Learn From the Goyim! Jewish American Heritage Month Needs a Sexy Glow Up!

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It's the month of May,

which means it's

Jewish American Heritage Month,

a celebration of Jewish contributions to

American society throughout our 371-year

history in this great nation.

Since its establishment in 2006 under then

president of fuzzy math, George W. Bush,

Jewish American Heritage Month, also

known by its groovy acronym JAM, has

become so widely recognized that most of

you just heard about it for the first

time right now. Believe it or not,

there's actually a good amount of jam

programming around the country,

especially considering we only make up

2% of its population. City halls and

public libraries are usually your best

bet, especially in America's biggest

Jewish population centers of New York

and LA. The big Washington DC

institutions like the Smithsonian,

National Archives, and Library of

Congress wheel out special exhibitions

and host events. The Whitesman Museum in

Philadelphia, shout out to former

podcast Steuart Whitesman, is a national

jam leader providing all kinds of

resources and programming. Even

streaming service Max, which after being

HBO, HBO Go, HBO Now, HBO Max, and Max,

is now going back to HBO Max again. Even

they got in on the fun this year,

serving up a dedicated page of content

just for JAM, for which we thank them

via one mitzvah a day, which all of you

should be signed up for at this point.

Link in the show notes. And yet so few

of us are aware of these events and

offerings. And even if we are, we don't

seem overly excited to participate in

them. Why is that? I would like to posit

that this general apathy stems from a

greater problem undergirling the

American Jewish community. Generally

speaking, we Jews seem to have a

collective aversion to publicly tooting

our own horn. Earlier this month, I had

the privilege of attending the Gold

House Gala, a glamorous celebration of

Asian-American and Pacific Islander

pride and solidarity. May is also AAPI

Heritage Month, by the way, and I was so

inspired by the way they spoke to and

about their community. This event's sole

function was to honor Asian excellence

and tons of celebrities including Wicked

director John Chu, actors Daniel J. Kim

and Sandra O, Olympians Allison Felix

and Apollo Ono, TV celebs Chrissy Tegan

and Tan France, and musicians Ley and

her all showed up to express their love

and pride in the accomplishments of the

AAPI community. Can you imagine Jews

doing that? I mean, think about the

A-listers across business, tech,

science, media, and yes, even sports

that we could bring together for such an

extravaganza. Imagine what a celebration

of Jewish contributions to just

Hollywood or Broadway or the music

industry would look like. Come on. But

we don't dare dream of such public

facing glory. Why? Fear, of course. Jews

don't celebrate ourselves or our

contributions to society nearly enough,

and certainly not in a high-profile,

glamorous, multiddisciplinary way. Maybe

we appreciate our rich American history

in our homes and love to point out

famous American Jews on TV, even if they

don't remotely identify as Jewish or

engage with the community in any way,

which has always felt a bit desperate to

me. But that's us, 20some percent of all

Nobel Prize winners, inventors of

Hollywood, founders of history's biggest

tech companies, and we are

desperate. We keep our heads down. We

stay quiet. We can't appear to be aware

of our excellence or proud of our

accomplishments. What would the

prejudiced anti-Jew haters say about us

then? The question is as ridiculous and

self-defeating as it sounds. Why should

we diminish ourselves for the

appeasement of bigots who are going to

spit the same old stereotypes whether

they hold an ounce of truth or not?

Think of the pride, the solidarity, the

inspiration, the communal buoyancy we

are depriving ourselves of. And for

what? To make bigots more comfortable.

As my friend Fur Hassan Nahome said on

episode 4 of this show, Jews fertilize

whatever environment we inhabit.

Throughout history, in every country and

every professional field, Jews have

built industry and society up until

we're either whitewashed, overrun,

diminished, or kicked out of the very

entities we helped create. If we want to

stop that from happening, we need to

have more selfrespect. Puff out our

chests a bit. Hold our ground. We made

this

recognize. I've said it before and I'll

say it again. People respect those who

respect themselves. And once you claim

something as your own, it can never be

used against you. Someone wants to whine

about how Jews run the media. Okay,

cool. Here's all the Jewish writers,

actors, and directors of your favorite

shows and movies high-fiving each other

over how sexy and successful they are.

Deal with it. Which brings me to the

second reason I think jam engagement is

weak. And I say this with nothing but

the utmost sincere appreciation and

respect for the planners and conveners

of jam events, but the programming is

unbelievably not sexy. I'm sorry, but

nobody has ever said, "You know what's

going to be an awesome time? This

90minute presentation about Jews at the

library. Where's my Gold House Gala? We

can call it the Goldberg House Gala.

Where's my NHS across America night with

special deals and all our favorite

delies? Where's my all Jewish poetry and

spoken word evening, aka the jam slam.

Where's my party bus that takes Jews on

a tour of the city's most important

historical Jewish sites, aka the jam

tram? Where's my night at the Magic

Castle featuring all Jewish magicians

doing homages to Harry Houdini, aka

Alaka Jam? Where's my Jewish jam band

outdoor concert series, aka the Jam Jam

Jamberee?

I could do this all day, people.

Jewish orgs, if you're listening,

and I know you are, put your best people on this.

Better yet, put your best people together on this.

Combine resources and brain power and

give us the Jewish American Heritage

Month we deserve. It's time to change

the conversation. No more fear, no more

desperation, no more selling ourselves

short for the benefit of others. Jews

are excellent. Jews are sexy. Jews are

talented. Jews are innovators and change

makers and rebels. Jews are cool. It's

time we start recognizing it, owning it,

and celebrating it. I mean, come on.

A whole month honoring Jews

who know their worth and

are unafraid to display it proudly.

Now that's my jam.