It’s Time to Move Away from Outward Markers of Jewish Belonging

“One thing I chose not to do was circumcise my child. While many of my secular compatriots still feel an affinity for this practice as a ‘tribal marking,’ I find it intellectually and ethically difficult to defend.”

Recently comedian Sarah Silverman made news when she criticized Hollywood for casting non-Jewish actor Kathryn Hahn in the role of Joan Rivers. Silverman went so far as to coin a name for such cross-casting as “Jewface.” Ugh.

It is the Jewish new year 5782, and, as far as I am concerned, it is time for all of us, Jews and non-Jews alike, to move away from Jewish stereotypes based on outward appearance.

Throughout my life, I have been told that I look Jewish. As a child actor, I was frequently sent to audition for specifically Jewish roles and was even typecast as the Jewish kid in a couple of films. In college, it was often incorrectly assumed that I belonged to one of the Jewish sororities. In law school, I recall someone I had just met asking whether I had grown up in one of “the five towns,” neighborhoods on Long Island with large Jewish populations.

Assumptions about my Jewishness, generally made by fellow Jews, did not strike me as wrong at the time. My prominent nose, kinky hair, and given last name, Schwartzman, were part and parcel of my Jewish identity.

Today, I am less comfortable with the idea of Jewish belonging tied to physical traits, a Jewish-sounding last name, or growing up in a particular neighborhood. Jews come in all colors, from all places, and in more iterations than ever before.