Informed Judaism

...It's time to light the lights.

Fox: I didn't know you were Jewish!

Stick: Really? I'm always wearing this! (Lifts his hair up to reveal a kippah underneath)

— Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh, "Home for the Holidays"

This character is Jewish. How do we know?

Well, remember when the show did the Christmas Special? And there was that Aesop about diversity and the other holidays in December? And she was shown with a menorah lighting candles? But then again, you never see her observing Passover or the High Holy Days.

Fine, but then there was that episode about pork and how she keeps Kosher? Despite the shrimp cocktail and bacon cheeseburger she had for dinner.

OK, what about her Bat Mitzvah? You know, the characters were confused by the whole thing, and how they learned about her traditions. Which never got mentioned before or since.^note  This happens in real life a lot, too.

And that's the problem. A character who practices Informed Judaism will perform acts that most people can recognize as being Jewish, in contrast to the non-Jewish characters, but they don't show any more subtle signs of Judaism, even for an assimilated Jew, even the cultural aspect. Their Judaism becomes an Informed Attribute. The characters listed on this page are Jewish because the writers tell us, they don't show us.

This is a trope that pops up in a number of Western Animation Christmas Episodes; due to the nature of the shows' audience, the powers that be will want to place An Aesop in to show that the characters keep a diverse set of friends or peers. As a result, a character's Judaism is mentioned at some point in the episode, or perhaps a menorah will just be shown in the background, in order to keep up that diverse appearance. After all, who really knows what other religiously affiliated holidays are celebrated by a large enough group of people in the mid to late period of December? This will in fact be the only mention of religion throughout the episode (if not the series), as Christmas itself (assuming the name is used at all) will not be depicted as having any religious significance, but rather just be a "Warm, Feel Good Time", thus making this revelation of a major character feel shoehorned in. This is also despite the fact that since the Jewish calendar is a lunar one, there is no guarantee that Hannukah and Christmas will in any way overlap: Hannukah could be completely over way before Christmas starts.

Of course, there is a place between Informed Judaism and Anvilicious. A character doesn't need to shout "Oy, how meshuggenah, a golem! I'm ferklempt!" to be non-informed Jewish, and likewise, not every character who has a Hanukkah Episode is informed. It's more of a gestalt of the sense of the character. Yiddish as a Second Language, for example, can be a clue...though, of course, pushing any element too far lands you back here.

This has an element of Truth in Television: Some Jews in countries where they've been able to assimilate increasingly practice their religion only on the most important holidays (Passover, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur), and only celebrate Chanukah to have a winter holiday. They don't keep Kosher or observe the Sabbath. A practitioner of Reform or Reconstructionist Judaism — quite common in America — is especially likely to disregard most forms of Jewish ritual, including the Kosher laws. "Passover and High Holy Days Jews" are the Jewish equivalents of "Christmas-and-Easter Christians." That said, even many of these still show the cultural aspects of Judaism, often missing from these characters.

Generally, in modern secular usage, Jews include three groups: people who were born to a Jewish family regardless of whether or not they follow the religion, those who have some Jewish ancestral background or lineage (sometimes including those who do not have strictly matrilineal descent), and people without any Jewish ancestral background or lineage who have formally converted to Judaism and therefore are followers of the religion. Therefore, someone can be a Jew and no one else would know unless they asked. Many Jews do not do any religious rituals, and some even have Christmas trees ("Chanukkah bush").

This has occasionally sparked controversy, in cases of religious figures in other religions who have explicitly claimed Jewishness via ancestry. A particularly well-known recent example is the late French Cardinal Lustiger the former archbishop of Paris and a son of Polish Jews (his mother was killed during the Holocaust). He described himself as a "fulfilled Jew" all his life and maintained Jewish customs even as a Roman Catholic clergyman (he was known to recite Kaddish for his mother at a synagogue even after he became a cardinal, for example). Still, he was subject to much criticism by both Jewish and Christian groups.

Fan Fiction often subjects these characters to extreme Flanderization.

It should be noted that speculating on whether or not someone is really a Jew (if they're patrilineal, a convert, or secular, for example) in Real Life is a big no-no, especially if the person doing the speculating is themselves not Jewish. There's a reason why this list has no real-life examples.

The exact opposite of Ambiguously Jewish, where a character displays stereotypically Jewish traits but is never referred to as such; halfway between these two is reality. Compare Culturally Religious, which shares some characteristics with this trope. Often a case of Suddenly Ethnicity. Weirdly overlaps with Everyone Is Christian at Christmas, because as noted the Christmas season is when a Jewish character is most likely to inform us how they're an exception to the rule. Kin of sorts to Ambivalent Anglican, which is about Christians (or at least one branch of them) who can't be bothered much with the actual trappings of religion.

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Examples:

Advertising

• The young woman in this commercial for the Koolanoo Jewish social networking site is wearing a Star of David. (mildly NSFW)

Anime and Manga

• Benny of Black Lagoon is Jewish. It's first mentioned in the second volume, where the crew of the Black Lagoon encounter a Neo-Nazi boat. Other than that? We're talking about a sea pirate who drinks, smokes, and, more prominently, who works with and for criminals, local mafias, smugglers, and drug dealers on a daily basis.
• The Rosenthal family of A Certain Scientific Accelerator, among them series deuteragonist Esther Rosenthal, are supposed to be Jewish. Unfortunately, while Esther's brand of magic is, somewhat, inspired very loosely by some concepts from the Kabbalah and she does spew a few Hebrew phrases here and there, for the most part she behaves so generically "Western" and what little "Jewish" there is about her is so inaccurate you'd be hard-pressed to know until she mentions her ancestor's rabbis at one point (and the flashback shows them appearing as Catholic priests...).
• Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto — main character Cesare Borgia has a lot of Jewish friends, including his dearest friend and most loyal follower, Miguel da Corella (a real person who was probably not Jewish in real life). The Jewish students' religion is only brought up when someone, like Barbaric Bully Henri, is discriminating against them. The conflict that there must have been between their beliefs and the Catholic Church doctrine they're studying in school is almost never mentioned, but the fact that the situation in Spain puts their lives in danger is discussed.

