Often, I find myself sneering at Christians in a way that would be completely intolerable were my aim squared at any other cultural group. Making your kids pay for college themselves? Goyish. Not serving food with drinks? Goyish. Intelligent design? Goyish. Wal-Mart? Goyish to the Nth. I call it like I see it.

Umm, OK.

Lest we get too full of ourselves, let's just think about some other Goyish things. I present for you, the principal architects of the modern world:

Galileo Galilei. Rene Descartes. Francis Bacon. Isaac Newton (and how). William Shakespeare. Charles Darwin (especially relevant to that ID quip).

Hmm... Interesting A bunch of goys. We could tag Einstein at the end, though relative to these other guys he's a runner up. At best should get a third of the the credit for special relativity (split evenly with Poincare and Lorentz, more goys)--but that's another argument.

Talking like this only alienates very capable people who would care about antisemitism. Actually, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference, but this is still insulting and unnecessary.

Camboy

try it! it's fun!

I've realized in recent years that my disdain for all things goyim is kind of offensive, especially since like the author I am now part of a goyish family as well. And yet--there are those times when I see something, and I don't like it, and the only reason I can think of why I don't like it is that I hear my mother's voice in my head saying it is GOYISH. E.g., having a "card box" to collect gifts at a wedding [yes, people really do that!]; giving crappy wedding gifts; matchy-matchy living room furniture; dressing your children alike; serving supermarket-prepared food to guests...basically all things I would consider just tacky if I were not on my high Jewish horse.

Michael Richards probably thought he was funny too. Actually, the premise is interesting--your recognition of scorn as a means of separating oneself as a Jew seems self-reflective to a point (though I dare say that antipathy toward one religion as a mobilizing agent for a common Jewish identity is a bit pathological). But overall, this essay seems to take a complex issue and do a smug figure-eight on the surface of it. Even the rhetoric is murky: "but the Jew in me will never let me be too catholic in what I wholeheartedly accept."

What do you wholeheartedly accept? Indulgence of your sweeping generalizations and stereotypes? That candy canes are creepy? As a resounding note, that doesn't carry much insight.

As someone from a family of Catholic democrats, I would argue that there is much more room for nuance when it comes to religion and political affiliation than you apparently believe. You are a professor at a large state university? I have no doubt that you have in your classes students of varied religious backgrounds to whom devotion is a source of personal strength. Would you have been comfortable with one of your profs publicly (even if 'affectionately') calling Judaism "creepy"?

When it comes to headlines, it's no secret that cute sells more copies than thoughtful. But "Creepy" smacks of a virulence of hostility that is reminiscent of anti-Semitism. I guess humor, like all things, is in the eye of the beholder. But your poking fun at yourself only goes so far as to chide yourself for your masters degree in arts--and your 'understanding' goes only so far as sympathy with Catholics for being dimwitted sheep. People generally know when they're being mocked--even when it's done with tongue in cheek. And that kind of indirection is, well, a little creepy.

YouYO You don't know any Jews who voted for Bush? You don't get out much, do you?

more; Go to an Orthodox shul (my sense is that most of the people in mine voted voted for Bush).

It's so weird that those things you think of as goyish I think of as Jewy. Huh.

i do a lot of googling for work, researching human rights issues, genocide, poverty, etc. it was jarring to stumble upon this that i guess was supposed to be funny. a person raised with enough money to joke about (or not even comprehend?) those who can't afford to spring for an open bar, not renting out spare rooms, etc really has nothing to complain about. we all have prejudices of one sort or another, let's try to not revel in them. oh, and what's this about the creator of the universe putting jews above the rest of the world? Maybe the author should not really believe what the ALeinu tells her!

"There is something very Jewish in me that makes me want to separate myself, but I can only express that separation through scorn."

Yes -- there is something very Jewish about "separation." For millenia, Jewish separatism has been an effective means of preserving the continuity, integrity and distinctiveness of the Jewish people. That part you have right. But separation from the other peoples of the world is not scorn for them, and the ease with which you elide this distinction has nothing to do with Judaism and everything to do with yourself.

