History Main / JewsLoveToArgue

* Creator/SusieEssman once speculated that if she and her mother were hiding from the Nazis like Anne Frank was, holed up in an attic without being able to make any noise at all, ever, her mother would get them all killed by bitching about a dish not being properly washed.

''Oho, so you're the big ''gemarakup''''[[note]](talmudic scholar)[[/note]]'' now?''

[[DescribeTopicHere Describe Jews Love to Argue here.]]

->''"You think Wiki/TVTropes is good for you? [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife Well it isn't!]]"''

''Oh, you call yourself ''busy'', just sitting around [[WikiWalk opening tab]] [[TabExplosion after tab]]--''

* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' Dwarfs are often compared to real-life Jews (this was not the author's original intention but he [[AscendedFanon seems to be running with it]].) One of the main reasons? They argue a lot, especially about their faith. As Cheery Littlebottom says in ''The Fifth Elephant'':

* Creator/SusieEssman once speculated that if she and her mother were hiding from the Nazis like AnneFrank was, holed up in an attic without being able to make any noise at all, ever, her mother would get them all killed by bitching about a dish not being properly washed.

''That's your ''gevaldige''[[note]](terrific)[[/note]] description? If I had known you'd write such ''dreck'', I wouldn't have come over.''

Um, okay… For whatever reason, Jews and arguing go together like Passover and matzah.

Hey, I'm trying. Give me a break. This probably has to do with the layout of the Literature/{{Talmud}}, which contains a whole lot of back-and-forth arguments, arguments about what other people are arguing about, and often not even a resolution to the arguments. (Or an argument if there is an argument or not…)

…I have no idea what that means. Anyway, this is a joke [[SelfDeprecation more common among Jews themselves]] than among gentiles [non-Jews]. Such conversations are generally (in fiction) liberally peppered with YiddishAsASecondLanguage.

'''''Khalas, shneychem, KHALAS!''[[note]]Enough, both of you, enough![[/note]] Look, ''achi''[[note]]bro[[/note]], while those two ''chofrim basechel''[[note]]talk too much in an annoying way; literally digging the mind[[/note]], you can compare LowerClassLout, BadassIsraeli, JewishComplaining, RambunctiousItalian…'''

'''''Zeh ''Tropes'' shel ashkenazim be-amerika, ya ben zona!''[[note]]These are American Ashkenazi tropes, you son of a bitch![[/note]] You Americans think that [[WeAllLiveInAmerica all Jews are exactly like the]] [[JewishAndNerdy Nebbish]], [[AllJewsAreAshkenazi Ashkenazi]] ''frayerim''[[note]]suckers, though with a much more negative connotation compared to the US[[/note]] you call Jews…'''

[[caption-width-right:193:[-And they argue with ''[[{{God}} anyone]]''.[[note]]''Really? '''This''' [[SelfDemonstratingArticle is the best picture you could come up with?]]''[[/note]]-] ]]

* Creator/WoodyAllen's [[JewishComplaining kvetching]] in ''Film/AnnieHall'' inevitably turned into some kind of argument.

* In the documentary ''Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films'', a filmmaker recalls coming in for a meeting with the two Israeli cousins who ran Cannon Films. Waiting in the lobby, he heard the two men screaming in Hebrew at each other in their office. Alarmed, the man asked their secretary if he should come back later. The secretary replied, "No, they're just trying to decide where to take you for lunch."

* [[Literature/CagingSkies Elsa Kor's]] parents argue about the way to butter toast to the way socks have to be folded.

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' features a great deal of very Jewy arguments over the trivialities of day-to-day life. Jerry is Jewish and, according to WordOfGod, George is half Jewish on his mother's side.

* Seen in many a Creator/PhilipRoth novel, particularly ''Literature/PortnoysComplaint''

** Jackie Mason as Rabbi Krustofsky.

* {{Lampshaded}} in ''Series/{{Frasier}}''. After Frasier's Jewish girlfriend gets into a heated argument with her overbearing mother and both of them manage to swiftly get over their problems and come out of it much happier than before, he and Martin try to do the same thing to resolve some of their issues, only to hurt each other's feelings so badly they make each other cry, prompting Martin to wail "We should never have tried this! We're not Jewish!"

-->'''Midge:''' Complaining. This is big with us. What repressing your emotions is to [=WASPs=], complaining is to Jews.
It's second nature. But the key is, the complaints should never be about big important things, only little things like, "It's hot out; this restaurant is so far; the line is so long." You know, things nobody can do anything about. Remember, you're not trying to fix anything. You're just trying to be heard. Guilt is big with us, and we use it wisely. And it's not for making yourself feel bad about something you did. It's for making someone else feel bad about something they didn't do. ''[audience laughter]'' Jewish parents. ''[audience applause]'' Mm-hmm. Yell at your sons for not eating enough, yell at your daughters for eating too much. And there's the saying often attributed to our great prophet Abraham: "Anything you can do isn't all that interesting to me."

* Naturally shows up in ''Series/TheMarvelousMrsMaisel''. In the pilot, when Midge mentions during the wedding that there's shrimp in the egg rolls, this prompts an outrage among the predominantly Jewish guests. Her father Abe Weissman immediately starts an argument with ''the rabbi'', demanding where it says that Jews can't have shrimp. Naturally, being a rabbi, the latter immediately replies with the appropriate passage.

'''''Boh enah, ani efarek'cha ta-tachat!''[[note]]Come here, I'll rip your ass off![[/note]] Do you know where I served in the Army? I served in Golani[[note]]A very prestigious combat brigade in the IDF[[/note]]!'''