Comic Books

• Harley Quinn being Jewish is mentioned once or twice. She loves Christmas though, and it's even brought up once by Poison Ivy in Harley & Ivy:
  Harley: Here it is the holidays and we're hanging out in this dingy rat-trap! No presents, no fun, no nuthin'! Can't we at least get a Christmas tree?
  Poison Ivy: What?! And support the mad campaign of botanical genocide that grips this country every December? Absolutely not! And besides, aren't you Jewish?
  Harley: Yeah but they're so bright and colorful an' stuff.
• Other informed Jews from DC Comics: The Atom (Ray), and the Sandman (Wesley).
• The Elseworld DC Comics Bombshells has a surprising number of Jewish heroines: Batwoman, Harley Quinn, Zatanna, Raven, and Miri Marvel. Of them, only Miriam is in any way devout. Back home, Felicity Smoak is also Jewish.
• Ben Grimm of the Fantastic Four happened to mention that he's Jewish, and he is seen praying in Hebrew (which he admittedly stumbles through) when he thought a beloved store owner in his old neighborhood was dying. Since Ben was always a gentle self-caricature of Jack Kirby, who was Jewish, this makes sense, and the fans seem to be fine with it. But it still seemed to come out of nowhere after all these decades of never mentioning it.
  • The in-universe reason that Ben never brings it up is that he didn't want his appearance to be used as an excuse for anti-semitic propaganda.
  • Interestingly, a short story from a Marvel Christmas Special comic book a few years prior to this reveal had Ben Grimm discussing the difference between Christmas and Hanukkah with a little Jewish girl. This story seemed to imply that Ben is not Jewish himself.
• The Incredible Hulk: During his long run as writer on the series, Peter David decided that long-time supporting character Doc Samson is Jewish, although it had never been mentioned before. He may have been influenced by the fact that the name "Samson" is rarely used by anyone but Jews these days (even then pretty rarely), despite it being an In-Series Nickname.
• Pizzazz mentions she's Jewish in the Christmas 2015 issue of Jem and the Holograms (IDW).
• Legion of Super-Heroes has Colossal Boy.
• Other informed Jews from Marvel Comics: Iceman, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Polaris, Justice (Vance), Legion, Moon Knight, Sasquatch, the Two-Gun Kid, Volcana, and Wiccan.
  • Averted with Kitty Pryde. While the generally atheist Wolverine was unable to drive Dracula off with a makeshift cross, Kitty's Star-of-David pendant burned Dracula's hand, because she possessed true faith. (Unlike most stories where it's merely the cross that repels vampires, in the Marvel universe, it really is the religious faith, regardless of the symbol displayed, that actually does the trick.) A number of other stories also make use of her Jewish faith. Though she's fallen more into this trope in recent decades where the fact that she's Jewish might occasionally get mentioned but is largely irrelevant.
  • Averted for Magneto. The theme of being persecuted for two things tends to make it more-than-informed. Being a Holocaust survivor is one of the most fundamental parts of his character (though this is becoming problematic in another way: it means that he can't be easily subjected to Comic-Book Time like the rest of the X-Men).
• Robin: Ives being Jewish is mostly just hinted at, such as with his snide remark about only liking the old parts of the Bible in response to something Ariana said, but it eventually becomes a plot point when Tim runs into him at a Catholic church. It turns out Ives was there for a cancer support group meeting.
• The Scooby-Doo DC Comics story Diamond Dog has the gang visit Daphne's Jewish maternal uncle, Saul Slotnik, and since DC Comics are part of the official canon, it makes Daphne canonically Jewish. However, she doesn't practice Judaism and demonstrates no connection whatsoever to this part of her heritage - in contrast to Velma, who has no confirmed Jewish relatives but is Ambiguously Jewish in many ways.
• Sunny's new friend in Sunny Rolls the Dice, Lev, is Jewish; he always wears a kippah and mentions he got his new D&D figurines as a Hannukah gift.
• According to Elliot S! Maggin, the pre-Crisis Lex Luthor is ethnically Jewish, although certainly non-practicing. Maggin himself is Jewish, and always had a slightly more tragic/sympathetic take on Luthor than other writers of the period.
• Y: The Last Man: The Hartle Twins on two occasions they mention that they are Jewish. In both cases, it was to avoid being mistreated by the Israeli troops of Alter Tse'elon. It does not work.

Films — Live-Action

• Josh of Already Tomorrow In Hong Kong is only identified as Jewish by his last name being Rosenberg and saying his grandmother disapproves of him not knowing any Yiddish.
• In the first two American Pie films, the only real sign that Jim is Jewish is his surname Levenstein (and a smattering of stereotypical traits displayed by him and his father, played by the Jewish Eugene Levy), but in the third film his family’s Judaism is explicitly referenced and becomes a significant plot point.
• In-universe for Bobby Mason in The Deal who is implied to have converted for the sake of headlines, and doesn't really know much about the religion past the obvious bits.
• In-universe of the film version of The Devil's Arithmetic. Hannah is introduced as an ignorant teenager who barely acknowledges her faith (her Establishing Character Moment is her trying to get a tattoo, which is traditionally forbidden in Judaism) and has to be dragged to a Passover celebration. The plot involves her being sent back in time to the Holocaust and going to a concentration camp - and her Character Development is coming to appreciate her faith.
• In Dick, toward the end Kirsten Dunst's character Betsy Jobs mentions being Jewish, to let President Nixon know why she's so appalled at his anti-Semitism, but beyond that brief bit of dialogue there's absolutely no indication of it anywhere else in the film, least of all from her very WASP-y surname.
• Dirty Dancing: Aside from their last name (Houseman) and the fact that they're vacationing at a Borscht Belt resort, there's nothing to indicate that the main family nor the other guests are Jewish.
• While the Basterds themselves of Inglourious Basterds are identified as being of Jewish descent, they don't appear to be practicing Jews, which has been criticized by some reviewers. Shoshanna meanwhile would be a justified example, as she's a Jew who narrowly escaped her family's slaughter at the hands of the Nazis, and is living under a false identity in German-occupied Paris, presumably pretending to be gentile.
• The Little Hours: Ginevra abruptly reveals she's Jewish to Massetto, and then the other characters learn it too. No other sign is given, but it's justified as she's a nun (at least technically-it's invalid given she was never baptized). Why she went into a convent is never revealed.
• Gretchen from Mean Girls mentions receiving Hanukkah gifts. This one may be justified in-universe, as that part of dialogue is about how she has to follow Regina's rules on what she is and isn't allowed to wear; suggesting that she's suppressing that side of herself to please Regina. This includes dancing in a Sexy Santa Dress to a Christmas song with the other Plastics.
• Mermaids: Rachel Flax is Jewish, but does not keep Kosher or seem to follow any traditions. Her daughter Charlotte has converted to Christianity, which annoys Rachel to no end.
• Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005): After John and Jane drop the cover IDs they got married under, they start trading trivia about their real backgrounds. While driving away from a firefight, Jane says, "I'm Jewish," before a cutaway to the next scene.
• Mac and Jimmy in Neighbors. At least Jimmy knows Hebrew enough to show off (with unfortunate results).
• Oppenheimer: Robert Oppenheimer's Jewish heritage isn't brought up until he meets the man who would become his friend, Isidor Isaac Rabi. The latter is much more in touch with Yiddish and those things than Oppenheimer is as he points it out. That being said, Oppenheimer keeps himself as much informed as he can of the terrible things happening in Nazi Germany, which went even more terrible than simply what he knows about the Nazis putting "his people" (as he calles them) in camps.
• In Pineapple Express, James Franco plays a pot dealer named Saul Silver who's dealing in order to pay for care for his "bubbie" (Yiddish for grandma)—though, weirdly, there's one moment where a character is asked to describe Seth Rogen's character (who has the rather goyish-sounding name Dale Denton), and he says "I think he was a Jew." This can be explained by the fact that Rogen was originally cast as the pot dealer and Franco as the friend. While both actors are in fact Jewish, Rogen more often plays identifiably Jewish characters.
• In the film adaptation of Puckoon, the town's doctor (named Goldstein) is introduced by the narrator as being so Jewish that even at a party attended solely by Jews, people would still ask "who's that Jewish looking fellow over there?". Despite this, his only "Jewish" characteristics are complaints about somebody owing him money, and having to hide his identity as an Irish Nationalist, not because the British might see him as a terrorist, but because other Jews would frown on him collaborating with Catholics.
• Save the Date (2012): Sarah and Beth are Jewish, judging by the fact Beth's having her wedding in a synagogue, though it's never explicitly mentioned. Their first names both are also traditionally Jewish, though not exclusively so, and they're played by Jewish actresses as well.
• Snatch.: Inverted by Doug the Head.
  Turkish: He acts like he's Jewish. Talks like he's Jewish. Tells his family they're Jewish. But he is as Jewish as he is a fucking monkey. He reckons it's good for business. And in the diamond business, it is good for business.
• An odd example in 1939 short film Sons of Liberty, about Patriot financier Haym Salomon. Reference is made to Salomon fleeing from religious persecution. He is shown at a Sabbath service, made very obvious by the clothes everyone is wearing. It's even referred to as the Day of Atonement. His name is "Haym Salomon". But the words "Jew" and "Jewish" are never said in the movie. This is likely because in the 1930s Hollywood had censored explicit references to Jews for release in Nazi Germany.
• Arnold says Kaddish for his lover over his mother's objection in Torch Song Trilogy. Albeit, incorrectly, as it is a prayer that requires a minyan, and he recites it alone. As this is not addressed in dialogue, we don't know if it's a comment on his being abandoned by the Jewish community, his choice to hide from it, or just bad writing.