You feel that the division between yourself and your goyische neighbors is "so slim it's almost invisible?" That your Judaism asks you to be more distinct than you are? Then speak to a rabbi. You might be surprised to discover that Judaism has far more to do with being a good Jew than it does with holding the rest of the world in contempt.

Another thing: Judaism (let alone morality itself) is not coterminous with Upper West Side liberalism. In identifying the good with what is Jewish and what is Jewish with your own particular prejudices, you give the lasting impression that despite education and (I'm sure) travel, you remain utterly parochial, in thrall to the circumstances of your birth and prejudices of your place.

Your scorn for the goyim only reveals how paltry and meager is your own conception of Judaism. The only way for you to distinguish yourself as a Jew is to scorn and sneer at others? For shandeh.

One does not have to look far at why there is such a growing divide in America than your supposed cute and clever title. It is sad that certain groups, namely Jewish liberals, can and do say publicly what their hearts desire with little cost. All of course, at the expense of Christians and decency. Amazing that what you write is somehow to be considered funny or even worse assumed as insightful. Your clever word smithery and marriage to a Catholic neither hides your disdain nor gives you the objectivity you believe to speak as you do.

The truth is, in the end it was an exercise to rationalize hate with a wink. I could not write an article with the above title without losing my job and being publicly flogged. You know, like the Romans did to Jesus as the Jews stood by conspiring in their hate. Rediculous. I could not so much as even suggest it! Why is it that you are above this mockery? Because as Jews we have suffered from those poor non-worldly fools among the corn fields? No one has ever suffered at the hands of a blue state Jew correct?

The reason you justify your hate is not because you are a Jew, but because you are ignorant of what it means to be a Jew. How you attach pro-choice to Judaism is astonishing. Your birth right is no excuse for such hate either. Quite the opposite. You are correct that you hold a special place as a chosen person, separate and distinct from the world. But with such blessing comes responsibility that you ignorantly fail to acknowledge or understand. Instead you mock those who have not been enlightened to the glories of sodomy, infanticide and free drinks at weddings. You may find it interesting to know that Jesus (another Jew) provided wine for a Jewish wedding free of charge! Hilariously, it is the two words--sodomy and infanticide that scare you the most. That is what all of this is really about. They are outrageous and puerile to you.

Arguing that Christians give you the creeps smacks of something Hitler said not too many years ago. You should be proud for we are advancing so beautifully.

Thank you, anonymous, for proving the author's point....

Why are Christians so obsessed with sodomy anyway?

At first I cringed when reading the above. In part because I completely empathized but mostly because its in print for all the goys to see!

As I started thinking about the article and the subsequent comments, I remembered the ah-hah moment I had when I realized the black people didn't much 'like' white people, but at least they had very good reason. And it was at that same time that I also stopped viewing blacks as needing my pity or special allowances. The fact that blacks were really fucked off by whitey made me respect them.

So why wouldn't the same be true for Jews and goys? Because Jews in America as a group have not shared the same socio-economic fate? Perhaps thats the reason Ms. Gordstein only gets the 'creeps' from certain goyish activities/ behaviours and she is not using words like 'contempt' or 'hate' as one of the comments above suggests, in fact her aversion isn't all that deep as she did go ahead and marry a goy. My point being that the above article is healthy, cleansing, and even funny. Liken it too lancing a boil - not a wonderful experience but at least it gets the goop out.

Christians are not obsessed with sodomy anymore than living in the red states. That reductionism is what proved my point. You only proved your stereotypical ignorance of a group you obviously know little about. Moreover, sodomy was condemned by the G_d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob so direct your complaints elsewhere. Yet, you conveniently missed the point, it was the author that tied sodomy--oh excuse me, homosexuality and pro-choice to capital J-Judaism. She has made these outrageous claims and assumptions and you support them.

Trying to rationalize your disdain for another group by mocking and stereotyping is hilarious. It does not dawn on you that it smacks of hypocrisy afforded to Jews. To argue that Christians give you the creeps is as helpful as another claiming all blue state Jews are greedy grave robbers. Would you support an article entitled "Jews give me the creeps" or Blacks give me the creeps?" Of course you wouldn't and there would be a public outcry. Yet, this absurd false dichotomy that she has set up serves no one but her attempt to gain attention or worse gives fuel for people to justify their creepy feelings.

