Public Transit in America

You might not know it, but if you are Jewish and you are riding the same bus or L car that I am, I know it. Maybe it's your nose, you're northface, or even the color of your hair... I know you're Jewish. And, I suppose that you know that I am Jewish too. I do not come up short in the nose department. But, am I just extra perceptive? Can the non-Jews among us tell? Does this matter at all?

Yes,I use stereotypes about Jews, you use stereotypes about Jews, and everybody else does too.

I've never been shy to admit that certain popular stereotypes of Jews in the movies and television drive me crazy. Not the Ari Gold character, the shark, that doesn't really bother me. He's a success, he runs things. Its the dude from Beerfest that bothers me. The weak Jew. The nerdy Jew. The one that cannot defend himself. Makes me want to learn martial arts, throw weights around, and watch Inglorious Basterds. I refuse to let that stereotype represent me.

I use that stereotype every time I am on public transit. People see me as that stereotype too. What does this mean about the state of the American Jew? Are we supposed to fight this stereotype? Praise Eric Bana for his role in Munich? Pretend we are really "Israeli's born in the wrong place" so that we can pretend that we would have fought in the Israeli army, pretend that we are warriors, and pretend that we were protecting the Jewish people? You're from the suburbs... get over it. The Israeli's I know cannot fathom why an American Jew would want to run off and join the Israeli army. Why kill yourself when you don't have to? Many of them wouldn't have fought if they didnt have to.

The weak-Jew stereotype used to bother me more. But, I've come to terms with it just being a consequence of being a minority in America, and I understand that now. Perhaps I am losing my chip. But, we cannot rid ourselves of the stereotypes placed on us. It is something that we as American Jews will always have to live with. All minorities have to deal with. But hell, if that stereotype ends up with me playing golf in Boca Raton in 50 years... Ill take it.