Oy vey.

[[caption-width-right:193:[-And they argue with ''[[{{God}} anyone]]''.[softreturn][softreturn]''Really? '''This''' [[SelfDemonstratingArticle is the best picture you could come up with?]]''-] ]]

''And what would ''you'' know from comparisons, anyway, especially when they're given by this ''Schwartze-khayeh''[[note]]Prejorative yiddish term for Mizrahim, which amount to around one-half of Israel's jewish population[[/note]]?''

* One strip in ''ComicBook/{{Torpedo}}'' has the titular contract killer out of town for a few days, so his assistant decides to take a few contracts himself, thinking it can't be that hard. However, it turns out two Jewish shopkeepers had mutually asked that he kill the other, so he spends some time going back and forth between the two shops as they increase the price. Finally he snaps and [[TooDumbToLive drags them both out in the middle of the street so they can settle the argument without involving him]]. Several hours later, they come to an understanding by beating the crap out of the poor guy.

* In ''Film/HighAnxiety'', Creator/MelBrooks and Madeline Kahn need to get past customs, despite Mel's character being a suspected murderer! How do they do this? By posing as a constantly bickering couple of {{Alter Kocker}}s that the airport staff are relieved to finally get rid of. [[spoiler: It ''almost'' works-- until Mel's gun sets off the metal detector...]]

Finally, the rabbi decided to visit a one hundred year old member of the synagogue who was living in a nursing home. He took a delegation from each of the arguing sides with him to see the oldest member of the "shul". "Now, tell us," said the rabbi, "what is our tradition?" "Should we stand during the Shema?" "No," said the old man. "That is not our tradition." "Well, then," said the rabbi, "should we sit during the Shema?" "No," the old man, "that is not our tradition." "But we need to know what to do," said the rabbi, "because our congregation members are fighting among each other." "That," said the oldest member of the congregation, "that is our tradition."

* One of the implied main themes in ''Literature/TheDiaryOfAYoungGirl'' (Anne Frank) is that people around her love to argue with each other over trivial things, and this does't even include how Anne herself has a very rough relationship with her mother. This may be understandable, though. Having nine people hiding in a secret, tiny annexe for nearly two years is gonna build up a lot of stress.

* The Ray Bradbury story "Téte-À-Téte" is about a constantly arguing old Jewish married couple, although in this case they do not actually listen to what the each other is actually saying. When the husband dies, the story's protagonist uses a recording to let the wife continue arguing with her late husband.

** When Ron Paul was excluded from the Republican Jewish debate over his "misguided and extreme views," Stewart mocked the validity of the debate, since it was obvious they only wanted people with the exact same opinions, by saying "because if there's one thing Jews hate, it's arguing."

* {{Lampshaded}} in ''Series/{{Frasier}}''. After Frasier's jewish girlfriend gets into a heated argument with her overbearing mother and both of them manage to swiftly get over their problems and come out of it much happier than before, he and Martin try to do the same thing to resolve some of their issues, only to hurt each other's feelings so badly they make each other cry, prompting Martin to wail "We should never have tried this! We're not Jewish!"

* Literature/TheBible: This is what the Midrash and the Literature/{{Talmud}} are, Rabbis arguing. In the Torah, Jews argue with God. Abraham frickin' haggles with God over the amount of righteous men needed to save Sodom and Gomorrah. Just to clarify: The Talmud is a record of rabbis arguing, often over other arguments which are over the Midrash's arguments with itself. Traditional Talmud study is basically nonstop arguing. So really people are [[SerialEscalation arguing about arguments about arguments about arguments. Then they start comparing]] ''those'' arguments...
** The name "Israel" which God originally gave Jacob (Genesis 32:28) means "He wrestles with God". While the story of Jacob struggling with the Angel is usually thought of in a purely literal sense, the more figurative meaning--that Israel's people (i.e. the Jews) are always "wrestling" (arguing) with God--is every bit as valid. Due to the complexities of the Hebrew language, the exact nature of ''how'' they wrestle is unclear. It could actually be a mental 'struggle' in Jacob's own mind. There are several varying translation for 'isra', from 'rule' to 'straight'. They are the "Israelites," so wrestling with God is part of their name too.

** Another story from the Literature/{{Talmud}} highlights the degree of affection involved in the process. Rabbi Yohanan's study partner, Resh Lakish, dies, and the other rabbis find him someone new to work with. But where Resh Lakish would argue every point Yohanan made, no matter how obviously correct, the new guy was willing to say "you're right". This did not help Yohanan's mood. According to the Talmud, Yohanan replies that Resh Lakish would pick apart everything Yohanan said, and in answering the rebuttals the discussion would move forward. But this new guy - hah! "But you [the new partner] say 'we learned a teaching that supports you.' Of course I know that I am right!" And on that thought, he goes out to shed some ManlyTears for his old argument partner..

* Literature/TheBible: This is what the Midrash and the Literature/{{Talmud}} are, Rabbis arguing. In the Torah, Jews argue with God. Abraham frickin' haggles with God over the amount of righteous men needed to save Sodom and Gomorrah. Just to clarify: The Talmud is a record of rabbis arguing, often over other arguments which are over the Midrash's arguments with itself. Traditional Talmud study is basically nonstop arguing. So really people are [[SerialEscalation arguing about arguments about arguments about arguments. Then they start comparing]] 'those'' arguments...

* Ask a pair of Jews about any issue and you will get three different opinions.