This isn't about being helpful, or linking hands with our Christian brothers and sisters and singing kumbaya -- it's one neurotic Jewish woman's commentary on navigating the complexity of culture, history and identity. As a Jew, like the commenter above you, I cringed when I read this because it's revealing for all to see an uncomfortable part on an inner-psyche that whether you like it or not many of us can relate to on some level.

She doesn't hate goyim... She married a goy, for the love of Gd!

I don't find this article humorous. Nor do I find it offensive (though I can understand why you would). I do, however, find it uncomfortable -- and frankly sometimes that's a good thing.

J

PS - yes, I do wonder how someone can publish this under their real name and not have it come back to bite them in the ass at some point!

maybe she thought he was one of the good ones

Don't know anyone who voted for Bush? Pauline Kael is reputed to have made a similar remark to some gathered New Yorkers: How could Nixon have won? After all, she didn't know a single person who voted for him. That anecdote has been repeated by conservatives for years. And it's still funny.

You have a narrow and erroneous viewpoint. I'm Jewish and voted for Bush TWICE! Besides having been Bar Mitzvah and served on the synagshul board, I hunt, fish, and own a dozen firearms. I also have a five JewisJewish hunting partners. My three kids were also Bar/Bas Mitzvah, and I have been to Israel.....a red-state jew.

I hope you have a Damacus Road experience with Christ really soon. He was one of the greatest "Jews," but He counted it all dung to know Christ.

i liked this column, but it would be great if they didn't keep it featured under a new headline every day. I keep thinking it's a follow up and clicking on it. It's really annoying.

I go to a Catholic Jesuit college and I find myself sneering at times, but I have checked out mass before with my best friends here and it's not as bad as you think. I think acceptance and tolerance are two very very important things as a Jew. But not to be so accepting and tolerant as to lose your Jewishness.

This seems to be a Northeastern US perspective (or at least a perspective from a place where Jews do not feel like a minority) on what is means to be Jewish v. what it means to be anything else.

It sounds like you have learned tolerance (or are learning), but let's hope that most Jewish people are being brought up in a tradition of tolerance and mutual respect. We can disagree, but let's not disrespect!

Jewish in the Midwest

Having been born and bred in the NYC area and then spent some time in the Midwest, I honestly felt that many of my non-Jewish friends in NYC were culturally more Jewish than some of the Jews I met in the Midwest. Disgusting, parochial, NYC-centric prick? Maybe. But that's what you get when you're a not-particularly-religious (heathen!) Jew living in an area where aspects of both religious and cultural Judaism are not only vibrant in every form possible and then some, but also affect the greater culture at large.

The thing about Christianity that places them and us particularly at odds is the fundamental opposing properties of our respective worldviews/theologies.  We both can't be right about this.  Either that guy on the cross is the messiah, or he's long gone. 

Further, Jews can be secular and remain Jews while secular Christian is a contrdiction in terms.  Nothing else distinguishes a Christian from other nations but his or her religious affiliation.  To the extent that Jewish ethnic identity is rooted in ancient or medieval religious traditions is by now beside the point.  Jewish languages, a shared history and its particular calendar distinguish Jews from the other nations (goyim) with or without strict or casual adherence to religious traditions.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

THE WRITER SEEMS CONFUSED.
EVEYR OTHER WORD IS A COMPARISON OR EXAMPLE OF THE XTIANS.
THIS IS THE PROBLEM OF MARRYING CONVERTS.

IT SEEMS THAT THE CONVERSION WAS NOT DONE UNTIL *AFTER THE MARRIGE'
IT SEEMS THAT IT IS NOT A ORTHODOX CONVERSION BUT A DEFORMED CONVERSION.
IT SEEMS THAT NO MATTER HOW MUCH HE IS STEPPING UP , HE ISNT JEWISH.PERIOD !
CONVERSION IS ONLY ACCORDING TO THE LAWS THAT MOSES BROUGHT DOWN,
NOT ACCORDING TO WHAT SALLY OR REVEREND JOE TOLD YOU, I MEAN RABBI JOE.
IT SEEMS THAT TIKKUN MAGAZINE IS A MESSIANIC RAG OR SOME DERIVITIVE.
A CONVERT DOES NOT SEE HIS OLD LIFE AND WIFE DOES NOT KNOW HIS OLD LIFE.
IT SEEMS THAT MOST OF JEWCYS READERS WILL HATE ME
SO BE IT , AT LEAST I TOLD YOU THE WAY IT IS...