Literature

• Animorphs has both Jake and Rachel as this; their Judaism was rarely ever mentioned and wasn't really connected to anything else.
  • There are several smaller hints, particularly from Jake, if you notice the descriptions of his family dinners. In this case, it's more a function of the stories themselves because we never get any reference to holidays for any of the other characters, either, as the series is deliberately vague about the passage of time and it's not until the second-to-last book that it's established that three in-story years have passed since the beginning of the series. In fact, all we know about any of the other characters' faiths is that Cassie's family has a pastor and that Marco's mother sang in the church choir.
  • Rachel may not be Jewish herself. In Elfangor's Secret, she only says that her father (through whom she is related to Jake) is.
• In Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.:
  • Gretchen Potter goes to the Jewish Community Center and Hebrew School (it's why their secret club can't meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays), but doesn't really stand out as Jewish beyond that.
  • Classmate Alan Gordon refuses to sing any of the Christian songs for the holiday pageant; nothing else is mentioned about his Judaism.
  • Sylvia Simon, Margaret's paternal grandmother. Justified as, even if she does attend services for Jewish holidays, Margaret only goes with her once for Rosh Hashanah.
• Abby, in The Baby-Sitters Club, is Jewish and does get a Bat Mitzvah, but apart from it being mentioned about her as a stated fact ("Abby is Jewish"), it gets little attention. Dawn also mentions in one book that one of their sitting charges, Nancy Dawes, is Jewish; it actually had relevance to the plot because it was the Very Special Episode book about racism.
• The unnamed narrator of Beautiful Losers. F. discusses forming him into the "New Jew", but he's not given any other Jewish features.
• Call Me by Your Name: The Jewish characters are nonobservant and are, as one character puts it, "Jews of discretion." The reader knows that they are Jewish either from their wearing stars of David or simply from their say-so.
• Captain Underpants: Mr. Krupp is apparently Jewish, as his wedding in book five is officiated by a rabbi. This was likely only done so the author could set up a pun.
  "Silly Rabbi, tricks are for kids!"
• For a non-Jewish example, Sōsuke Sagara of Full Metal Panic! is an informed Muslim. He was raised by Mujahedin in Afghanistan (or its Captain Ersatz in the anime), who instructed them in their faith, but he isn't seen praying towards Mecca and sees no problem with eating pork if that's what's available. He doesn't drink, but only because he doesn't want to impair himself with alcohol, and later on because he can't have it after sustaining serious damage to his liver, not for religious reasons.
• In The Good Soldier Švejk Chaplain Otto Katz, a bumbling (Catholic!) military priest, was originally a son of a Jewish merchant, who was more or less completely atheist, and squandered the family business on wine and women, after which he joined the military to avoid his creditors. This required a conversion to Catholicism, which he, being an atheist, did without any second thought, and his ascension to priesthood after a couple of years as a cavalry officer, has been a drunken joke.
• Guardians of the Flame: Doria is Jewish, but it's only shown from being stated as such, and her last name (Perlstein).
• Minor Harry Potter character Anthony Goldstein is a literal example since aside from his surname, we only have Word of God to confirm that he's Jewish. Though here it's justified by the fact that he's a Recurring Extra.
• Played With in T.E.D. Klein's "Nadelman's God". The eponymous Nadelman very obviously comes from a Jewish background, which can be gleamed early on from stuff like him mentioning his bar mitzvah and the fact that his rebellious occult poem was overtly provoked by his college introducing a mandatory sunday services for its students, something which he, due to his Jewish roots, found especially offensive. Outside of this, Nadelman clearly isn't practising and overtly prefers to think of himself as a secular Jew, if not an outright atheist. However, as the story progresses and Nadelman finds himself increasingly stressed and disturbed by by his experiences, he ends up bringing up more and more elements of his Jewish background, starting to slip into occasional moments of Yiddish as a Second Language by referring to his Loony Fan, Huntoon, as a "schmuck" and a "goyim" at different points. At the end of the story, however, Nadelman is so thoroughly traumatized that he ends up seeking refuge in an Orthodox synagogue during a panic attack to ward off the evil that he fears is following him, even if it means that he will have to wear a yarmulke to be accepted inside. Basically, Nadelman, who otherwise haven't been giving his own Jewishness and religion in a general a thought for decades, ends up seeking out comfort and protection in the faith of his ancestors during a time where he feels haunted by a malevolent higher power.
• Fagin in Oliver Twist could be included, since he is introduced as a “Jew”, but never does anything Jewish. (As opposed to the stage Jewish tropes in the musical.)
• In Paper Towns, Margo makes a casual reference to her bat mitzvah money, but that's about it.
• Pretty Little Liars has Hanna, who is revealed to be Jewish in Pretty Little Secrets.
• Something to Talk About: Emma is revealed to be Jewish when Jo thoughtfully provides kosher-friendly treats (with beef rather than pork). She doesn't actually keep kosher, but appreciates the gesture. Emma doesn't attend synagogue very often apart from on the High Holy Days, but does celebrate Hannukah with her family.
• Tell Me How You Really Feel: Rachel is Jewish, though beyond simply being told this no sign of that was given. This is justified as she mentions she's only a "High Holy Days" Jew and doesn't attend synagogue except for then.
• Action Dude of Velveteen vs. is Jewish, but the Marketing department of Super Patriots, Inc decided that a Jewish superhero wouldn't go over well with the public, so they prohibited him from practicing openly.
• An in-universe example in A Wolf in the Soul. Greg's parents are Jewish, but as he slowly becomes religious over the course of the book he starts to see their lackadaisical attitude towards religion in this light.

