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Israel and Circumcision Top List of
Concerns in New 'Pewish' Plays
Survey Inspires Playwrights To Examine Modern Judaism

DAVID SHMIDT CHAPMAN
Funny, You Dont Look Pewish: Short plays by ten Jewish playwrights were presented at a staged
reading at the Judson Memorial Church in New York.

By Gordon Haber
Published July 01, 2014, issue of July 04, 2014.
The Pew Survey of American Jewry came as a shock to the chattering classes (or kibbitzing
classes) of professional Jews, the pundits, academics and culture boosters that make a living
by analyzing or promoting Judaism, myself included. Of course, anybody with eyes could see
that interest in the religion has dwindled and many American Jews see little point in
supporting Israel. But the decline was much steeper than anybody expected. American Jewry
is quickly becoming a divided community, with a minority of Zionist daveners and a majority
of secular Jews that is, those whose identity starts and stops with an occasional
hankering for whitefish.
So its no wonder that the study generated a flurry of discussion among professional Jews
and the people who listen to them. And in many ways its a productive conversation. But the
one problem is that the people whom we need to hear from the most the indifferent Jews
havent been chiming in. Its likely that most of them havent even heard about the
survey. This is unfortunate because it would be helpful to know more about their
indifference, if only to track the death throes of a moribund community. And its also
unfortunate because even indifferent Jews, with little prodding, will quite Jewishly talk your
ear off about their non-Judaism.
David Shmidt Chapman, an energetic young theater director, also noticed that the voices of
a usually voluble group were missing.
In the Jewish world everybody was talking about it, rabbis, scholars, academics, Chapman
told me. But the survey didnt register with the artists. They didnt know about it. And the
survey should have had a bigger impact on the creative community, because artists can be
good emissaries of cultural information.
Chapman was inspired to commission short plays from ten Jewish playwrights who usually
dont write about religious issues. Then, with sponsorship from ROI, he put together
Pew-ish: Artists Responding to the New Jewish Identity, a staged reading of the plays that
took place on June 26th at the Judson Memorial Church.
I must admit to some trepidation about the evening. As a writer who explores the nexus of
religion and culture, Ive endured a lot artistic responses to Jewish issues. In particular Ive
seen a lot of bad theater, the kind that makes you wish youd listened to your mother and
gone to law school.
But Pew-ish was surprisingly enjoyable. One reason is because the show opened with Adam
Blotner performing as Ari Sweatlove, a Jewish hippy singer too dim to notice just how
patronizing he is. Later, Blotner sang about a neglected holiday: Grap your kippah and wear it
/ Get some cheesecake and share it / Shmini Atzeret.
As this was a staged reading, it was understandable that the plays themselves were at times
a little inchoate or ragged. Nevertheless they were all interesting, which is highly unusual
when so many writers are involved, and most achieved moments of humor and real pathos.
One standout was The Spivaks, by Anna Ziegler, in which the eponymous family argue over
dinner about Israel (what else?). The piece was particularly engaging for its multigenerational
and contradictory approach, with the patriarch, Walter (played by a thundering David
Mandelbaum), banging the table to punctuate his support for the Jewish state which hes
never visited.
Why should I go? he asks. Its enough to know its there.
Meanwhile his petulant granddaughter, Ivy (the versatile Annie Purcell), has zero interest in
Israel, comparing it to a relative that everybody thinks is related to me but really isnt, like a
step-uncle who gets drunk and says too much.
A second standout was The Covenant, or Bagels and Butchery, by Ken Weitzman. In this
playlet, new parents debate whether they should go through with their sons bris when the
mohel who shows up is crosseyed. Its an amusing beginning to a serious subject, especially
when the wife isnt Jewish: the word mutilation comes up a lot.
Jake Goodman is charming as David, an ambivalent secular Jew tortured by his indecision
about the excision, and Megan Ketch is appealing as the sharp-tongued but loving wife and
mother. And, as a Jewish father, I can attest to how well the play captures the horror of
parents facing the insanity of circumcision.
But The Covenant exemplifies an interesting thread that ran through the evening. At times
it was unclear just who was grappling with a religion that they dont know much about the
writer or the characters. This didnt necessarily detract from Pew-ish. After all, Shmidts
goal was to work with writers who dont usually tackle such issues. But Id have liked to see
one or two more voices from younger people not struggling with their Zionism or Judaism. Not
for ideological reasonsShmidt insisted that he has no agenda for Pew-ish other than
dialogue, and I commend him for that. But while the Pew Survey demonstrates that the less
ambivalent subset of American Jewry is fast diminishing, nevertheless it still exists.
The evening was a one-off: Shmidt, by his own admission, has no idea what happens next
with Pew-ish. I hope he figures out some way to keep the conversation going. These plays
are a glimpse of a generation that is rapidly losing its religion and its ability to swallow the
Israeli national myth. (The one pillar that seems to be holding strong is the centrality of the
Holocaust to Jewish identity and history.) Its a generation that doesnt know how to be
Jewish. Theyre lost, but maybe in a good way because even if they dont have answers,
theyre still holding on to the questions.

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