Subject: Jewish jokes
From: Valérie Aron (kate.beown@wanadoo.fr)
Date: Sat Jun 22 2002 - 04:42:07 EDT
I'd like to point out something about being half-jewish. This might seem
insignificant to you, but there is a huge difference between a Half-Jew whom
father is jewish and another one whom mother is jewish.
Salinger had a jewish dad and a catholic (protestant?) mum, who apparently
changes her name into Myriam to sound jewish. According to the religious
rule 'you are jewish only if your mother is jewish', he was not a Jew. But
socially, he was, because of his last name. At the opposite, if the mother
is jewish, you are religiously jewish (even if you don't want to!), but
socially neutral. It's a much more comfortable situation to avoid
discriminations, and in the same time, to practice your religion.
I'd like to come back to the "nuns episode' I mentioned yesterday: "
Catholics are always trying to find out if you're a Catholic. As a matter of
fact, my father was a Catholic once. He quit, though, when he married my
mother." Holden never says her mum is a Jew, but it's a foregone conclusion.
And it's the inverted version of Salinger's real life: a mother who quits
her religion to marry a Jew. I think it proves how Salinger was divided
with his own half-jewishness, and how Holden's situation was an ideal to
him.
Valérie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Rovira" <jrovira@drew.edu>
> Robert --
>
> I think the phrase -- "turned his back on" Judaism -- may sound harsh,
> but I didn't intend to sound like Salinger owed Judaism much of
> anything. I meant it as a fact.
>
> Salinger, it seems to me, was influenced by a tradition that draws from,
> or makes some accomodation for or accounting of, all religious
> traditions, but that's hardly the same as saying that Salinger himself
> actually drew from all religious traditions. There's far more of the
> Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita in Salinger than anything else.
> Somewhat less of certain strains of Buddhism. Still less of
> Christianity, but it's there. Even far less of Judaism, and it's hard
> to find even a hint of Islam or Zoroastrianism. Ultimately, though, the
> lenses through which Salinger viewed these other religious traditions
> betray a primary orientation rather than a true pan-theism. And it's
> eastern. He had one specific religion. He happened to have one that
> tends to arrogate to itself the power to "properly" interpret all other
> religious traditions.
>
> Kinda like every other one, for that matter :).
>
> JDS doesn't necessarily have to express outright admiration to reveal
> influences.
>
>
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