Live-Action TV

• Parodied in 3rd Rock from the Sun. The Solomons, after attempting to decide their ethnicity, eventually just figure they should be Jewish because their landlady assumed they were, based on their last name (which they picked off the side of a truck). Being aliens living undercover on Earth, they know nothing about the culture in the slightest and it only comes up again in minor instances (like Harry and Dick trying to Hand Wave Dick's attempted kidnapping with a large sack as a Jewish wedding tradition: The Sacking Of The Groom.)
• 18 to Life: The Bellows often reference orthodox Jewish traditions throughout the series. However, they rarely do anything specifically Jewish in the series such as following particular traditions.
• In-Universe example: In All in the Family, Archie had no idea his best friend and co-worker Stretch Cunningham was Jewish until he was handed a black yarmulke at Stretch's funeral.
• On Alphas, the only indication we get that Red Flag leader Anna Levy is Jewish is her last name along with her headstone bearing a Star of David.
• Felicity on Arrow only mentions that she's a Jew in a throwaway line during each of the first two seasons' Christmas episodes. It wasn't until season 3 when she started showing her faith at a non-Christmas time when she wishes Diggle and Lilah "Mazel tov!" after their daughter's birth, and in the next episode, she throws dirt on the grave at Sara Lance's funeral, explaining it to be a Jewish custom.
• Susan Ivanova in Babylon 5 is a subversion. She is explicitly Jewish and explicitly lapsed. She doesn't keep kosher and is seen happily eating bacon and not even thinking about whether alien food items are acceptable. However, as the series goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that in her mind, her religion is tied up with her very messy family background (her mother was a telepath who later committed suicide due to side effects of the suppressor drugs she was forced by law to take, and her father withdrew emotionally almost completely after that), and she has abandoned the trappings of faith as a way to cut herself off from the trauma. A major part of her character arc in the first two seasons involves coming to terms with her family and reconnecting with her faith. She is seen sitting shiva, and lighting menorah in a meaningful scene wrapping up Season 2 (appropriately titled "Fall of Night," echoing the original Chanukah story in a way).
• George in Being Human is really only shown as Jewish through the Star of David he wears and the few times he mentions it. He became unobservant after being bitten since he felt that Judaism frowned on being a werewolf. George's father is not Jewish, as we see a vicar giving his burial rites (it makes sense that his Dad (George Sr.) isn't Jewish, since it's against Jewish tradition to name someone after a living person).
• The American remake of Being Human has Josh the werewolf, who has about as little faith as his British counterpart.
• Better Things: Aside from occasional mentions of being Jewish, rare Hebrew expressions from Sam and her overall somewhat stereotypical demeanor, it's hard to notice the Foxes are a Jewish family (obviously culturally only, as they don't practice Judaism or any other religion). She and Frankie did attend a friend's bar mitzvah, but it's then a plot point too that Frankie's never had a bat mitzvah, while once it's mentioned she's past the age for the ceremony.
• On Beverly Hills, 90210: Andrea Zuckerman is identified as Jewish, though this attribute takes a backseat to her being Jewish and Nerdy. It is occasionally brought up in very special episodes, including the episode where her daughter Hannah receives a cross from her father Jesse's mother (Andrea's husband Jesse is a Catholic). Additionally, David Silver is mentioned to be Jewish, though this is almost never mentioned on-screen, except in a Very Special Episode about anti-semitism ("Hate Is Just a Four Letter Word" in season 4), where he tries to learn more about his heritage, though this is never mentioned again after the episode. In theory, this would also make his half-sister Erin Silver Jewish as well, though this is never mentioned in her case.
• Nora Walker on Brothers & Sisters. Often shown cooking non-Kosher (e.g. scallops wrapped in bacon) and loves hosting all the festivities of Christmas. Partly justified in that she is not very religious and her husband was a Christian, so observing Jewish traditions was not a big part of her life. Her brother Saul is a milder version. He occasionally mentions his rabbi but never seems to question Nora's meal choices.
• Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Jewish name, check. Talks about her very observant father (who won't even let her watch A Charlie Brown Christmas) as she nails crosses to her wall,^note not for religious reasons, just to keep out vampires check. Responds to "what are you doing for Christmas" with "Being Jewish. Duh." And...that's it. In seven seasons, she only ever does one thing that's a Jewish custom or practice - placing a stone on Tara's grave. When we meet her mother, she doesn't seem to be into her faith much either, implying her father is the heavily Jewish parent. It's also worth noting that by Season 4, Willow identifies as Wiccan and seemingly no longer practices Judaism (but does make a joke about herself being Jewish in Season 5).
• Community has Annie, whose Judaism generally only comes up on Christmas episodes or when someone is being insensitive about it.^note  Annie's actress, Alison Brie, is also Jewish.
• Curb Your Enthusiasm, on many occasions. The only thing is that Larry doesn't seem to take his religion particularly seriously, whereas the other characters do. He was (for a time) married to a Christian woman and the differing religions had no effect on their relationship.
• Powerful TV producer (and major prima donna) Alan Brady on The Dick Van Dyke Show was implied to be Jewish here and there (and, interestingly, was portrayed by real-life Jew Carl Reiner, who also produced The Dick Van Dyke Show itself). In one episode, Rob, Buddy, and Sally have him stay after work to discuss something with him, and he offhandedly complains that he's late for a bar mitzvah ceremony.
• Even Stevens had an obligatory Chanukah special, "Heck of a Hanukkah". It is mentioned that the mother is Jewish and they celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah.
• Fear the Walking Dead: In Season 5, the beer-swilling, tough-talking, truck-driving ladette Sarah reveals that she's Jewish when she asks a rabbi about making atonement during Yom Kippur. Her fellow survivors are all surprised, as nothing before had suggested that she's a Jew.
• A French Village: We get no indication that Sarah Meyer or Judith Morhange is Jewish aside from being identified as such, though Sarah's last name is common among Ashkenazim and they both have traditional Jewish first names (though they're not uncommon for Christians too). We never seen any sign they practice Judaism (many European Jews were secular or even converted Christians at the time). The same goes for the Jewish family who flee and the Crémieuxes. Judith at least says she's not a believer, and thus Jewish in only the ethnic or cultural sense.
• Friends: References to Monica and Ross being Jewish are rarely acknowledged, with occasional signs including the mezzuzah outside their parents' front door and Monica's wedding procession including both bride and groom being walked down the aisle by their parents. Monica wears a Star of David necklace and had a Bat Mitzvah. Ross once tried to teach his son about Chanukah and once mentions buying Monica Chanukah gifts. When Phoebe writes a holiday song for her friends, it starts with "Monica, Monica, have a happy Chanukah". Hints suggest Jack is Jewish but Judy is not, so their children grew up celebrating two traditions.
  Ross: (Checking out of a hotel) You're not taking your Bible?
  Chandler: I don't think you're supposed to take that. Besides, it's New Testament. Why do you want it?
  Ross: To learn about... Jesus.
  • Rachel is always described by Word of God as a Jewish Princess but the only times it ever comes up in the series is when Phoebe's above mentioned Christmas song includes the line "Spin the dreidel, Rachel" (Rachel's only objection is that it doesn't rhyme) and a single instance of her referring to her grandmother as "bubbe".
  • It makes sense if you think that both the mothers of Ross and Monica, and of Rachel were gentiles, but Ross and Monica's mother converted, and Rachel's mother didn't. This would make Ross and Monica fully Jewish, but Rachel not Jewish at all, although part of a Jewish family. It would also explain the families connection— why Monica & Rachel were such good friends in spite of being such different people. Their parents may have belonged to the same synagogue, and their fathers my even have been friends.
• Paris from Gilmore Girls makes occasional references to being Jewish. One of three dresses she owns is her bat mitzvah dress (which has Stars of David on it and thus isn't appropriate for a date), and her parents never let her have a Hanukkah bush.
• Glee:
  • Rachel and Puck are both Jewish. For Rachel, it's completely informed (a few times, actually), but for Puck, he makes mention of his family's Simchat Torah tradition of Chinese food and Schindler's List (they're shown eating pork, but then, not all Jews are kosher). Puck then proceeds to hook up with Rachel mostly because she's "a hot Jew". Later, Puck mentions going to Temple with his grandmother as if it were an uncommon thing for him to do, which fits with his mostly bad-boy persona.