''BUT I FEEL I AM JEWISH''
,,YEAH
AND I FEEL LIKE I HAVE A MILLION DOLLARS IN MY BANK.

THANK YOU
YOUR ADVISOR
DACON9

Its not you the Jewcy readers will hate - but the fucking capital letters. Please stop it sweatheart it makes everything you write sound even more fanatical.
Just a friendly tip,
sissie b

YOU SEEM TO BE VERY EXCITING....
WOW!!!
I AM IN LOVE AGAIN

FANATICAL ?
WHO IS NOT ?

IT DEPENDS IF THE FANATICAL IS ON HIS OWN TURF,
THEN HE IS NORMAL

BUT YOU,,IT WILL BE YOU TO TAME ME

THANK YOU
DACON9.

PS:
ARE THE READERS SO SHALLOW THAT ITS THE FONT THAT WILL GET THEM
AND NOT THE CONTENT?
PLEASE ANSWER

Yes DACON9 some of us readers are that shallow and exciting too....

I want you to just try and write the answer to this post in a some lower case letters. I know you can do it big guy....

Sissie B

I PASSED TEST ONE THAT I AM NOT A SPAMMER..

YOU DIDNT ASK ME ANY QUESTIONS THAT I CAN ANSWER
IN ANY CASE UPPER OR LOWER.

BUT SWEET JULIET THIS IS OUR END.........
FAREWELL......
OFF TO ANOTHER ARTICLE.
_____________

THE PICTURE IN THIS ARTICLE WITH THE CAPTION
IS AN INSULT TO JUDAISM....
WHO EVER WROTE THAT CAPTION KNOWS NOTHING....
NOTHING ABOUT JUDAISM....
THE AUTHOR ,,WELL THE AUTHOR,,,,,,
ITS A PITY...

THANK YOU
KOSHER PESACH
DACON9

Please stop writing in capital freaking letters or I'm going to have to implement a special Dacon9 comments filter. Then everyone will get a chance to READ your posts before discovering you're a troglodyte.

Plus, Dacon9's comments are increasingly showing psychological imbalance, and I don't think we need to give the disturbed a forum here.

Ms Grodstein was just expressing her view that's all. I do find a lot of what she said to be disturbing and sad. But hey, those are her feelings. Jews did suffer greatly at the hands of Christians in Europe over the centuries. So if some Jews have some antipathy, or even dare I say hate, towards Christians perhaps its justifed.

Many Jews find Christianity repugnent. Fine, but can Jews in their hearts truly believe that any faith(one that has 2 billion members incidently) could be so repugnent that you can say none of its adherants are of any virtue or decency?

Those are just some thoughts to ponder.

Shalom!

You can't put out this type of roach motel and then be surprised if you snare some roaches.  It's bound to attract the anti-semites, and of course, they do not dissappoint.

Now, being a goy myself, albeit one of the Armenian flavor, I found this article interesting, and obviously very honest.  Anyone who criticizes the author is being dishonest, because every group feels creeped out by certain rituals/customs adopted by the "other".  This author simply decided to share that with all of us, whereas most people would keep that to themselves these days.

Is there a seaprate term for muslims and others who are not Christian or Jewish, or does Goy, refer to all non-Jews?  I'm just curious, because we have a term for all "others", and I was just curious to know if Jews have a term for all "others".

I have always wondered about that too. I would imagine that Goyim would refer to all non-Jews.

Phantom, goyim is Hebrew for 'nations', i.e., any nation that is not the people Israel. So yes, the word goyim would include Muslims.  It should also be noted that the negative connotation inherent in goyim is not necessarily there in the Tanakh, but has arguably been implemented by common usage.  

I've always wanted to know what it meant.