Dan and Lex: Judaism Unbound Episode 259 - Bernie Memes are Torah
The mittens. The vibe. You saw it, we saw it, everybody saw it -- everywhere, Bernie memes. Dan and Lex weave together a conversation about those memes, Jewish philanthropy, Jewish identity, and Torah (which is, as our title suggests, the genre within which "Bernie memes" is properly classified).
[1] This conversation refers back to Episode 258: Jewish Giving…Or Not enough that we encourage you to listen to both in tandem, but not quite enough that we would consider this conversation a “part II.” But it’s a close call, so listen in to Episode 258 by clicking here.
[2] Dan and Lex discuss a Forward article about Ella Emhoff, daughter of the United States’s “Second Man,” who the Forward thought was Jewish, but isn’t. You can read the article here. For another piece in a Jewish publication about Emhoff (one whose tone we appreciated more than The Forward’s), see Hey Alma’s “We Were Wrong to Assume Ella Emhoff is Jewish.”
[3] For another episode that looks at the question of people, with Jewish parentage, who do not identify as Jews, see Episode 146: The Jewish-American Paradox - Robert Mnookin, especially the early portion of the episode that looks at the identity of psychologist Erik Erikson.
[4] Dan mentions Lenny Bruce’s famous routine, which begins with “Count Basie’s Jewish. Ray Charles is Jewish.” Learn more about it in this deep-dive from Jewish Currents.
[5] For a few takes in Jewish publications exploring recent memes of Bernie Sanders, click here (Hey Alma), here (J: Jewish News of Northern California), or here (JTA).