  • The pork eating is odd, seeing how else Quinn mentions Puck's mother doesn't let her eat bacon in the house.
  • Watching Schindler's List on Simchat Torah—a holiday which literally has "joy" in its name—is pretty odd too.
  • Interesting, while Rachel's Judaism continues to be almost completely informed (wanting her hypothetical future children to be raised Jewish is presented as an instance of her 'controllist' tendencies rather than a genuine religious choice, and she both gives and accepts Christmas presents despite not celebrating Christmas with her fathers), Puck is implied to have a developing - if still somewhat shallow - involvement in his religious community as the series goes on, in tune with his redemption arc. By episode 2x18 he's going to temple often enough that he's spotted a pattern of girls turning up with new noses shortly after their sixteenth birthdays.
  • While justified when it comes to Puck's half brother, who was raised Christian by a Christian mother, the fact that they both got Star Of David tattoos to demonstrate their Jewish identity is somewhat ridiculous, seeing how tattoos are forbidden in the halakha (though not unheard of for less religiously observant Jews).
• Max Blum on Happy Endings never displays any knowledge of Judaism or follows Jewish customs. However given that Max is established as extremely lazy, simple-minded, and slothful (ruling out him going kosher), this is justified. The only thing that hints at is his more clearly Jewish parents, a minor nod to him celebrating Hannukah (or probably more accurately just wanting gifts), and his Hebrew tattoo (which is actually actor Adam Pally's, who is also Jewish), and once giving a Shout-Out to Fiddleronthe Roof.
• Max Bergman of Hawaii Five-0 has never been referenced as Jewish on the show, and shows absolutely zero stereotypical Jewish traits; he does avoid shrimp, but that's due to an allergy, not keeping kashrut. The only way you'd know it at all is if you happened to see an interview with his actor.
• John Munch in Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has mentioned Judaism on occasion but insists that "the only thing Judaism and I have in common is we don't like to work Saturdays". He has, however, displayed knowledge of the Torah, the Kaddish and appears to hail from a conservative Jewish community. Both the actor who played him (Richard Belzer) and the real-life inspiration are Jewish as well.
  • In one episode, a more religiously Jewish witness complains and asks if he really has to spend hours going through pictures of suspects. Munch tells him, “It would be a mitzvah.” The witness nods and continues poring over the images.
• Wilson and Cuddy from House. Wilson mentions he is Jewish but nonobservant in the pilot, and has to be reminded that he is Jewish in a Christmas Episode. Cuddy's religion mostly comes up when House makes fun of her. In the case of Cuddy, this follows the actor; Robert Sean Leonard does not appear to have any Jewish background. Chris Taub, introduced in Season 4, is also Jewish (a frequent target for House’s jibes) - his wedding to Rachel appears to have been very Jewish, but in one episode he contrasts his secularism with the practices of Orthodox Jews, that he finds crazy by comparison.
  • It's actually lampshaded when House picks Cuddy apart for having a traditional Jewish naming ceremony for her daughter while not observing other Jewish customs. She has a menorah in her office, but Cuddy is explicitly not of matrilineal Jewish descent: her mother Arlene (played by professional WASP Candice Bergen) converted when she married. The surname “Cuddy” is Scottish, so it’s not clear if this was a name that was changed upon immigration or if Cuddy has even less Jewish ancestry than implied at the beginning of the series.
  • Wilson’s Jewishness is often referenced by House, usually in a teasing manner. Wilson, a Doctor, is the epitome of A Nice Jewish Boy: his love of musicals, theater, and classic movies, his daily debates with House, his obsessiveness about cleanliness, his diet, his Always Be Prepared In Case of Any Disaster M.O., his snarky sense of humor, and especially being a classic Jewish Mother with his default emotional state of worrying and passive-aggressiveness. Wilson also LOVES Christmas, joining in the parties and celebrating it with House...with the traditional American Jewish customs of Chinese food and watching movies. He wears a yarmulke at Rachel Cuddy’s naming ceremony, but so do all the non-Jewish men. There’s no evidence that any of his three wives were Jewish. When he briefly gets back together with his 1st ex-wife, the hyper-competitive Sam, Sam aggressively drives him off a go-kart track; this prompts Cuddy to ask what her problem is, and House responds, jokingly, “She hates Jews!” Cuddy lets loose a battle cry, “Never Again!” and tries to catch up with Sam (and fails). However, out of all of the main characters with the exception of failed-seminary boy Robert Chase, Wilson shows the most respect for and interest in religion. Where House, despite his encyclopedic knowledge of Judaism (possibly because the two most important people in his life, Cuddy and Wilson, are Jews) would use his knowledge to cut someone down for their faith, Wilson uses his knowledge about various religions to engage with people so they can come to the right conclusion while still listening to their conscience. Wilson also thinks there might be an afterlife, and is upset that House’s hardline atheism won’t tolerate this one thing Wilson holds on to that comforts him.
• Subverted in the JAG episode "The Promised Land" where Lieutenant Singer only pretends to be Jewish in order to badger a Marine deserter and convert who had joined the IDF. Her first chair Commander Turner calls the bluff by testing her knowledge of Judaism.
• Just Shoot Me!: Jack Gallo acts, talks, and looks just like a stereotypical New York Jew from the Bronx (this is because his actor, George Segal, was a New York Jew from the Bronx). To avoid Unfortunate Implications, he's revealed to have a Jewish Mother, but he wasn't raised religiously and it otherwise doesn't come up. Finch even lampshades this when Maya expresses surprise that he and his father don't talk much.
  I didn't come from that Italian-Jewish-Catholic background or whatever it is you've got going. I came from a nice WASPy family where the only emotional thing Dad said at dinner was "Pass the salt."
• The L Word: Jenny's established to be Jewish, though this doesn't come up that much or ever affect her character. It appears she's only culturally or ethnically Jewish, with Jenny not practicing Judaism that we see, though flashbacks from her past indicate her family may have been Orthodox. The most notable mention is the fact that her grandmother survived the Holocaust in Europe.
• In Law & Order, this trope is part of a plot where a suspected murderer claims to be Jewish so he can seek asylum in Israel. To solve the matter, Assistant District Attorney Abbie Carmichael contests his Jewish status before a Rabbinical council for a ruling. Thanks in part to her charmingly earnest courtesy to the Rabbis, and the fact that the accused never took a ceremonial bath as part of an official conversion and has not been living what they considered to be a Jewish lifestyle, the council rules that the man is not Jewish.
• On The League, Ruxin mentions being Jewish in the first episode, describing himself as looking like a Nazi cartoon of a Jew. However he is not practicing, and in fact is married to a Catholic and Baby Geoffrey was baptized (he told his mother it was a really progressive synagogue). In one episode he celebrates Sukkot in order to get his son into a prestigious Jewish preschool. In another episode, Ruxin and his wife get in an argument over what religion to raise Baby Geoffrey in. Averted with Ruxin's sister, who is mentioned to be Orthodox. This trope is even more true with Ted, who is only known to be Jewish because a rabbi was at his funeral.
• Gordo from Lizzie McGuire. In the episode where this is most present, he up and decides to have his Bar Mitzvah.
• In Lucky Louie, the priest asks Kim if she would like to make a confession, and she replies, "No, I'm Jewish."
• Rhoda Morgenstern from The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff, Rhoda. She's mentioned on a few occasions that she's Jewish, but doesn't appear to be practicing. She does confess to still enjoying Hanukkah though. In one episode, she's looking through personals ads and seeing how her name sounds with the last name of the men in the ads. She comes across one guy whose last name is Christian. She quickly rejects that one, stating that her mother would kill her.
• All the members of the Fine family, from The Nanny.
• David on The New Normal admits to being of a secular mindset and celebrates Christmas with his Catholic husband, up to and including how to baby-proof their Christmas tree.
• The Eppes family in NUMB3RS is this for most of the series (at least, once they establish that the family actually is Jewish). Don begins practicing in Season 5, but Alan and Charlie remain this throughout the series.
