1 Decoding Seinfeld’s Jewishness Jarrod Tanny (UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA WILMINGTON) The hit series Seinfeld is widely regarded as one of the best situation comedies in the history of American television. During its nine-season run, it climbed the rating charts, reaching the zenith of popularity by the time its inale aired in May 1997. It brought fame and fortune to its cast and writers, who engendered a cultural phenom- enon through quirky characters, deceptively simple storylines, and an endless spate of “Seinfeldisms”—stock phrases that found their way into the daily discourse of millions of viewers. Television critics and scholars also recognize the show to have been a watershed in the depiction of Jewishness in situation comedies. Before the 1980s, Jewish characters were few and far between, but following Seinfeld’s success, they began to surface on every network. Although Jewish executives, producers, and writers had always been the driving force behind network television, the “Jewish sitcom” was a new phenomenon. Yet the nature and extent of Seinfeld’s Jewishness remains subject to debate, so much so that William Novak and Moshe Waldoks, the editors of the canonical Big Book of Jewish Humor, concede that “the precise relationship of Seinfeld to Jewish humor is a complicated question that we are happy to avoid,” though “neither the quality of the product nor its Jewish lavor have ever been in doubt.” 1 Indeed, there is little that is overtly Jewish about Seinfeld. Of the four principal characters, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer, all of whom are thirty-something single New Yorkers, Jerry Seinfeld is the only one explicitly identiied as Jewish; moreover, this does not occur until the 74th episode and only recurs on four occasions in the one hundred episodes that followed. A mere six episodes have what might be called “Jewish plot- lines,” including a bris, a bar mitzvah, a Jewish singles night, and a dentist who converts to Judaism in order to tell Jewish jokes. The paucity of Jews, Judaism, and Jewish stories on Seinfeld coupled with the show’s patently “Jewish lavor” has not gone unnoticed. Consider the title of Jon Stratton’s essay, “Seinfeld is a Jewish Show, Isn’t It?” or Rosalin Krieger’s “ ‘Does He Actually Say the Word Jewish?’ ” or David Zurawik’s apt description of Seinfeld as “a too Jewish/not Jewish enough Jew for the ’90s.” 2 This paradox may explain how the Washington Post’s TV critic, Tom Shales, could slam Seinfeld as “too self- hatingly Jewish,” while Abraham Foxman, the National Director of the Anti- Defamation League, called the show “human” and “universal,” with characters who 53