Orthodox Jewish Girls Snub The Bard

The Bard did a dangerous, heroic thing by loudly asserting, in the middle of a supposed comedy, that Jews do, too, bleed! That was radical then! He is our friend! He had to make Shylock s somewhat tyrannical father, and a rough guy, to draw the audience in. But then, when they are in, Shakespeare pounds them! There is shocked silence. The Christians in the play suddenly all look like worms! Shakespeare could not go any further than that, in the times he lived in. This protest in England is an unfortunate error. "Hath not a Jew eyes!" It's a wonderful play. I am not ashamed of Shylock. He is not the only Jewish type, but he is one of them. That's fine with me. He is honest, and a man. We cannot expect Shakespeare to mount a love-song to the Jews, that was clearly labeled as such. Nobody would have allowed it, nobody would have attended, it would not have been possible. Shakespeare went as far as he humanly could, to defend us. NONE of Shakespeare's heroic men are angel-perfect - they would not have been believable. They ALL have some bad or unattractive qualities. A Jew can ignore Shakespeare and study Talmud, but a Jew should not denigrate Shakespeare. It is undeserved. There is no comparison with Wagner.

Anonymous may well be correct, but it's entirely the wrong argument.  The response to these girls should not be to try to prove that Shakespeare was a good guy.  Great art and literature is sometimes produced by very bad guys, and a school that purports to introduce kids to Western culture should be teaching them (and they should be learning about) Shakespeare whether or not he was an anti-Semite (whatever that meant in the 16th century).  In the same way, schools should teach Huckleberry Finn, and black kids shouldn't object to studying that book on the grounds that it uses the word "nigger."  There also, one can argue convincingly that Twain was not really a racist, but that's the wrong argument -- the real argument is that he's as close as there is to the basis of American literature.

I think you mean, look, Western Civ EXISTS, as it IS. Study it or ignore it, but, if you choose to study it, you can't edit out the parts you find awkward. And, you must examine it in a truthful way. That must mean, accurately in the context of its time! Unlike the Torah, it is time-bound! The Chassidic mentality certainly cannot study Shakespeare. For them, there is only Talmud/Torah. The Mitnagdish mentality can, perhaps. Fine. There is room for everybody. Merchant of Venice may be a difficult play, for BOTH Jews and Christians. Well, too bad; so is Titus Andronicus. They are not performed very often. But nobody should denigrate Shakespeare! Shakespeare is clean material. Some of it is pretty mature. But it is morally clean. The school had the right to quietly drop him, if they wanted to, without comment. They can study whatever they like. But now that we are under severe attack from another quarter, THIS is what they decide to criticize publicly?

I suggest that the "nine spirited" yeshiva students follow these pedagogical guidelines in the course of their secular education:

(1) Include in your boycott of The Merchant of Venice these great books: Jane Eyre, Candide, The Sun Also Rises, The House of Mirth, Roxana, What Makes Sammy Run, Oliver Twist, etc. Consider rejecting virtually all American and British fiction because antisemetic characterizations are routine.

(2) Let all sorts of unqualified people decide on an English literature curriculum. This includes parents and school administrators whose last encounter with serious literature may have been 20 or 30 years ago. While you're at it, let those same unqualified individuals decide what your mathematics curriculum ought to be. Mathematical symbols may have covert meanings that might be interpreted as antisemitic.

(3) Protest all examples of slavery, sibling rivalry, animal sacrifice, treachery and bloodshed in the Torah. If your rabbis, teachers and parents do not support you in this regard, consider calling upon Move.org, Amnesty International or PETA.

(4) Insist on seeing only one point of view about any given text. This will prepare you to live in a world where everyone thinks exactly the way you do.