• Sandy Cohen from The O.C. is Jewish but other than having a stereotypical Jewish Mother, his Judaism is only infrequently mentioned. Curiously his son Seth, who is half-Jewish (his mother is Christian and he was reared with elements of both faiths) is far more vocal about identifying as Jewish and was delighted when his girlfriend mentioned she would be Converting for Love.
• Paper Girls: KJ is established as Jewish when she mentions her mom buying a dress (that she dislikes) for her bat mitzvah. It's mentioned by KJ a couple times again, though never affects things really.
• In the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special, Mrs. Renée and the Dinosaur Family are revealed to be Jewish and celebrate Chanukah.
• Power Rangers S.P.D.: On receiving his new Cool Bike, Jack declares it's like Christmas come early. Bridge (who also got a new bike) answers that, since he's Jewish, it's more like Chanukah came early. This is the only time Bridge mentions he's Jewish during the series — and he impressively manages to tell us this information in the most ham-handed way possible.
  • This is how we learn everything about Bridge, such as his love of buttery toast. It would have been distinctly out of character for him to mention his religion in a context compatible with a kosher diet.
• Power Rangers Zeo had a Christmas Episode where a special guest character celebrated Hanukkah. Being An Aesop, they were all hit with the "bias blaster" and became ethnocentric. Tanya celebrated Kwanzaa, despite actually being from Africa.
• The Practice: Jamie is Jewish, but this was only established by her mentioning it. She feels guilty enough about not practicing Judaism to break up with her gentile boyfriend while noting how American Jews are fading as a distinct group.
• Chuck from Pushing Daisies is mentioned a few times as being Jewish, yet she manages to make her way through two Christmas specials without even mentioning Chanukah. It is possible that the only reason she was defined as Jewish at all is to explain why she needed to be buried as soon as possible and wasn't embalmed.
• Both Sarah and Laura Silverman on The Sarah Silverman Program are mentioned as being Jewish several times. "You know who else is a kike? Me, and Laura, and Albert Einstein."
• Seinfeld:
  • The show does this on occasion but always subverts it. A conversation about circumcision indicates it never happened to Jerry. They are friends with a rabbi because he lives in their building. They are never seen doing anything religious. Elaine is explicitly mentioned not to be Jewish. The implication is that they're descended from Jews and live in a Jewish neighborhood but don't follow the religion themselves.
  • Kramer is seen eating bacon which he's cooked in and is eating out of Jerry's frying pan, and given Kramer's propensity to steal food from Jerry, it's implied that neither of them cares about whether something is kosher or not. He says he's not Jewish in the same episode Elaine did. But his friend Lomez is ("Orthodox, Jerry. Old school!").
  • Despite not keeping kosher, Kramer is respectful of those who do to the point of preventing Jerry's Orthodox girlfriend from secretly trying lobster, fearing that she'll regret it if she does, which she later thanks him for.
  • It is known that Jerry is Jewish, he's just non-practicing, but he comments in one episode after a faux-pas asking a Chinese-American postman where the nearest Chinese Restaurant was that "If someone asks me which way's Israel, I don't fly off the handle!" And while Frank Costanza is a first-generation Italian-American, Estelle is heavily implied to be Jewish as well, though George says he's not Jewish (which might indicate she's not or simply isn't considered as such due to not practicing Judaism).
• Blair Sandburg in The Sentinel. Mentions that his Swiss Army Knife was a Bar Mitzvah present, and when a guest in the apartment he and Jim share asks if there are any pork chops he says, "Yeah, right next to the whale meat!" But he doesn't seem to observe any other Jewish customs; he was raised by a flower child mother and is a cultural anthropologist by training. . .
• Charlotte on Sex and the City is a Protestant of English descent, but later converts to Judaism when she becomes engaged to Harry later in the series. Played with in the movies when she demonstrates knowledge of a few Hebrew terms.
• Single Drunk Female: Sam mentions she was the only Jewish girl in her school growing up, and that her dad had a shiva (a Jewish period of mourning), though other than these few mentions her Jewishness doesn't come up at all, with no sign of her or Sam's mom practicing Judaism otherwise — although Samantha mentions once that, as a kid, she hated that her family did not acknowledge Christmas as a holiday in any way. In Season 2, it's revealed both Sam and her mom are atheistic Jews; they don't keep kosher or do Jewish rituals most of the time.
• Square Pegs Muffy Tepperman, and Marshall Blechtman both mentioned being Jewish and having a Bat and Bar Mitzvah respectively.
• Matt Albie on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Made funnier (and lampshaded) in The Christmas Show, where he is the one pushing doing a Christmas show while others are lukewarm at best to the idea.
• Parodied in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody when London reveals she celebrates Hanukkah. She refers to herself as a 'shiksa', a word for a non-Jewish woman, but does occasionally throw Yiddish slang terms out in conversation. The whole line is "Miss out on eight days of presents? Not this shiksa," after Maddie asks her why she celebrates Hanukkah, so it's more a joke about her being greedy/spoiled.
• Invoked and toyed with in Warehouse 13. Arthur Nielson, played by Saul Rubinek, is heavily suggested to be culturally (though not religiously) Jewish throughout the show's run. It's revealed quite early on that he was born Artie Weisfelt, and one episode hinges around him selling secrets to the Soviets during the Cold War in order to save his family. It's unclear whether they're family or family (there are a lot of names involved), but he does make reference to the persecution of Soviet Jews, as well as several of his cousins being refuseniks.
  • Then we get the season 2 Christmas special, which wastes no time whatsoever prominently placing a dreidel beside his photo in the Christmas-themed opening credits. Later on in the episode, he's reunited with his father, a stereotypical Alter Kocker, and they proceed to have a very Jewish reunion, replete with constant bickering, tales of cousins finally getting married and much Yiddish as a Second Language.
  • However, they still never openly state they're Jewish. The closest they come is at the very end of the episode, when Artie's father refers to Claudia (a fellow worker at the warehouse) as "that annoying gentile" before she recites Sheva Brachot (a completely unrelated wedding blessing).
  • Episode 3 of Season 4 it's made explicit when Artie and Leena have to a golf course to retrieve an artifact.
• Josh on The West Wing is Jewish, but aside from saying "Mazel Tov" and getting prickly about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it doesn't come up much. Practicing Jew Toby even pokes fun at Josh for being inadequately Jewish:
  Toby: There's an ancient Hebrew word for Jews from Westport; it's pronounced "Presbyterian."
  • Played with in one episode when the President asks Toby and Josh about a particular Yom Kippur tradition. Interestingly, it's Toby who draws a blank (he knows what the President is talking about, but he can't remember the exact word for it). He looks to Josh for help, and Josh supplies the word (but slightly mispronounces it).
  • A plot point in "Take This Sabbath Day" is that Toby is spending his Saturday morning at temple, and later returns to consult with the Rabbi. Josh, by contrast, is spending that same morning hungover in his office after a Stag Party and has a meeting scheduled making it clear he wasn't going to temple.
• Why Women Kill: Aside from Eli mentioning it, there's no real sign that he's Jewish (aside from this being a common Jewish male first name). Justified as he seems to be a cultural/secular Jew.
• In The Wire, assistant state's attorney Rhonda Pearlman is never even hinted to be Jewish, but Word of God says she is. The only clue in the show, other than her name, is that Detective McNulty uses the phrase "your twisted little tribe" to refer to her and defense attorney Maurice Levy, who is explicitly Jewish. In context, it's not even clear that he meant to imply anything about their culture or religion; he was really complaining that they're both lawyers, so at least on the surface the "tribe" is the Maryland State Bar Association.
• Grace Adler of Will & Grace is Jewish but not religiously observant. She frequently uses Yiddish as a Second Language, struggles to deal with her Jewish Mother's constant criticism, and is often bewildered by Will's WASP-y family who prefer to ignore their problems and avoid arguments.
  Grace: I'm like a Jewish Jane Goodall and you're Goyim in the Mist.
• Paul, Kevin's best friend in The Wonder Years, has a Bar Mitzvah in one episode, in which we also meet his grandfather who reminisces sentimentally about life in the "Old Country" and gives him a family heirloom prayerbook. In a Christmas episode, we briefly hear him and Kevin argue over whether Christmas or Hannukah brings in the most presents. Otherwise, Paul's religion is never mentioned.

