Novick, Article in Syllabus, Cohen
Many definitions of Culture
• High culture, elite culture
o Various works on this topic – philosophy, serious works in literature, in any
language, art works, cantorial or classical music
• Popular culture, sometimes called folk culture
o Music, popular literature
• Material culture
o Food, dress, artifacts, etc.
o Items in a Jewish home
Culture as a lifestyle they are actions people take, things they have, actions they take, things
they do, not your deep thought
• Customs, values, habits
o Jews value education, etc.
o In Canada, most Jewish households do NOT have a gun, but in Israel they do as
they would have served in the military
o These can impact interaction
• Jewish Culture in North America
o Not the same as Jews around the world or as Canadian-American culture
o Could be music or food
o Not the same as hyphenated or hybrid operations – Canadian-Jewish
▪ This would be Jewish comedy or movies, writing, etc.
• Jewish language testing
o All from Canadian census
▪ Mother tongue
▪ Daily use or home language of use
▪ Knowledge of languages, which do you know?
Jewish Languages
Yiddish central and eastern EU language
• Historical role and secular
• Declining as a mother tongue
• Signs of life for the language:
o 1. University classes
o 2. Klezmer revival – usi played at Bar Mitzahs, et.
o 3. Hasidic groups
• This is NOT the end of Yiddish, there is a penetration of Yiddish worlds into English
o Can be found in American dictionaries, i.e. Webster
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o However, these will not be found in French dictionaries
• Ethno-lect – scientific and technical term that refers to linking a minority language to
English
o Ex. Pogrom
o Vocabulary and also speech patterns – Jewish speech patterns and inflections
Hebrew biblical, and modern Hebrew
• # of people that can speak has been increasing due to Jewish education, and movement
of Israelis to Canada
• About 60,000 to 70,000 Canadian Jews can hold a conversation in Hebrew
Jewish literature and art
North America – Modern writers, poets, Leonard Cohen, etc.
• They are seen as marginal, so often critical of mainstream American life
• Many argue that because Jews have been seen as marginal in North America, they are
a essetial other so they are ofte ore ritial of ad detahed fro aistrea
Jewish life
o They have this external distance
o In the culture but not totally of the culture, so they can be detached, critical, and
satirical with this distance
Difference between Jewish culture and American culture
• Not the same traditions and emphasis
Music - authentic Jewish music
• Cantor music
• Ex. Orthodox Jew being a rapper, hybrid operation, etc.
• Fiddler on the Roof – Broadway play
• Lenoard Bernstein – composer
• Where are the Jews situated?
Art – What is Jewish Art?
• Several examples
o An illustrated Haggadah is an example of Jewish art
o Tallis Jewish prayer shall, with elaborate decorations
o Candlesticks – very fancy with detail designs
o Mark Chagall, painted a lot of Jewish scenes, but was a secular man and painter,
modern work though
o Bowl of fruit painted by a Jewish artist – is there anything Jewish about that?
o Matzah – non-Jewish artist painting a Jewish food
• Most obvious example of a religious, Jewish and sacred religious item
o Prayer book
o Sedar pallet
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Elements of Jewish Culture
Language
• Knowing the language is extremely important
o In the United States 52% say they speak Hebrew
o Measured by whether or not you can have a conversation in Hebrew
o US – 12% can
• Many North American Jews whose Hebrew is very weak
o Interesting to compare with other minority groups in Canada
• Hebrew language is not very strong in the US
• How important is it for Jewish people to know the language and have a conversation?
o Praying in the Bible, but often times they are written out in English
• Translation and trans-literation
o Not the same meaning
o People not knowing what they are saying when reading the English translation
o But also is this more inclusive
• Catholic mistake to move away from Latin
o Something magical and mysterious about knowing an old ancient language
o This has with it certain mounds of emotional residence
What is essential to be Jewish?
• Survey done, one person said to remember the Holocaust
o Leading an ethical and moral life
o Working for justice and equality
o Being intellectually curious – what does this mean?
▪ American Jews think this is essential to be Jewish
o Having a sense of humor
o Eating traditional Jewish foods – 14%
• We know that through assimilation, we lose the language, activities, etc. but the food
lasts and stays on
Museums:
• Most large cities have Jewish museums
• They give you an interesting snapshot of the narrative
• More holocaust museums than jewish museums
• In all Jewish museums, competing narrative – victimization vs. agency
o Victimization – anti-Semitism, etc.
o Agency – we have contributed, part of society, look what we have done
o We see this dichotomy between two narratives in all museums
Jewish Foods
• Establish difference between Kosher food and Kosher-style food
• Lots feel that a minor part of keeping Kosher is the food
o Keeping Kosher is a demanding thing to do
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Readings: chapter 7, novick, article in syllabus, cohen. Culture as a lifestyle they are actions people take, things they have, actions they take, things they do, not your deep thought: customs, values, habits, jews value education, etc. In canada, most jewish households do not have a gun, but in israel they do as they would have served in the military: these can impact interaction. Yiddish central and eastern eu language: historical role and secular, declining as a mother tongue, signs of life for the language, 1. Klezmer revival (cid:373)usi(cid:272) played at bar mitz(cid:448)ah(cid:859)s, et(cid:272): 3. Pogrom: vocabulary and also speech patterns jewish speech patterns and inflections. Hebrew biblical, and modern hebrew: # of people that can speak has been increasing due to jewish education, and movement of israelis to canada, about 60,000 to 70,000 canadian jews can hold a conversation in hebrew. Jewish life: they have this external distance.
