{"id":9120,"date":"2014-12-08T10:19:57","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T14:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=9120"},"modified":"2014-12-08T10:19:57","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T14:19:57","slug":"the-dead-hand-of-the-past-i-review-bad-jews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2014\/12\/the-dead-hand-of-the-past-i-review-bad-jews.html","title":{"rendered":"“The Dead Hand of the Past”: I Review “Bad Jews”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

at Studio Theatre:<\/p>\n

Jaroslav Pelikan declared, \u201cTradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.\u201d But it can be hard to tell which one you\u2019re actually doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBad Jews<\/a>,\u201d at the Studio Theatre through December 28, takes place over a few hours in one tiny (but pricey) New York apartment. Cousins Daphna, Jonah, and Liam are reunited on the night after their grandfather\u2019s funeral. (So big, even Abe Foxman was there!) Liam has also brought an outsider: the blonde, beatifically-smiling Melody (Maggie Erwin), a 1950s Coca-Cola ad of a person, whose sunny shiksa demeanor couldn\u2019t be more of a contrast to the rest of his family.<\/p>\n

Most of these people are awful in their different ways. Daphna (Irene Sofia Lucio) has burrowed into her Judaism like a tick, swelling with the righteous blood of the Jewish dead. At no point does her faith make her act better. We never see her pray; we never see her give up anything she really wants in order to follow God. In fact, God isn\u2019t mentioned. She\u2019s catty and racist, and she\u2019s appointed herself to defend the family\u2019s religious and ethnic heritage against the lukewarm assimilationism of Jonah and Liam.<\/p>\n

This allows Daphna to get off some great lines. She pegs Liam as a type we\u2019ve all encountered, who loves any tradition as long as it\u2019s somebody else\u2019s. She calls him \u201cproud of how disdainful he is\u201d toward his heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, if you found yourself in the middle of a rain dance, you\u2019d be perfectly respectful,\u201d she rants, prancing around the apartment in her imitation of a Native American ceremony. \u201cBut if you find yourself in the middle of a hora\u2014I\u2019ve seen you in the middle of a hora!\u2014you want to die.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

at Studio Theatre: Jaroslav Pelikan declared, \u201cTradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.\u201d But it can be hard to tell which one you\u2019re actually doing. \u201cBad Jews,\u201d at the Studio Theatre through December 28, takes place over a few hours in one tiny (but pricey) New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[102,20,58,19,86],"class_list":["post-9120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","tag-a-shandeh-for-the-goyim","tag-as-is-traditional","tag-studio-theater","tag-suspicion-of-traditions-so-new-wave","tag-the-dark-continent-europe-in-the-twentieth-century"],"yoast_head":"\n"The Dead Hand of the Past": I Review "Bad Jews"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"at Studio Theatre: Jaroslav Pelikan 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