what is a self-hating Jew?

books:


	• The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-hatred, and the Jews (Jewish Encounters) David Mamet Schocken, 2006 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 26 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Important Theme, Botched

Though sympathetic to Mamet's general premise, I found more to dislike about the book than I anticipated. What bothered me most were:
1) Mamet's authoritative voice was presumptuous and pedantic, especially when his arguments were thin, muddled, or unconvincing.
2) The use of Freudian theory/ terminology to buttress those arguments.
3) The erroneousness of Mamet's target: Mamet considers as "apostates" not just the obvious Chomsky-Finkelstein types ( deserving of his buckshot ), and Jews scornful of Judaism ( also buckshot-worthy ), but any Jew who isn't a regular attendee at synagogue. To Mamet, the Jew who doesn't study Torah is part of the problem. And his sole prescription for these apostates? Get thee to a shul.
4) Mamet's tone, throughout, is lofty, arrogant, and without sympathy even when his targets are harmless, non-apostate innocents who happen to irk him, and who he drags in to the fight ( i.e., poets, writers, and artists who participate in artist groups, whom he calls liars for thinking their work has worth ).
The book has its strengths, and the first few chapters dealing with anti-Semitism are good, but from there on it's a rough ride, sometimes interesting, with an erratic driver who does a lot of talking to himself.

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what is a self-hating Jew?

Mamet delivers a relentless answer to this question, describing the impact of a bigoted society on one's sense of self, and highlighting the isolation unaffiliated Jews encounter while living in a world that is always going to hate them whether they are affiliated or not. It is an indictment of the generation of Jewish intellectuals who chose to reject the faith, but like an older brother, Mamet scolds them but also makes an impassioned plea for their return. He attempts to explain to us all what a magnificent culture we have inherited. As the child of alienated Jews, I was raised in the desert and am trying to find my way into Canaan. Mamet's point on the inescapability of our Jewishness is well taken. For me this book has had a powerful healing influence - but I don't expect my parents' generation to appreciate it - I think it would only offend them. I read it all within two days - it's brilliant, almost brutal although motivated by love - the observations about race, global anti-semitism, and internalized self-hatred are very astute.

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Why am I Jewish?

How rich a history we Jews have,,,,,celebrate it .Live it,,,,Thanks >>David Mamet for reiterating that point !!!
As a child of Parents who emerged from Auschwitz< both their parents and most of their siblings were GASSED and cremated. I know the world hates Jews and I am quilty of absorbing myself into other cultures in order to escape the utter pain inflicted on my family,,,,Thank you for setting me straight into my own TRIBE. WHAT A RICH HERITAGE WE JEWS HAVE!!David Mamet is my hero..Thanks for being who you are,,,,Kol hakavod

brilliant

were I more intelligent I would give this book 5 stars but alas I am not and found it somewhat tough going in the 2 days I spent reading it.
I have pondered this subject over the years and even reproached certain Jews for what I consider their anti semitic views'.How can a jew be anti semitic "is the usual ludicrous reply.

Mamet {as have I} have come to the same conclusion as to what drives these traitors {my words)and to be succint they are cowards.If they can convince the world they are indeed cosmopolitans they will escape the fate of their fellows.History prooves otherwise as Mamet points out but what do these people know of history?About the same as they know of their heritage.Nothing.

People like Noam Chomsky,anti semite extraordinaire have huge followings and fame as an intellecual.Is he famous for hating his own people?How lonely this must be would be Mamets take.
Why not study his own heritage and religion and find fellowhip,peace and pride.Mamet does and this is his reccomenation for the Jews who flounder from one trend to another.
Come home where you belong is his answer.
I realize as does Mamet that this is provocative and not possible to prove but certainly worthy of thought.