Newspaper Comics

• Dick Tracy's sidekick Sam Catchem is Jewish, and always has been, but since it rarely has much bearing on the cases they investigate, it doesn't get mentioned much. The creative team of Mike Curtis and Joe Staton has changed things up a little by having Sam invite the Tracys over for Chanukah.

Professional Wrestling

• Paul Heyman is well-known to be Jewish to wrestling buffs, but one of the only times that came up in Kayfabe was when he tried to claim that video footage showing him conspiring with The Shield (an offense that almost got him fired) was actually of an impostor. "I have a thick New York Jewish accent!" Heyman shouted (as did the "impostor" in the video, but that's neither here nor there). Heyman's Jewishness isn't brought up at other times - which is a little strange, given how universally despised Heyman is and that he could easily use this as a Wounded Gazelle Gambit. ("You just don't like me because you're an anti-Semite!")
  • It came up in Paul's "rapping" promo before Summerslam 2014:
  "No, we're not from West Newbury,
  no we can't 'hip-hop' like you,
  My client is the conqueror,
  I'm just Brock's advocating Jew!"

Puppet Shows

• This trope appears in The Muppets 2008 Christmas Special, A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa. Zoot, saxophonist for the Electric Mayhem, shows up for the Christmas Eve celebration toting a menorah and greets the hostess with a calm "Shalom." Dr. Teeth observes the menorah and remarks that he'd never been aware that Zoot was Jewish.
• Zigzagged in The Puzzle Place with Jody. In general, her Jewishness is rarely discussed and rarely the main focus of the episode plots that focus on her. But it does get several days in the limelight too: not only does she teach her friends (and non-Jewish viewers) about Hanukkah, but also Passover, bar and bat mitzvahs, and sitting shiva, and in the picnic episode she brings sour cream pickled herring as her contribution.
• Mr. Hooper of Sesame Street was Jewish. The only reason the audience ever knew this is because in the late 70s, a Christmas Special was filmed called "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street," and Bob wished Mr. Hooper a happy Hanukkah. He was also shown as able to read Yiddish in another episode.
  • Also, Moishe the Oofnik, the grouch on the Israeli version of the show, Shalom Sesame, is explicitly said to be Oscar's cousin, which potentially makes Oscar at least part Jewish too.
  • In later years, the Bear family has taken up the Hanukkah ball, with Baby Bear showing Telly how to spin a dreidel in Elmo's World: Happy Holidays. Although weirdly, the later book Rosita's Easter on Sesame Street has Baby Bear buying "Easter braided bread", which at the very least suggests they don't observe Passover. (Braided bread [challah] is part of many Jewish holidays, but very specifically not that one.)
• One episode of Under the Umbrella Tree (which was set in an apartment in some unnamed city in Canada), had a shopkeeper (who had never been seen before) introduce Gloria, Iggy, and Jacob to Chanukah and eventually perform a Chanukah-themed magic act at Holly's holiday talent show. He even explained how Chanukah got started, which included a rare non-blasphemous use of the word "God" in Western secular media.

Radio

• The Howard Stern Show While playing the Strip Homeless Game Cindy Margolis mentions that she's Jewish in this clip.

Theater

• In Avenue Q, Brian and Christmas Eve have a Jewish wedding.
• Shylock from The Merchant of Venice might count if the play was written today; though he constantly is called "Jew" and gives his famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" soliloquy, we rarely see any evidence of his religion—to modern eyes, at any rate. In Elizabethan England, greed, usurious banking, and refusal to betroth his daughter to a well-bred Christian suitor were practically the definition of "Jew."
  • This can be continued in modern adaptations or subverted; the 2004 version featured more aspects of Jewish culture and religion, which fit a more sympathetic treatment of Al Pacino's Shylock.

Video Games

• Johnny Kleibitz in Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned is Jewish, but doesn't really practice it. He still gets antisemitic slurs thrown his way by Billy.
• Stelsa Sezyat in Hiveswap Friendsim is described as "troll Jewish" in the trollcall, but there's very little evidence in her actual story.
• Joel from The Last of Us is Jewish however it's not implied in the game itself. Naughty Dog has a postcard-esque official art showing several characters dressed in Christmas gear, with Joel wearing a sweater with a Menorah.
  • In The Last of Us Part II, when Ellie and Dina explore a synagogue in Downtown Seattle, Dina reveals to Ellie that she's Jewish, and that survival has always been a thing in her family (persecutions from The Middle Ages all the way to The Holocaust and, since 2013, the fungal plague apocalypse).
• The Messian religion from Shin Megami Tensei for the most part looks like a form of anime Christianity. But to inform the viewer that it is actually a post-Christian religion born from syncretism, some of the outfits have other religious symbols tucked away in various places, such as a Jewish star.
• In A Super Mario Bros X Thing, the second half of the level Demo Dance Mix portrays (female) main character Demo's bar mitzvah, apropos of nothing.
  raocow I'm not Jewish, but I have to assume that the ceremenolial dodging of bullets is just one of those parts they, y'know, keep out of gentiles' eyes.

Web Animation

• In Barbie Vlog episode about December holiday traditions, Barbie mentions that her friend Renee's family makes jelly donuts on Hannukah. Renee is also Asian.
• From Pimp Lando: Darboe being Jewish becomes a Running Gag in later episodes, despite not doing anything differently. Well, OK, he sings "Hava Nagila" once.
• In the first episode of season 2 of Red vs. Blue, one of the graves for Church and Tex is marked with the Star of David. Word of God refuses to comment on whose grave it is.

Web Comics

• Gordon Frohman of Concerned. The full extent of his possible religious beliefs we're made aware of is that he once claims to be "more of a synagogue type of guy". For all we're shown, this might not even be an admission of being Jewish, but rather him trying to make up any excuse he can to avoid a church after the trouble Father Grigori put him through trying to meet him at the church in Ravenholm, where said Father decided something like where that church actually is wasn't necessary information.
• It's mostly Fanon since it never comes up in the comic and is based on a joke by the author, but fans of Homestuck have taken Terezi to be Jewgish due to a conversation where she admits to not knowing about "Jegus" (referring to a Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff misspelling). It Makes Sense in Context.
  • Hilariously, it was revealed later on that there was an actual Jesus-analogue in the history of Terezi's world. Terezi's ancestor was one of the followers of an underground cult he inspired after his death. In other words, Terezi is the descendent of an alien Christian.
• Parodied in Kid Radd, when Kobayashi reveals in a holiday Omake comic that he's part of a Jewish order of Ninja.
• Riff from Sluggy Freelance only mentions his Jewishness when Chanukah rolls around (though he does bring a Star of David with him when he goes vampire hunting). In the first Torg Potter arc he openly admits that he's been shooting down and cooking all the messenger owls that have been sent to Torg for years, even though owls aren't kosher.
• Choo-Choo Bear of Something*Positive is Jewish. We've seen comics that featured pictures of him at his Bar Mitzvah, and one where he and his cousin Twitchy-Hug explained Passover to the audience. Only thing is... Choo-Choo is a cat. A boneless, hairless, gelatinous cat.

Web Original

• Dragon Ball Z Abridged:
  • Chichi mentions in Broly The Legendary Super Saiyan Abridged that her mother was Jewish, though it's unknown if she was telling the truth or simply trying to raise Gohan's chances of getting accepted into college.
  • Tien and Chaozu are also revealed to be Jewish in The Christmas Tree of Might.
• Fractious, in the Whateley Universe. Known to swear in Yiddish. When she goes with school friends from Whateley Academy for Christmas, Loophole's mother tries to make latkes for her. They don't turn out well.
• In X-Ray & Vav, Rusty Bonjour reveals in the Holiday Special that he's Jewish. There was nothing to hint that he was like this at all and when he reveals it, he's in a tattered Santa suit scamming people out of money via a Salvation Army-like booth.

