![]() ![]() What resonates in the exchange now, beyond its Jew-vs.-Jew antagonism, is the insinuation that ultra-Orthodox Jews somehow don’t count as legitimate traditionalists.Ĭontemporary critics of the political order-most often from the right, though also from precincts of the left-have gained purchase with an increasingly bold case for the spiritual or moral bankruptcy of liberalism. The joke turns, most obviously, on the tension between assimilated Jews and their sectarian counterparts, the same dynamic that inspired the black comedy of Philip Roth’s early short story “Eli, the Fanatic.” But, in the decades since Roth’s story was published, the changing American context has given the joke a broader, secondary drift. ![]() You people are an embarrassment to the rest of us.” The man turns around and says, “Hasid? I’m Amish.” The secular Jew immediately replies, “It’s so wonderful the way you’ve held on to your traditions!” ![]() The secular Jew turns to the darkly garbed man and says, “What’s the matter with you Hasids? This isn’t the Old Country-it’s the modern world. In an old joke, a secular Jew sits down on a park bench next to a man with a large black hat and a long black coat. ![]()
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