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Can I be Jewish for Halloween?

roger1440

roger1440

I do stuff
dust1n said:
Hello. I'm wondering if it would be acceptable to wear a tztizit and yalmulke to some of the parties I'm going to this year for Halloween. I'm mostly asking Jews here, but I don't mind if other people wanna say something.
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It’s been many years since I been to a Halloween party. From what little I remember, the best part is the creativity of the costumes. Anyone can throw together tztizit and yalmulke. If you really want to get the guests attention, try this shtick. Guaranteed you will be the life of the party.


http://www.bottledance.com/
 
N

Nietzsche

The Last Prussian
Premium Member
roger1440 said:
It’s been many years since I been to a Halloween party. From what little I remember, the best part is the creativity of the costumes. Anyone can throw together tztizit and yalmulke. If you really want to get the guests attention, try this shtick. Guaranteed you will be the life of the party.


http://www.bottledance.com/
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..the **** is that? Jewish Mimes? The hell?
 
dust1n

dust1n

Zindīq
roger1440 said:
It’s been many years since I been to a Halloween party. From what little I remember, the best part is the creativity of the costumes. Anyone can throw together tztizit and yalmulke. If you really want to get the guests attention, try this shtick. Guaranteed you will be the life of the party.

http://www.bottledance.com/
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Lol. I'm not sure what sort of coordination you think I'm capable of, but I don't think I know if I can keep a wine bottle on my head, let alone with four others moving around and such. I'm afraid I'd show up with my gear and flaunt my apparent lack of knowledge of Jewish culture and vague grasps of Jewish comedy. But as long as someone else tries to do a chicken dance, I might be able to get away with anything.
 
roger1440

roger1440

I do stuff
dust1n said:
Lol. I'm not sure what sort of coordination you think I'm capable of, but I don't think I know if I can keep a wine bottle on my head, let alone with four others moving around and such. I'm afraid I'd show up with my gear and flaunt my apparent lack of knowledge of Jewish culture and vague grasps of Jewish comedy. But as long as someone else tries to do a chicken dance, I might be able to get away with anything.
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Ok, no bottle in this one.

 
dust1n

dust1n

Zindīq
roger1440 said:
Ok, no bottle in this one.
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How does one drink and accomplish 24 different steps like that?


Regarding the OP, I'm not sure pulling out a great traditional Jewish dance is going to make me look any better at Halloween party, unless I'm not wearing a tzitzit and a yarmulke.
 
Poisonshady313

Poisonshady313

Well-Known Member
dust1n said:
How does one drink and accomplish 24 different steps like that?
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Practice.


Regarding the OP, I'm not sure pulling out a great traditional Jewish dance is going to make me look any better at Halloween party, unless I'm not wearing a tzitzit and a yarmulke.
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I think the only way to dress as a Jew for Halloween without being horribly offensive is to dress as a specific movie character.

And I don't mean Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ.

maxresdefault.jpg
 
N

Nietzsche

The Last Prussian
Premium Member
dust1n said:
As long as the head is tilted back about least 90 degrees, I think it's indisputable it's on your head.
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Then I'm a goddamn expert.

dust1n said:
How does one drink and accomplish 24 different steps like that?
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I don't know. But I am willing to put my body on the line to answer this question for science. But first we're gonna need some wine. Not much. Maybe like, 200 or so bottles to start. Start low and all that.
 
roger1440

roger1440

I do stuff
I think going with a Jewish flash mob would be your best bet.
Here is the best example of a flash mob I seen so far. 64,000,000 views,WOW

 
Tumah

Tumah

Veteran Member
rosends said:
There is nothing illegal about it but I have concerns for two reasons...maybe even three, so bear with me:

1. the vision of "Jewish" reflects only one part of the Jewish spectrum and, as such, smacks of mockery. There are Jews of many colors and shapes, and modes of dress. If you try to look "Jewish" and isolate one portion of the population, you run the risk of appearing to make fun of the standard mode of dress of a community.

2. The things you would put on are actually elements of religious function. Your wearing them isn't about "looking like" the way putting on Superman's cape might be. You are taking items that have ritual significance and making light of them, devaluing them, and, again, appearing to mock them.

3. This is more subtle -- since there are Jews of many colors, shapes and sizes, someone who doesn't know you might think that you might as well actually BE Jewish and therefore, anything you do while dressed like that would reflect on actual Jews. A co-worker tells of a movie shoot in which an actor portrayed a Chasidic man. The shoot was on Saturday and the actor, during a lunch break, ran to MacDonalds for lunch and had a cigarette while waiting in line (it was the 70's). The casual observer doesn't know it is a gag and sees what appears to be a religious Jew breaking Jewish law in many ways. I would ask that you not dress up like this because of the unintentional effects.

So, what would I recommend you dress as? Last costume party I went to, I dressed as Bill Gibson, drummer for Huey Lewis and the News.

Of course, this is just my own POV as an Orthodox Jew.
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The only one that bothers me is that last one. Yarlmulkas and tzitzis don't have kedushas haguf. I don't see how it would be different than wearing a Yerushalmi yarmulka or tzitzis with Radzin techeiles and a breslov yarlmulka on Purim. Mar'is ayin is the only one I'd care about. Although I guess in a community where there are no Jews, and people know him, I guess that wouldn't be a problem either.
Is there something mocking that I'm not getting about dressing up on Halloween?
 
Curious George

Curious George

Veteran Member
Levite said:
A lot depends on the way the Jewish person is portrayed, and the faithfulness of the actor doing the portrayal. But a truly stereotypical media portrayal would be offensive regardless of whether the actor was Jewish; a truly faithful and nuanced portrayal would not be offensive even if the actor were not Jewish. Though I do tend to wish that media portrayals of Jews were more nuanced in general, and that Jewish actors played Jews more frequently.

The problem is not with a non-Jew portraying a Jew in the media, though. Nor is it with a non-Jew dressing up as a Jew for an event celebrating many important cultures, at which all attendees will be there dressed as the cultures whose contributions to the world they wish to respect and celebrate.

It is with a non-Jew dressing up as a Jew for Halloween. A media portrayal (at least in theory) is supposed to be an accurate characterization for the purpose of telling a story-- the character is Jewish, and their Jewishness reflects who they are, regardless of the Jewishness or non-Jewishness of the actor. But dressing up as a Jew for Halloween is demeaning: it is creating a stereotype representation for the purpose of going to a raucous party on a holiday characterized by representing things we find scary, humorous, and/or titillating.

Putting on a kipah (yarmulke) and tzitzit, and any other traditional Jewish garb or accoutrements, for the purposes of joking and mocking and partying is no different than showing up to the party in blackface, in order to come dressed up as a black person.
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I don't see it as joking and mocking. People dress up because it is fun. I don't imagine too many people are going to dress up to as a Jewish person. But people dress as priests, people dress as Greeks, people dress as Scotts, why not a Jewish person? I get that a stereotype might be offensive, especially given how stereotypes have been used in propaganda. But we are talking about a costume consisting of two items. How is that stereotyping?
 
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