Can I be Jewish for Halloween?

Midnight Rain · Aug 6, 2015

Tumah said:
Most Jews dress exactly like non-Jews
How do you dress like a Jew?

Curious George · Aug 6, 2015

Levite said:
Which may not always descend to the level of mockery, but it is taking it lightly and turning it into a party gag.

I am not a priest, or Greek, or a Scot, so I cannot answer whether they find such costumes offensive or not. I could imagine they might, though, and it still wouldn't stop people from dressing up. Americans often aren't particularly sensitive to the cultures and beliefs of others.

Blackface is only one thing, and yet....

Blackface exaggerates stereotypical features of black. A yarmulke and tzitzit do not do this.

Why is it offensive to put on these things lightly. In a movie or in a play, they are nothing more than costumes. At Halloween they are nothing more than costumes. If the purpose is not to demean, to mock, or to devalue I do not see the problem. Yes, someone is not showing a particular item of your culture the same reverence you would. But why is that offensive?

rosends · Aug 6, 2015

Midnight Rain said:

So then why not

Curious George · Aug 6, 2015

Tumah said:
Most Jews dress exactly like non-Jews
How do you dress like a Jew?

The costume at discussion is a yarmulke and tzitzit that is all. Not an impressive costume, but nothing more for the moment.

Midnight Rain · Aug 6, 2015

rosends said:
So then why not

Because nothin that he is wearing actually indicates his Jewish faith? Pretty sure this was a gag thread anyway. I can't take gag threads too seriously.

Though while on the subject I am a wiccan witch. People dress up as witches all the time. Should I be any less offended than a Jew in this regard?

rosends · Aug 6, 2015

Midnight Rain said:
Because nothin that he is wearing actually indicates his Jewish faith? Pretty sure this was a gag thread anyway. I can't take gag threads too seriously.

Though while on the subject I am a wiccan witch. People dress up as witches all the time. Should I be any less offended than a Jew in this regard?

Nothing in the other picture indicates a Jewish faith. it indicates an Eastern European heritage.

I went to college with a Wiccan. She didn't dress like anything in particular. I would assume that someone wearing the whole "black hat, wart and broom" thing and identifying as "witch" might be offensive. The witches in Macbeth were (IIRC) naked in some productions/drawings. Nothing in the text describes what they wear.

rosends · Aug 6, 2015

Curious George said:
The costume at discussion is a yarmulke and tzitzit that is all. Not an impressive costume, but nothing more for the moment.

Really? So if I have my tzitzit inside so you can't see them, and I have on a baseball hat, I am not dressed like a Jew? There is no particular way to "dress like a Jew" because there is no singular "Jew" to look like.

Levite · Aug 6, 2015

Tumah said:
That's pretty extreme! So its not really dressing up as a Jew per se as much as the stereotypical Jew. Since the overwhelming majority of Jews don't dress that way.

Although I guess there wouldn't be much novelty in dressing up as a Reconstructionist.

It would be a refreshing change of pace, though how exactly one would make it clear one was a Reconstructionist I have no clue....

Levite · Aug 6, 2015

Curious George said:
Yes, someone is not showing a particular item of your culture the same reverence you would. But why is that offensive?

Because those things deserve respect, because it isn't okay to stereotype other cultures for fun, and because it's not okay to turn someone else's culture and religious identity into a stereotyped party gag. It's demeaning. It treats someone else's culture as something that you have a right to use, and worse, to use for cheap laughs. And that is disrespectful.

Thana · Aug 6, 2015

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.

Does it matter if it's offensive?
It's not racist. It's not cruel, All it is, to you, is a costume. The only people offended will be those with delicate sensibilites.. And why must you bow to them?

rosends · Aug 6, 2015

Thana said:
Does it matter if it's offensive?
It's not racist. It's not cruel, All it is, to you, is a costume. The only people offended will be those with delicate sensibilites.. And why must you bow to them?

Just like blackface?

Midnight Rain · Aug 6, 2015

rosends said:
Nothing in the other picture indicates a Jewish faith. it indicates an Eastern European heritage.

I went to college with a Wiccan. She didn't dress like anything in particular. I would assume that someone wearing the whole "black hat, wart and broom" thing and identifying as "witch" might be offensive. The witches in Macbeth were (IIRC) naked in some productions/drawings. Nothing in the text describes what they wear.

And I still have yet to hear your point in this. Are you offended or feel that it would be offensive to wear a Jewish outfit that had fake long sideburns and Rabbi uniform? Or were you taking my joke far to seriously?

Aquitaine · Aug 6, 2015

Levite said:
Blackface is only one thing, and yet....

Can it be said there is a difference there though?
Because 1) Blackface in itself is a mockery of 2) a person's race, and not their religious beliefs?

rosends · Aug 6, 2015

Aquitaine said:
Can it be said there is a difference there though?
Because 1) Blackface in itself is a mockery of 2) a person's race, and not their religious beliefs?

who determines that it is mockery? What is the difference between race and religious beliefs in terms of someone else's using it as a costume?

Aquitaine · Aug 6, 2015

rosends said:
who determines that it is mockery? What is the difference between race and religious beliefs in terms of someone else's using it as a costume?

People can choose their religion.

Thana · Aug 6, 2015

rosends said:
Just like blackface?

That is a race thing, What the OP is suggesting is not.

Revoltingest · Aug 6, 2015

Tumah said:
Most Jews dress exactly like non-Jews
How do you dress like a Jew?

This guy has it down....

rosends · Aug 6, 2015

Midnight Rain said:
And I still have yet to hear your point in this. Are you offended or feel that it would be offensive to wear a Jewish outfit that had fake long sideburns and Rabbi uniform? Or were you taking my joke far to seriously?

My point is that there is nothing which is "dressing Jewish" or else most Jews have been doing it wrong. What there is, is a stereotype of a particular geographically based subset of a certain group of Jews. Dressing up in their clothes is not being Jewish any more than putting on a Kebaya is "being a Muslim." And what is a "Rabbi uniform"? I have been a rabbi for a bunch of years and have yet to receive a uniform.

rosends · Aug 6, 2015

Thana said:
That is a race thing, What the OP is suggesting is not.

and when it comes to costumes, what is the difference between race and belief? Can I dress up as a nationality? I don't see a difference between making yourself look like someone based on "race" and "anything else."

rosends · Aug 6, 2015

Revoltingest said:
This guy has it down....

That is going to confuse at least one guy in this picture...

Can I be Jewish for Halloween?

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