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My Review/Wonderful Book

Movies, Books, Music & ArtCommentaries
David Mamet's 'The Wicked Son'
Column: Interesting Times
Lynne Bundesen
[...]
May 25, 2007
"See also, the bachelor who manages to find in every potential mate something just a little bit wrong. This person may be accused of, and may in fact grudgingly admit to, that malady called fear of commitment, but that may be more truthfully characterized as greed.

"The perennial bachelor is afraid not of commitment but of passing up any opportunity for unlicensed sex -- he is afraid not of commitment but of restraint."

There you have David Mamet in "The Wicked Son."

The book's title refers to the character in the Passover Seder who distances himself from his people by asking, "What does this ritual mean to you?" The subtitle lays bare Mamet's meditation: "Anti-Semitism, Self-hatred, and the Jews."

Some reviews say the book is "bombastic"; a few online reviews have said that one needs a dictionary to read the book. The New York Times review says, "Like everything he does, it is blunt and bracing, honest and provocative, original and gutsy." I say it is a must read. The book may make you angry, may disturb you, or may cause rejoicing that someone has said what needs to be said.

Mamet: "In substituting conveniently elected totems and ceremonies for their more ancient counterparts, we have become neither more rational nor more humane, merely more confused -- we have replaced awe by superstition. The ceremony of circumcision is derided as savage self-mutilation, that of breast augmentation as logical fulfillment of individual prerogative. Plastic surgery performed in the aid of self- or community propitiation is simple cosmetic alternative; that performed in the aid of religion, is viewed, by the enlightened, as monstrous.

"But every obeisance, performance, or sacrifice the apostate finds irrational or ludicrous in religion will be found, under another name, in his daily life. The apostate might balk at consulting a rabbi as he might a soothsayer but finds it logical to consult with a 'life coach.' ... The enlightened might find ludicrous the notion of a Magic Balm of Youth, yet pay outrageous sums for an inert white cream that has been suggested to reverse the aging process. One might identify as primitive the caste differences between Cohen, Levi and Israel yet pay exorbitantly to 'move up' from one model car to the next -- models operationally identical, and differing only in the placement and shape of their fenders and badging."

Writing is thinking -- or should be -- and Mamet thinks: "Man is a constantly, irremediably, deeply superstitious creature -- no man more than he who is assured of his absolute rationality. The apostate is not an agnostic but an unconscious polytheist."

He says: "The constant battle against personification and rationalization, against our all-too-human desire to cast ourselves as God, is not a perquisite for the practice of religion; it is the practice of religion."

And he chides his brethren: "Surrender is frightening, and surrender to one's own tradition, race and heritage is, demonstrably, the most frightening of all. Why do some Jews reject their religion and their race? For two reasons: because it is 'too Jewish' and because it is not Jewish enough."

In one of those six degrees of separation, I once was engaged to the brother of David Mamet's first wife, but that thought only crossed my mind as I was stunned by the text and nearly through reading. Remembering is one thing Mamet wants from his readers, from his fellow Jews. Remembering who you are and where you came from.

"The Wicked Son" is a slim volume, but the contents take time to digest. And all is not criticism. His volume ends: "We are the children of kings and queens, a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. We are the children of a mystery that has not abandoned us and that has come for us; it is both described and contained in the Torah."

-- -- --

Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is [...]

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

As might be expected from this fiercely provocative writer, David Mamet?s interest in anti-Semitism is not limited to the modern face of an ancient hatred but encompasses as well the ways in which many Jews have themselves internalized that hatred. Using the metaphor of the Wicked Son at the Passover seder?the child who asks, ?What does this story mean to you???Mamet confronts what he sees as an insidious predilection among some Jews to seek truth and meaning anywhere?in other religions, in political movements, in mindless entertainment?but in Judaism itself. At the same time, he explores the ways in which the Jewish tradition has long been and still remains the Wicked Son in the eyes of the world.

Written with the searing honesty and verbal brilliance that is the hallmark of Mamet?s work, The Wicked Son is a scathing look at one of the most destructive and tenacious forces in contemporary life, a powerfully thought-provoking and important book.

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