Daily Alert Archives

New Generation Finds It's Hip to be Hebrew

(Observer-UK) Paul Harris - Last week style bible Time Out New York devoted its cover story to "'The New SuperJews," with a photograph of Jewish actor Adam Goldberg ripping open his shirt to reveal a Superman suit. The magazine profiled 10 Jewish-Americans who were reinventing their culture in cutting edge fields. Goldberg, a star of "Saving Private Ryan" and "A Beautiful Mind," tops the list with his lead role in the controversial movie "The Hebrew Hammer." Goldberg plays a super-cool Jewish private eye who drives a Cadillac painted in the colors of the Israeli flag. U.S. bookshelves are bulging with new-generation Jewish fiction whose characters revel in their Jewishness rather than shun it. "Young Jews are...telling the previous generation they made a mistake. You should not give up your identity. You should celebrate it," said Professor William Helmreich, an expert in ethnic relations at City University of New York. The rise of Jewish pride comes when there are fears of a growth of anti-Semitism in America. Over the past 30 days there have been eight serious anti-Jewish crimes in Brooklyn, ranging from swastikas daubed on houses to vandalism against Jewish centers and a synagogue.
2003-12-19 00:00:00
Full Article