Western Animation

• Jude on 6teen showed no signs of being Jewish until one of the Christmas Episodes where he said he had to get home because of Hanukkah. There is some irony that Jude was the name of one of Jesus' friends/apostles (and no, he's not the same as Judas). Jude is also German for Jew.
  • This actually adds to Unfortunate Implications when Jude becomes goth, and adopts the name "Judas."
• On Arthur, the Frensky family's Jewishness didn't come out until its holiday episode. They made up for it since; there's been an episode in which Francine vacillates between a relative's Bar Mitzvah and a bowling match, and another in which she mentions playing on her temple's sports team. Plus, she's attempted a Yom Kippur fast.
  • Francine's family explicitly doesn't follow a Kosher diet so that adds to the fuel. A Postcards From Buster episode with a devout Jewish family has one scene where Francine points out that not all Jewish people follow kosher laws to the letter. However, in the holiday episode, clueless Mr. Crosswire gifts the Frensky family with a ham, which Mr. Frensky confusingly accepts.
  • This may be a form of Race Lift. In the source books, Francine shows no sign of being Jewish and celebrated Christmas (as she apparently did in early episodes).
• Mipsy in As Told by Ginger mentions transferring funds from a Bat Mitzvah fund in one episode. She's also drawn to look like a stereotypical Jewish American Princess.
  • The Christmas Episode actually explores this a bit, as Ginger finds out that her grandfather was Jewish and begins exploring Judaism as a result.
• Tammy from Bob's Burgers. Aside from having a Bat Mitzvah episode, she otherwise has some elements of a Jewish American Princess, albeit downplayed.
• Sam from Danny Phantom — her religious identity is only ever mentioned in the Christmas Episode. It's even worse with her parents who fill the mold of stuck-up WASPs. Though this can be considered a case of Reality Is Unrealistic in that there are many Jewish people who act like WASPs (hence the Jewish-American Princess stereotype).
• Drawn Together: The Jew Producer. Other than the name, there's no real indication of his Jewishness until the film.
• In DuckTales (2017), Launchpad McQuack is shown to practice Judaism as he wears a blue sweater with the menorah in front. But he does participate in the McDuck family's Christmas party.
• In Foodfight!, the protagonist Dex Dogtective is revealed to be Jewish at the very end of the movie after the credits have started to roll. The only reason for this seems to be to set up the pun of "S'oy vey!".
  • Apparently, all mascots of kosher foods (like Dex's raisins) are Jewish, meaning a lot of the characters also fit under this trope.
• Moishe from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends seems to have been rolled in just to fulfill this trope.
• Gargoyles never really addresses religion except when it affects its varied magical setting, but when asked about the human characters' religions, Word of God says that Matt Bluestone is Jewish.
  • Downplayed in the episode "Golem," where the characters are clearly Jewish, but the script seems to go out of its way to avoid using the word.
• In Go Away, Unicorn! "Make Like a Tree, Unicorn", one of the past holiday displays is a Hanukkah menorah with ornamental stars of David and dreidels designed by Pixie's mom.
• Gravity Falls: after much argument among the fandom, sometimes reaching near violence, Alex Hirsch has finally confirmed in a tweet that the Pines family are ethnically Jewish, but do not practice Judaism as a religion.
• Billy wishes the audience a happy Chanukah at the last possible minute in Billy and Mandy Save Christmas claiming that's what they celebrate at his house and rubs in the fact that he gets more presents. This is especially egregious (even to the point of Parody?) since he had been obsessed with Santa Claus and Christmas throughout the rest of the episode.
• Harold from Hey Arnold! In one episode, he is lectured by his rabbi for stealing a ham, with more emphasis on breaking Jewish dietary restrictions than the theft itself.
  Rabbi Goldberg: But secondly, and most important, you stole a ham. Ham is not kosher - not kosher at all. We don't eat ham. We haven't for 5000 years, and we don't need to
  • In another, he has a Bar Mitzvah (yes, he's in fourth grade, but he was held back). And once, he uses the Yiddish word "kibbitzer" (meaning "person who butts in"). The Bar Mitzvah episode was the first episode anything connecting Harold to Judaism was explicitly mentioned; in fact, in one of the original claymation shorts, he is seen attending church with Arnold and Helga.
• Ron Stoppable from Kim Possible: His Bar Mitzvah is the focus of an early episode, which gets a Continuity Nod during a Christmas Episode. He obviously doesn't keep kosher.
• Jody, from The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, whose sister had a Bat Mitzvah in season two episode There's No Mitzvah Like Snow Mitzvah.
• Arnold from The Magic School Bus. Once again, a Chanukah mention during the Christmas episode, and his last name being revealed as “Perlstein” in one episode, are our only clues.
• In a The Mighty B! episode where Bessie and Penny keep sneaking into Bat Mitzvah parties, we learn that Portia Gibbons is (probably) Jewish when Bessie sneaks into the Bat Mitzvah party of Portia's cousin.
• Miraculous Ladybug: Nathaniel Kurtzberg is Jewish according to Word of God. The most this gets referenced in the show is through his surname and his conspicuous absence from the Christmas special.
• Molly of Denali: There is no indication that Connie is Jewish until "Tooey's Hole-i-Day Sweater", where we see her lighting a menorah for Hanukkah.
• Pepper Ann, as well as her mother, sister, and aunt. Besides her obviously Jewish grandmother, the only other indication of her Judaism is in the Christmas Episode. In the Musical Episode her mother sings about cooking pork products for dinner, but it could be that they just don't practice Kosher, and it was All Just a Dream anyway.
• Isabella Garcia-Shapiro from Phineas and Ferb only makes slight references to her religion in certain episodes. In one episode, the Star of David can be seen in her bedroom. And in a Christmas Special when the kids are worried about the holiday being cancelled, she doesn't show much sorrow since she celebrates Hanukah and received presents beforehand.
  Isabella (realizing that her enthusiasm isn't helping the situation): I mean, I'm with you guys. Boo, no Christmas...
• In the Recess episode "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave" TJ portrays "Harvey Hanukah" in the school Christmas paegant, implying that he's Jewish.
• Regular Show: "The Christmas Special". While not confirmed in any of the dialogue, Muscleman wears a sweater with a picture of a Dreidel on it.
• Played straight in Rugrats early on. Didi is Jewish but doesn't appear to be heavy into her faith. They do eventually feature episodes based around Passover and Hanukkah. And in All Grown Up!, Tommy attends classes at a synagogue and tries to win a girl's attraction with 'nice Jewish boy' tactics.
• The Simpsons: Shauna Chalmers, Dolph Starbeam, Duffman (or one of them at least, given that there are multiple similar-looking actors), and Artie Ziff have been identified as being Jewish.
  • Krusty was the first one to be identified as such, and had an episode revolving around it (where the whole concept of "bar mitzvah" is once again done wrong).
• The Tick: Arthur and his family are revealed to be Jewish in the episode where his sister gets married, despite him previously having been shown celebrating Christmas and eating BLTs.
• In the Tiny Toon Adventures episode, "It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special", a menorah can be seen in the window of Hamton's house, implying that his family is Jewish. Most likely, this is meant to be a joke, as they do not keep kosher, as Hamton once tried to cook a lobster, and indeed, they aren't even kosher themselves, being pork. However, in the Spring Break special, Hamton visits his Bubbe and Zeyde in Fort Lauderdale, who both speak with Yiddish accents.
• Dr Mrs the Monarch from The Venture Brothers was said to be Sephardic Jewish, according to one of the creators. Although, it could be that she no longer practices Judaism since she celebrated Christmas in one episode and sang Christmas songs with Monarch.
• Tish from The Weekenders. Implied by her having Eastern European parents, getting a type of Bat Mitzvah at 12 and 1/2, which is the usual age for girls in reform and many conservative temples. Stated in the holiday special where it is revealed that she celebrates Chanukah. It should be pointed out that one early episode has her celebrate Lent, and the fans seem to have a Broken Base on whether she is Catholic or Jewish though she's generally considered Jewish with the Lent reference being Early-Installment Weirdness. Tino is also a non-Jewish example. He's apparently Pagan - or at least his mother is - but this is only referenced a few times such as how they celebrate Winter Solstice.
• Kitty from X-Men: Evolution. The only evidence that she's Jewish is a scene of her lighting the menorah in her home in the Christmas Episode... and being very definitely Jewish in the comic the show was based on.

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